Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

LIVING HISTORY

Yossi Vassa is an Ethiopian-Israeli stand-up comic who has been confronted with hardships and tragedy that most 29-year-old Americans would struggle to imagine. At age 9, he and his family were among thousands of Ethiopian Jews resettled in Israel thanks to Operation Moses. They journeyed on foot for 440 miles to a Sudanese transit camp, where they waited for a year before being airlifted to Israel. Vassa’s grandmother and his two younger brothers died from diseases contracted on their journey to the camp.

Though his story if full of sorrow and heartbreak, Vassa tells it with humor in his one-man show, “It Sounds Better in Amharic: From Ethiopia to the Holyland,” co-written and directed by Shai Ben Attar.

“I think of it as a unique drama,” Vassa said. “At the beginning we tried to define it as theatrical standup, but it’s not just standup. There’s also a dramatic, sad story.”

“It’s easier for people to understand difficulties through humor,” Vassa added. “It’s easier to communicate, especially when talking about something that is very strange and sensitive.”

The show transcends Vassa’s story, exploring larger issues of immigration, social integration and personal identity, while also investigating personal change, courage and humanity.

“I changed very much, and it’s a good thing. Don’t be afraid to change,” Vassa said. “At the end of the show I say that I’m open to change because I’m changing all the time.”

An optional Shabbat dinner with vegetarian and Ethiopian flair precedes the performance.

Bnai Keshet, 99 So. Fullerton Ave., Montclair; Feb. 27, Shabbat dinner at 7:30 p.m., $10; reservations and payment for dinner required at synagogue office by Feb. 25., performance 8:30 p.m.; free, reservations required. (973-746-4889 or [email protected])

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.