The Moon Is Bread

I’m not going to go down the cliché highway by calling this a “culture clash” kind of story, but that’s what this is. An Ethiopian Jew ends up in Israel, falls for a British Jew, and their ways don’t jive. But it’s still an exciting story.

Abren (or Zafan, because in Ethiopia they have honorific names) survives the worst things in order to get to Israel in 1984, then finds himself living in concrete. Like all Ethiopian Jews that came to Israel at the time, he’s housed in an “absorption center” with apartments, communal dining areas, recreation areas, etc. Now that’s not to call it dingy, or even Spartan. The place is safe, clean, the food is good, they’re treated with respect, but it’s not home. In Ethiopia there was no nuclear family; everyone lived together. Now the families have their own apartments, but they’re not being taught the language or getting help finding jobs. Depression sets in.

I’m going to guess that while the Ethiopian Jews didn’t expect “a land flowing with milk and honey” (although there is in fact plenty of cheap milk and honey) they did expect assistance. They were used to a society where you could expect to be given room & board by whatever family you had. But in Israel, you were on you own. The Israelis expected that the new “olim” would go out and find jobs, move out of the absorption centers, and into their own apartments. That’s not what these people were used to. They were also faced with a problem that the Yemenites had back in the 1950’s, in that their customs were not recognized. The Chief Rabbi demanded that the Ethiopians convert to “proper” Judaism, and the Ethiopians said “who are you to say what is proper, we’ve been following the Torah for over a thousand years!”

On a positive note, there are many funny scenes in the book, and most are about food. Abren and another Ethiopian are walking while eating falafel (a big no-no back home, you don’t eat while walking) and two boys say “you like it here in Israel, there is lots of food, yes?” He and his friend start laughing because back in Ethiopia, those boys would’ve been fed a massive meal if they’d showed up. Hospitality is very important in traditional societies. The diet is different as well, because Ethiopian cuisine is mostly meat, dairy, and bread, while Israelis want a whole Middle Eastern smorgasbord of salads, rice, beans, couscous, eggs, meats, cheeses, etc. He serves his British girlfriend a salad and says “back home, this is what we fed to cattle!”

One of the main differences between the Ethiopian Jew and the British Jew in this book is the way they view hospitality. In Ethiopia you’re expected to open your home to whatever relatives show up, and don’t expect them to call you in advance! Saying “darn, now’s not a good time, I got company” isn’t acceptable. If your second cousin whom you haven’t seen in 20 years shows up, you have to put him up. The same thing happens in the book Migrations Of The Heart, where the African-American woman can’t adjust to Nigerian life. She wants her husband to spend more money on her and their son, and he’s like “my nephew needs schoolbooks, refusing to help would be unforgivable.”

This is one of many great books about African versus European customs. It ranks alongside Season of Migration to the North, An African in Greenland, We Won’t Budge, Ayah, and Migrations of the Heart.