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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER OCTOBER 29, 29, 2015 2015 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home
From Ethiopia to the IDF to the Nassau County Legislature TJH speaks with Leg. Mazi Melesa Pilip BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Mazi, first of all, congratulations on your election to the Nassau County Legislature. Is this your first foray into politics? Yes. It is. But I have been active and involved in many different things from a young age. In Israel, when I was in college, I was a chairwoman for the National Ethiopian Students Organization for almost two years before I moved here. I was also active politically within the community in Israel. When I moved here, I was very active also within different non-profit organizations. I would give speeches around U.S. about Israel and Ethiopian Jews, speaking with people who never heard about Israel to show them the other side of Israel, the positive side of Israel, how Israel treats minorities. I have been doing that for the past six years. I also was active with a non-profit organization that’s called Israel At Heart. The main mission of the organization is really to bring non-Jewish, African American groups to Israel and to bring Ethiopian Jews from Israel here to different conferences. This way, we can bridge the gap between the African American and Jewish communities. I’m also very active within my community. Any time there’s an issue, I like to make sure our voice is heard. A few years ago, we didn’t like the way things were going in our community. So I organized a group of people together, and we elected a very good mayor, Dr. Pedram Bral. He’s really wonderful. After that election, Pedram Bral asked me to be on the board, and I did that for two years. He knows that when I want to move things, I get things done. So when he was looking for somebody to run for the Nassau County Legislature, he thought about me. There are two types of people in life. You have people who will complain from the outside and people who will take action. I like to take action.
I realized it was a great opportunity. There were a lot of things going on – Covid was shaking the country, there were issues between black and white, and there was more hate and anti-Semitism. We even started to see it in town. I thought to myself when they approached me, “I can be a good voice for the community, and I can be a bridge. I can bring all the communities together – Jewish, non-Jewish – we should all join together and make our voices heard.” And so I decided to run. People really were very supportive. A lot of people who never voted in the past wanted to stand up for change and to vote. They heard about me. They love who I am and what I’m bringing to the table. And I really am bringing unity to the people. That’s the bottom line: to improve the gap and know that we are one nation under one G-d. And we have to be very respectful to each other and fight any type of hate. You represent Great Neck. What communities does that encompass? The district is a very diverse community. We have a big community of Indians, Asians, Jews – there’s a big mix. What do you think was people’s passion that made them head to the polls this year and vote for you? I really was working very hard the few months before the elections to get out the vote. I actually was pregnant with twins during the campaign. No one knew I was expecting twins, but I didn’t let my pregnancy slow me down. I had my twin girls just a few days before Election Day. I was campaigning a lot those last few months. I was going from synagogue to synagogue, bringing out the vote. Sometimes I would leave Friday night to go to a shul and I would sleep at some-
one’s house on Friday night because I’m shomer Shabbat and I couldn’t walk back home. And then I would go to another synagogue the next day, on Shabbat, to spend time there and talk to people. Only when Shabbat was over would I go home. I did this for two months. It was intense but it was worth it. I met a lot of people. I would go to train stations and park events – any party, small or big – I was always there. I also had great people around me who helped me with my campaign. I cannot express what it meant to have such support. These people saw that I wanted to be a bridge between communities. When I spoke with people on the campaign trail, they liked that I grew up in Israel and joined the Israeli army. When I met with a lot of Persian Jews and Indian people and Chinese people, they liked that I was really living the American dream: One day you’re born in a third world country, and the next day you are in America and you achieve your dreams. I was able to share that with them. You came to Israel when you were 12 years old, correct? Yes. I came to Israel in Operation Solomon in 1991. While we were waiting aliyah, there was a civil war in Ethiopia, and Israel together with the United States made a special deal with the Ethio-
