GALLERY: Freedom from Egyptian bondage marked at The Base Synagogue in Glenhazel
GLENHAZEL – The Jewish community marked more than 3 000 years of freedom from Egyptian bondage.
The Jewish community again gathered to celebrate the miracle of Passover and to mark their freedom from Egyptian bondage more than 3 330 years ago, when they left their country to find refuge during a devastating drought but ended up as slaves.
The celebration, held at The Base Synagogue, 32 Sunny Road in Glenhazel, was attended by leaders of various faiths, among them the African Christian Democratic Party leader, Rev Kenneth Meshoe, and many apostles and bishops from various churches.
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The event was organised by South African Friends of Israel along with the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF).
Reeva Forman, the honorary life vice president of the federation and chairperson of the Temple Israel Heritage Centre in Hillbrow said, “You must always work hard to ensure that those responsible for the horrendous oppression and enslavement of other human beings are brought to justice, just as we have sought justice over many years for those responsible for the Holocaust. It’s our belief as Jews not to do unto others what’s hurtful to us.” Forman said there were still people in these modern times who are still slaves.
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Danny Adeno Adebe, an Ethiopian Jew who now lives in Israel but is currently resident in South Africa and runs various upliftment projects in Kliptown, Soweto, narrated an 800km journey by his parents and other villagers to the Holy Land of Jerusalem. He was only nine years and took the journey barefoot.
Born in 1973, Adebe said their arduous journey was fraught with danger, with many dying from exhaustion, hunger or wild animals. “We finally reached the Sudan, where the authorities called the Israeli government and then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered for us to be air-lifted to Israel.”
A former shepherd boy who used to look after his father’s sheep, goats and donkeys, Adebe started his schooling in Israel and was given the name Danny. He joined the army after completing school before becoming a journalist, working for a radio station and various newspapers.
His wife is also an Ethiopian Jew who had made the arduous trip. She is a nurse and has worked in various big hospitals in Jerusalem.
“My wife and I came to Johannesburg eight months ago with our four children as missionaries to help others and payback on the help we got in Israel.”
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