Travel Short Story Food 28 First Person
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
EISURE Two Israelis travel to Africa L to witness its many connections to Israel and Judaism – and find them in the oddest of places • ARI Z. ZIVOTOFSKY and ARI GREENSPAN hen a person thinks of deepest, darkest Africa, with gorillas in the mist and baboons howling from the treetops, Uganda may come to mind. When one ponders the loca- Wtions of vibrant Jewish communities, Uganda does not even make the list. Yet this equatorial African country has a century of connections with the Jew- ish people. We decided to travel there with the main purpose of visiting the “Orthodox” branch of the Abayu- daya, a tribe of Africans who accepted Judaism upon themselves in 1919. However, along the way we sought out other Jewish connections and history in this primitive and destitute African nation. Our point of entry was the country’s main airport: Entebbe. We were met there by a kippa-wearing young Ugandan named Enosh Keki Mainah, the spiritual leader of the aspiring Jewish residents of the “Orthodox” village of Putti. Before heading out for the supposed four-hour drive to Mbale, the city near Putti where we would be staying, we took him on an unexpected adventure with us. Escape from Entebbe: Part 2 For most Jews, Entebbe is associated with the famous IDF rescue of Jewish hostages on July 4, 1976, when our special forces, including the assault unit commanded by Lt.-Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, made (Uriel Messa) military history with the miraculous operation. Anybody old enough to remember it can surely 24 recall where they were on that day. On June 27, an Air France plane originating in Israel was hijacked shortly after taking off from Athens en route to A perfect vacation home Paris. It was diverted to Entebbe via Libya. There, in Herzliya Pituah HOMES the Jewish and Israeli passengers were separated from the others, who were then released. The Air France captain refused to leave; shockingly he was later disciplined for his courage. Once it was on the ground in Entebbe, 20 km. from the capital city of Kampala, dictator Idi Amin Dada offered his support and help to the captors. 29 Idi Amin was a megalomaniac who dressed himself 16 TRAVEL SHORT STORY up like a caricature of a dictator, awarding himself titles and ranks; his uniform was covered in medals Witnessing Jewish life Two dance partners discover it of his own invention. The IDF rolled a Mercedes sim- in Africa really takes two to tango ilar to Idi Amin’s, as well as soldiers, doctors, and equipment, onto four C-130 Hercules airplanes. They flew low over the Red Sea to avoid enemy detection and came in at night over Lake Victoria. There were several objectives in the raid: first and foremost, to get the hostages out safely from the 28 FIRST PERSON 30 FOOD main terminal building; second, to knock out the Ugandan military personnel and the hostage-takers, Rejecting apartheid in The new strategy to eating most of whom were in and around the main control Jerusalem healthy tower; and finally the destruction of the Ugandan air force and its Russian planes and radar installations. Miraculously, the operation succeeded. We were headed to Entebbe and wanted to see what was left of the battle site, as well as to recite a memorial prayer for those who fell during the raid, including Netanyahu. We stopped at the main 16 MAGAZINE June 24, 2011 TRAVEL WITH THE brides and grooms at their Jewish-style wedding in Mbale. (Courtesy) A Jewish adventure in Africa police station in charge of security for important historical site. Like all other the far end of the base, which is still both the country’s international airport Ugandans we encountered, they knew of pockmarked with bullet holes. At the and the air force base where the raid took the raid and remembered it positively, as base of the tower is a memorial plaque place, and were dismissed. The cop sit- it was the first crack in Idi Amin’s rule. dedicated in 2005 by Ugandan President ting out front told us we were “too small They asked if we had weapons; we Yoweri Museveni and Prime Minister [unimportant] to give you permission to showed them that we did not. They Binyamin Netanyahu. In a 2008 meeting enter the base,” and as if to underscore answered us in Swahili, but the rough with the Netanyahu family in Jerusalem, how significant the security was, he con- translation in Yiddish might have been Museveni announced that he would be tinued with an exaggeration: “The presi- “drei mi nisht kain kup” – don’t bug us any converting the tower into a museum. As