By Sam Litvin
SAN DIEGO — “They love our work, but they do not love us” says an elderly man in the high mountains of Ethiopia. He is a Jew. His family has been Jewish as far back as they can remember, and they can remember all the way to the days of Queen Sheeba traveling to meet King Solomon. He is talking about the people among whom his community has lived for generations, he talks about their struggle to survive in a country where they have lived for so long, and yet, they are foreigners to this day. They are foreigners for one reason: they are Jewish. The film Nakfot shows this scene by scene in terms and in a way that was not shown by another documentary before.
The film “Nakfot,” or “Yearning,” was created by Dr. Malka Shabtay, an applied anthropologist from Israel. She and a young Ethiopian man Abera are the protagonists of this film. The film begins showing Abera and his colleague working on jewelry. It follows him learning from his mother that there are secret synagogues where the true ways of following his religion are followed. Those traditions are kept secret in order to protect kids like him from the rest of society which routinely terrorizes and kills those of Jewish faith. He and Dr. Shabtay set out on a journey to find these hidden synagogues that function as a hospice for the elderly and orphanages for the young. They travel deep into the wilderness to find these hidden synagogues, only to learn that the locals are well aware of them and that violence cannot be hidden in darkness. Violence can only be fought in the light. Because even as these synagogues were hidden, 30 out of the original 45 are destroyed. Only the last 15 stand, as Jews are continuously hunted and killed.
The movie has received many awards from festivals around the world not just for what it shows but how it shows the life of Beta Israel, their customs that are unique to Ethiopia and yet are clearly Jewish, from the special way to pour wine, to the prayers that refer to Jerusalem and the songs that speak of the suffering and the yearning to be accepted and be home, in Israel.
This film and Dr. Malka Shabtay and the President of Ethiopian Beta Israel Belayneh Tazebku are coming to San Diego on April 11 for a screening by South African Jewish American Community (SAJAC) and Yiddishland. Tickets are available here. If you’d like to see the film or partner with sponsoring the event, please contact the writer, Sam Litvin at litvins@gmail.com.
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Sam Litvin, a Ukrainian immigrant to San Diego, is a world traveler, finding Jewish stories wherever he goes.