Ilan Lejayeshel, who immigrated on his own to Israel from Ethiopia in 1980 when he was just thirteen, is continuing to actualize his Zionist dream as a volunteer guide at Herzl House in Hulda Forest. Ilan joined Herzl House activities through the KKL-JNF Volunteer Division and was assigned to guide groups of teen visitors.
Ilan Lejayeshel was born in Ethiopia to a traditional Zionist Jewish family and immigrated to Israel in 1980. As a child, he had been educated with stories about Israel and Jerusalem. His parents and late grandparents were leaders of the Jewish community in Ethiopia, and they loved Israel, so they gave their children an authentic Jewish education including the Zionist dream of immigrating to the land of Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people.
When he was only thirteen, Ilan left his home and family and immigrated to Israel, making the difficult journey on foot via Sudan with a group of people from his village in Ethiopia. “Today, when I look back, I actually gave up the warmth of my parents as a thirteen-year-old boy and chose to immigrate to Israel. Therefore, even the journey on foot, under extremely harsh conditions, didn’t deter me at all,” he recalls.
In Israel, Ilan attended a Youth Aliya boarding school. His parents were still in Ethiopia, because the regime there was refusing to give Jews permission to leave Ethiopia. After four years of waiting and longing, his parents and relatives immigrated to Israel, traveling on foot via Sudan with assistance from the government of Israel. Some of his relatives died on the way.
As of today, Ilan’s entire family is in Israel. “In spite of the difficult journey and the lives sacrificed by my relatives in order to immigrate to Israel, they are all in Israel, and most of them are academics and Sabras, contributing to the community and to Israeli society, each in his own field, faithfully strengthening the security of Israel in their different and diverse jobs,” says Ilan.
Ilan is married and has three children. He has an academic degree in education and is licensed by the Ministry of Education to get involved with education for the entire community. “I love the land of Israel and its landscapes, and my dream was to get to know it better by working with educational content for teens and the general public. I believe that my personal story goes well with the Zionist narrative and with loving Israel,” he concludes.
Several months ago, Ilan approached the KKL-JNF Volunteer Division and was assigned to guide groups of teens at Herzl House in Hulda Forest. The boy who had grown up in Ethiopia, who had personally suffered from virulent anti-Semitism, and who had realized his dream and immigrated to Israel, has experienced closure in working as a guide in a place that bears the name of the founder of the Zionist movement.
Ilan is usually at Herzl house on Mondays, where he welcomes visitors with enthusiasm. “Unfortunately,” says Ilan, “today’s teens are not connected enough to history and to Zionism. I tell them about this site, and then I offer to tell them my own story, which is a realization of the Zionist dream. Through it, I impart the message of loving the land of Israel and of the need to take care of it and appreciate it. At the same time, I am dedicated to sharing with them the story of the courage of Ethiopian Jewry, a community that lost about four thousand of its members on the journey to Israel via Sudan. I’m happy to see that the young people are very interested in the story. They ask questions about my journey to Israel, and sometimes they ask to be photographed with me.”
Among the groups of teens that arrive at Herzl House, there are also groups of Ethiopians from time to time, who are especially captivated by their encounter with the guide there who is a member of their community. “I see on their faces that it’s a pleasant surprise for them. Most of them were born in Israel, and suddenly they meet an educator, an educational figure, who is from the same place as their parents. I have no doubt that this gives them a feeling of pride and a greater sense of belonging and loving Israel,” Ilan says with satisfaction.