dent of the country needs to know the more. They handed us security passes in of our visit, nothing had been done name of every person entering the base.” exchange for our passports, which they toward that goal, and even access to the Not to be dissuaded, we drove over to dumped in a cardboard box under a tree, site was difficult. the base and went to the first gate we saw. and before we knew it we were strolling Just before Dr. Ethan Schuman, who Two guards were there, holding their AK- down the runway of a Ugandan air force was traveling with us from St. Louis, 47 rifles loosely on their shoulders. We base, passing UN planes, fighters and hel- began the “El Malei Rahamim” prayer, a explained that we wanted to say a prayer icopters. motorcycle with two large men in Netanyahu’s memory and see this We ambled to the old control tower on approached us, and they asked what the MAGAZINE www.jpost.com 17 TRAVEL That was when the trouble began. The was stagnant due to a lack of European security men were back, this time with settlers. In April 1903, Joseph Chamber- weapons, and we were herded off to the lain, then colonial secretary, proposed to police station. Our passports were confis- Theodor Herzl that part of that region, cated, mug shots were taken, statements the Uasin Gishu plateau, be given to the were transcribed, and we sat for three Zionists as a Jewish homeland, and this nervous hours while our future was became known as the “Uganda Plan.” On decided. Uganda’s finest seemed some- August 23, 1903, Herzl stunned the 592 what perplexed about these three middle- delegates of the Sixth Zionist Congress by aged, educated Westerners who had wan- presenting them with this plan as an dered onto their air force base. After the “emergency measure” to save Jewish lives interrogations though, it was clear that threatened by violent Russian anti-Semi- they had fumbled the ball. All we had tism. It was clear to all that the Zionists done was ask permission to enter a preferred the Land of Israel, and a great restricted area – and received it. debate took place on whether to accept During the questioning, we explained the Uganda Plan as a temporary solution. that we were religious Jews and even Surprisingly one of the blocs of support pulled out our tzitzit to show them we Herzl had at the congress was the reli- were wearing religious garments. When gious Zionist Mizrachi movement under the head policeman delivered the verdict, the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Jacob he was like the good cop-bad cop routine Reines. It has been suggested that the all rolled into one. First, he glared at us religious Zionists understood that for and made us squirm in silence for 30 sec- them, there was no fear of forgetting onds. Next he told us that we had done Jerusalem even if they found a temporary something very wrong – we had “taken refuge in east Africa. Not all religious advantage of two soldiers who had prob- Zionists supported the plan; Rabbi ably not eaten all day!” – and said that Yitzchak Nissenbaum, known as the next time they would “shoot us like they “traveling Zionist preacher,” and Rabbi did to Yonatan Netanyahu.” But finally Meir Berlin both opposed it. Ultimately he cracked a thin smile and said that our shelved, the Uganda Plan was one of stories showed we meant no harm and many resettlement plans outside the that we were “not criminals.” Holy Land that never happened. Although we knew we had done noth- Although we were in Uganda, we were ing wrong, when we left the country two not traversing territory that nearly days later, we wondered if we would be became the Zionist state. Much confu- arrested again. We realized that the cen- sion continues to surround the proposal, tral police station for the country’s only including over the identity of the region international airport did not have even the Zionists were offered. Uganda and the one computer in it and that they’d had to British East Africa Protectorate, known as copy our passport details by hand, so the Kenya since the 1920s, were both under chances of trouble were slim – but we control of the British Foreign Office, but were still glad to get out safely, and when the land offered to Herzl was entirely we landed in Kenya, we were happy to be within the latter region. One possible ori- back in “civilization” once again. gin of the confusion is the connection between the plan and the Uganda rail- Trip to Mbale road, which at the time was also totally The trip to Mbale, the city closest to our in Kenya but may have lent its name to destination, was well over four hours, the proposal.