{"id":34566,"date":"2025-11-06T07:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34566"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:56:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:56:44","slug":"premiere-of-film-documenting-onos-mission-to-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/news\/premiere-of-film-documenting-onos-mission-to-ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Premiere of Film Documenting Ono\u2019s Mission to Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><video src=\"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/11\/Final-Love-and-Fear-Film-Event-LOWERES-11.25.mp4\" controls=\"controls\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"><\/video><\/figure>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\r\n<h3><strong>Premiere of Film Documenting Ono\u2019s Mission to Ethiopia<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>On <strong>November 3, 2025<\/strong>, Tel Aviv\u2019s <strong>Cinematheque<\/strong> hosted the premiere of <em>Conversations of Love and Fear<\/em>, a new documentary by filmmaker <strong>Yossi Ashdot<\/strong>. The 40-minute film chronicles the <strong>2023 mission to Ethiopia<\/strong> led by <strong>Ono Academic College\u2019s International Center for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry<\/strong>. The sold-out event was held in the presence of <strong>His Excellency Tesfaye Yetayeh<\/strong>, Ambassador of Ethiopia to Israel, and was sponsored by <strong>A\u2019aleh Betamar<\/strong>, the <strong>Zalman Shazar Center<\/strong>, and <strong>Ono Academic College<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The evening opened with a musical performance by the Yemenite-Israeli ensemble <strong>Yama Teiman<\/strong>. <strong>Prof. Yuval Elbashan<\/strong> of Ono, who took part in the mission, emceed the event with humor and reflection, remarking that while he thought he had gone to Ethiopia to teach, he soon realized he was there to learn. <strong>Dr. Rachel Yedid<\/strong>, Director of A\u2019aleh Betamar, an organization promoting Yemenite Jewry, shared the origins of the mission, <strong>Adv. Zeev Kaso<\/strong>, founder of Ono\u2019s Ethiopian Student Integration Program, highlighted 25 years of Ono\u2019s work empowering Ethiopian-Israeli students, and <strong>Asaf Avraham<\/strong> of the Zalman Shazar Center spoke about advancing marginalized Jewish communities worldwide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A video message from <strong>Dr. Awigechew Amarei<\/strong> of Gondar University recalled the historic joint conference \u201cEthiopia and Jerusalem \u2013 3000 Years of History\u201d held during the mission. Filmmaker <strong>Yossi Ashdot<\/strong> described the production as an exploration of \u201clove and fear,\u201d asking whether Israeli society is ready to embrace new immigrant communities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The documentary itself unfolds in three parts: confronting racism in Israel, exploring heritage and identity through the delegation\u2019s visit to Ethiopia\u2014including <strong>Zeev Kaso\u2019s emotional return<\/strong> to his home village after 39 years\u2014and envisioning future cooperation to preserve Bete Israel heritage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>After the screening, Prof. Elbashan led a moving panel with participants of diverse backgrounds. <strong>Rana Shorapha<\/strong>, an Ono alumna and lecturer, shared how the film resonated with her experience as an Arab growing up in Jewish society, while <strong>Noam Cohen<\/strong>, from Ono\u2019s Religious Zionist Administration, reflected on the evolving acceptance of Mizrahi and Moroccan Jewish identity in Israel.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The evening concluded with a <strong>flute performance by Yossi Inbram<\/strong>, a member of Ono\u2019s Beit Midrash for the Study of Bete Israel texts\u2014an uplifting finale to a night celebrating shared heritage, dialogue, and unity.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":34500,"menu_order":12,"template":"","class_list":["post-34566","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories_news-updates_news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}