Meet the Ethiopian Community | Bechazit: On The Front Lines | Driving Social Change in Israel

This program will be offered on Zoom. Registrants only need to RSVP once to be registered for the entire series.Classrooms Without Borders is embarking our newest Israel seminar which we are calling “Bachazit” – On The Frontline. In our upcoming 6 sessions we will highlight challenges facing Israel and the individuals or organizations that are grappling with the issues at hand. We will illuminate subjects such as the integration of minority groups into the high-tech sector, the struggle for L.G.B.T.Q. rights, programs that assist Israelis injured during their military service, the fight against racism in Israeli society and more.

Meet the Ethiopians
It has been 30 years since the last mass wave of Jews arrived in Israel from Ethiopia. Their ongoing absorption in Israel has had its ups and downs. We will meet members of the community who have main incredible achievements (on any scale) but we will also put a spotlight on what is not working and what needs to be done to make Israel a more accepting, equitable society.

Joining us for this program are: Rabbi Sharon Shalom, Pnina Agenyahu, Avishai Tzagahon, and Tuvia Hezkiyahu

Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom
Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom (born in Ethiopia, 1973) is a lecturer and Jewish writer. He is a Rav of one of the Tzohar “Open Communities” in Kiryat Gat. He grew up with the name Zaude Tesfay in a Jewish community in the North of Ethiopia. He works as a Rabbi in Merkaz Shapira Or Meofir special program for Ethiopian emigrants. Rabbi Dr. Sharon is the Head of the International Center for Study of Ethiopian Jewry, and a Jewish Studies Lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities, Ono Academic College.

Pnina Agenyahu-Director of Partnership Together Network, Connecting the Jewish People unit at the Jewish agency for Israel.

Pnina served as the Director of Interfaces and Synergy at the Strategic and planning unit of the Jewish agency for Israel after completing four years of Shlichut as Jewish agency senior Shlicha of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington between 2013-2017. In her previous position, she served as Director of the Hillel Center at Tel Aviv University, where she worked to promote a broad and diverse discourse of Jewish-Israeli social culture among students and young adults. Pnina has extensive experience in public speaking and teaching and she was invited to speak in many conferences all over the world. She is an activist involved in several volunteer endeavors in Israel, aimed at social change, including as a founding partner of the “Uru” movement, an international task force for Jewish peoplehood by the New York Federation and the Nadav Foundation, and one of the leaders in promoting the Sigd- Jewish Ethiopian holiday to become a national holiday. nina serves as a board member and director in various organizations, as Nativ organization, the board of directors of the Hologab Theater, the Hanan Einur Foundation and was appointed by the Minister of Education of Israel as a public representative on Israel’s Council for Higher Education. In 2012 Pnina was the recipient of The Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence Award by Hillel International. In 2014, as Israel marked 66 years of independence with a tribute to women, Pnina was named by Haaretz as one of 66 Israeli influential women you should know. In 2016 Pnina was the recipient of the Ted B. Farber Professional Excellence Award for her work on the Israel Engagement Fellowship for Teens. Pnina holds a BA from Hebrew university in Jewish History and Sociology, MA in political and public leadership from Tel Aviv University, and she is a graduate of The Mandel Program for Excellence – a new initiative for the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Mandel Foundation.

Pnina is married to Avi and they have 3 little kids Eitan, Erez and Ella.

Avishai Malso Tzagahon

Avishai made Aliya from Ethiopia to Israel with his family in 1984, through Sudan in Operation Moses. Avishai is one of 4 siblings, he grew up in Haifa region and lives today in the city of Ramle-Lod.
Following his military service Avishai began his Academic studies, completing his bachelor’s degree in Filmmaking from Sapir College in Sderot. In 2011, he published a book about the History of Ethiopian Jews in Amharic, he plans to publish the book in additional languages this coming year.
From 2006 to 2012 Avishai worked at SPNI- Israeli Nature Protection Society as a coordinator. During his university studies, Avishai founded together with a group of friends and fellow social activists, a Voluntary organization called “VOIC – Voice of Israeli Communities.” This organization is focused on preventing abuse and exploitation of young women at-risk, by older men. The organization is still running on a voluntary basis and Avishai serves as CEO.
Avishai joined Friends by Nature (FBN) in 2012. He works as a FBN countrywide communities director, runs the multi-cultural trainings at the organization and is a member of the growing community Garin in Lod.
Additionally, since 2011 Avishai started a film company “Studio 1” and acts as its director. And, in 2015, Avishai founded the LSFF- Lod Social Film Festival, an international film festival that emphasizes social issues.
Avishai’s dream is to see the Ethiopian Israeli community take responsibility for itself as equal and productive members of Israeli society.

Tuvia Hezkiyahu

Tuvia Hezkiyahu was born in Gondar, Ethiopia in 1977 and made Aliyah in 1980 via Sudan. He was raised in Beersheba and studied in a religious boarding school in Ra’anana. Within that framework, Tuvia participated in a mission to the U.S. through the ADL and is still a member of the organization.

In 1996 Tuvia studied film studies in Sapir College and was subsequently conscripted into the I.D.F. serving as a military photographer. From that point until today, Tuvia has been working as a film director, editor and cinematographer. In 2003, Tuvia joined Fasildan Productions, soon becoming central to this Ethiopian managed company. In 2007 Tuvia was a partner in the establishment of the Israeli Ethiopian TV channel – IETV. Tuvia has edited several documentary films dealing with the Israeli-Ethiopian community and has become one of the outstanding producers in this field.

Tuvia aspires to document the community’s past and history and to pass it on to future generations.

In certain areas Israel is a leader in L.G.B.T.Q. rights (e.g. in the I.D.F. – the Israeli Army), but in others is trailing most of the rest of the “enlightened” countries (e.g. marriage). We will meet different representatives from the community and learn about what is going on in Israel today and how it compares with the U.S