My friend Matt volunteered at an amazing place called Yemin Ord before he came to the kibbutz. It is a youth village for children have been orphaned or come from dysfunctional homes. It started as a place for holocoust orphans but since then has been home to the many refugee and immigrant children and teenagers who come to Israel. Right now the majority of the population is made up of Ethiopian, Russian and Brazilian Jews. Instead of Thanksgiving this year Matt and I went to Yemin Ord and celebrated an Ethiopian holiday called Chag Ha-Seigd. Many of these kids came to Israel from very small Ethiopian villages and had to get used to modern facilities and technology. For this holiday they recreated the way it was celebrated in their villages. On the Yemin Ord campus there is a replica of a traditional Ethiopian hut. The large chair is the one that the traveling Rabbi (I think he is called a Kes) would sit in. On the walls are traditional clothing and pictures of the villages.








For the holiday the head of Yemin Ord spoke about the importance of keeping the culture alive and not forgetting your past. That is one of the things I like most about this youth village. They don't just try to assimilate these kids, they teach them to be proud of where they came from, even though it was so hard to live there. Next the kids spoke about the holiday and blew a traditional horn (like a shofar). Some of the kids dressed up as the Rabbi and the other important men of the village who would be part of the holiday procession.












Some of the kids did Traditional Ethiopian dancing. The week before a guy from the kibbutz who is from Ethiopia and teaches traditional dancing tried to teach us (the ulpanists) some moves, so it was really great to see the kids doing it (MUCH better than we were able to)



After the dancing there was a procession to the Synagogue. There was essentially a singing, dancing mosh pit preceding the Rabbi the whole way. It was great to see how much the kids got into this. Matt said he had never seen all the kids so enthusiastic and engaged before.



There was a short service outside, and then a longer one in the synagogue.



This is the cover of the prayer packet for the holiday.

After the service we ate a traditional Ethiopian meal in the dining hall. The plates were covered with a spongy bread and then you put the food on top of it and ate it with that bread. It was really good, but really spicy. After the meal they erupted into sponataneous "balagan". The kids strated singing and dancing and jumping around.

This is Matt and Chen. He ran all the way to Israel from Sudan. He said when he got to Egypt they tried to send him back to his abusive father in Sudan, so he just continued running until one day he saw lots of jews and figured out he was in Israel. He told me that we should get married but that I would have to take the piercings out because they don't like them here, but once we got back to Africa I could put them back in because they love them there!




Yemin Ord is amazing and I am so glad that I was lucky enough to see and participate in this holiday. I know money is tight for everyone, but if you are looking for a good place to give money this holiday season, please look up "Friends of Yemin Ord". They do amazing things for kids who really need it.