Here’s a vintage photo of my Savta (grandma) and Sabba (grandpa). My family originates from Yemen, where my ancestors had lived for close to 2,000 years. Nearly 100 years ago, my Grandmother’s side of the family decided to move to Adis Ababa, Ethiopia and then to Israel, in 1933 (Southern Syria/Mandate Palestine at the time). On my Grandfather’s side, our family emigrated to Israel in 1924. Jews are indigenous to the Middle East, people need to get their facts right. So many folks throw around anti-Semitic rhetoric acting like Israel isn’t our homeland and that we don’t have the right to exist. I’m just trying to share some love and maybe educate some folks as to who really lives in Israel, how diverse it is, how Jewish and Muslim women can go and tan at the beach without fearing for their lives, how LGBTQ kids can march in the only safe country in the Middle East at Pride and not get shot and how this tiny country is doing it’s best to survive, and not be wiped off the planet. Stevie Wonder sang love’s in need of love. I think with all the devision right now, I would settle for any amount of love and unity.
