By Erez Ben-Ari, JTNews Correspondent
Persia, India, Yemen, Morocco, Kurdistan and Tunisia are but a small selection of Israel’s diverse ethnic population today. During the second week of November, Washington residents had the opportunity to get personally acquainted with some of that rich heritage during the second Ethnic Flavors of Israel week. Following the success of a similar visit last year, a new group of nine women came to visit, sharing their stories and unique flavors with the state’s Jewish population.
This visit is part of a long-time partnership between the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and the Israeli communities of Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon. The partnership aims to support and empower this impoverished and mostly immigrant coastal southwest of Tel Aviv. In addition to the socio-economic issues these residents face, they have had to deal with attacks from the neighboring Gaza strip.
For many years, residents of the area had to contend with daily missile attacks, which drove a lot of them away. During that time, they tried to live their lives between the alarms and explosions, during which several lost their lives and many lost their property. Operation Cast Lead, the Gaza war that ran from the end of 2008 through January 2009, restored some peace to the region and life has returned to more of a state of normality.
According to Miriam Tas, one of the visiting women who lives on the Netiv HaAsara moshav, things have improved so much that it’s impossible to find an available lease in the entire community, and many new families and their family members are in the process of building new homes for themselves.
Having been an original resident of Netiv HaAsara in Sinai, Tas’s family was relocated when the settlement was evacuated in 1982 as part of the Camp David Accords. They and 70 other families then relocated to what they thought was a fantastic piece of land and rebuilt their settlement, hoping to live there in peace. Those hopes were shattered, however, when the missile attacks from Gaza became routine in the past decade.
During the Ethnic Flavors of Israel week, Tas, alongside her friends Yaffa Mansharof, Miri Walach, Dvorat Horen, Liat Salman-Levy, Talya Hassan, Aliza Aharonov and Rina Yaffa Asis, cooked and created unique experiences for all of their attendees. The women prepared a selection of dishes that represented each’s unique culture and heritage. Hassan’s fried eggplant salad, for example, was a particularly popular dish the guests devoured almost instantly at one event.
During their week here, the women of Hof Ashkelon took part in five different events. Those included one for only women, a parents’ Saturday night out for Hebrew speakers, a general meet-and-greet, and on Friday, Nov. 12, a special Shabbat dinner.
On their last day, Sunday, Nov. 14, they dedicated their time to an evening of workshops, where the attendees were introduced to unique and exotic spice blends and learned about the preparation and application of henna. Guests of all events were also given a specially printed booklet containing the stories of the women, the TIPS partnership (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle), and a collection of recipes from each of the women, representing their personal favorite ethnic dishes.
For those who may be wondering about the group of women that came to town last year, who were also mentored by organizer Smadar Kaplinski, they are thriving. After a long mentorship, the seven women — Sima Kadori, Yehudit Shitri, Rina Golan, Aliza Surat, Clara Davidov, Chilot Gethon and Mazal Caravani — have created a cooperative organization, and are working to make their unique food items available to the Israeli public.