Mitzllal - Stranger Among Sisters

An Ethiopian Woman's Struggle for Serenity Upon Her Return to Jerusalem

She journeyed, as a four-year-old, all the way from the backlands of Ethiopia...across raging rivers and arid deserts... over craggy mountains and narrow cliffs... until finally, depleted of all strength, she reached her longed-for destination: Eretz Yisrael.

But the grueling two-year trek, during which many in her group lost their lives, turned out to be only the first part of Mitzllal's personal journey... and the easiest part. What lay ahead of her was a struggle of such magnitude and pain that Mitzllal found herself wrestling with it for a full sixteen years after her emigration to the Holy Land.

It began on the day she was informed, in the land she thought of as finally her own, that she was a "sofek Yehudi" - a questionable Jew. And just like that, Mitzllal was thrown into an identity crisis that clawed at the very fibers of her being...

This is the story of Mitzllal, a soul-stirring story of physical hardship, inner turmoil, and eventual triumph. It is the story of the long and arduous climb that finally led this Ethiopian Jewish woman to finding true connection and peace of mind.

By: Rachel Darar Lebowitz