From Potential Shahid to Zionist Jew
Imagine for a moment that half your life was spent in terrible fear.
That an atmosphere of death and education towards hatred of and violence towards others pervaded your daily routine.
As a Moslem child and adolescent constantly forced to move from place to place I always managed to find a crack of hope.
Even in the most radical places my inclination to choose life and see the good in everything was my means for exiting the darkness.
I gave hundreds of lectures in recent years and am now planning to publish my book,
Unafraid of the Long Journey
It is not just another biography filled with chapters of information,
but a fascinating and powerful account of my life story that I see as a tool for my mission and a message for every Jew who loves his nation and country.
My aspiration is to show as many people as possible that even in our darkest moments, when in the deepest abyss, we have the strength to extricate ourselves and to overcome all obstacles.
The book is in its initial writing stage and will include collaboration with writers and editors for the purpose of professional research.
But this can only happen if I reach my crowdfunding goal.
I am appealing to you, the public, to support me in achieving my dream.
Help me to imbue many others with faith and self-confidence and to become an ambassador for Israel’s advocacy endeavors.
Donate now and be the first to read the book!
Crowdfunding target: 150,000
My name is Yaron Avraham, a 42-year old religious and Zionist Jew living in Jerusalem. I was brought up in a radically religious Moslem family in Lod, with 17 siblings.
The atmosphere at home and in the neighborhood was a very harsh one, filled with tensions, constrictions, and rigid rules that left no space to breathe.
When I was seven years old my sister came home one day after dark, which in Islam is forbidden for women.
My older brothers murdered her in a brutal manner.
Up to that point my life was far from rosy, but after that murder it turned into an endless living hell. But it was also the start of my journey to confront my life.
Fearing that I would reveal the murder my brothers banished me from the house and abandoned me in a religious boarding school in a mosque in Gaza. I remained at the mercy of the most radical elements in Islam. I lived in sub-human conditions, under the cruelest disciplinary rules, and was constantly on the alert against violence.
At the age of twelve I was already regarded as a religious “scholar” who preaches lessons to filled mosques. I was trained emotionally and spiritually to climb up the ladder towards fulfilling the most important function in Islam: to be a shahid and to die in a holy war.
The training was harsh and merciless and was based on learning how to cope with the fear of death.
Ironically it was perhaps this training that enabled me to write this appeal.
[Caption] Hamas procession in Gaza: https://bit.ly/מקור
After many struggles and much defiance, humiliation and severe torment, I managed to escape from there. To this day I ask myself the following:
From where did I gather the strength to escape? How did I overpower the indoctrination that taught me that Jews were the worst creatures on earth? How did I manage to hide in a cemetery for ten days and survive? And who was the compassionate Jew with a kippah who took pity on me in a kiosk in Ramle, and gave me food and money to travel to Eilat to escape the inferno?
My book Unafraid of the Long Journey is an account of what I went through and what I have become. It is my mission in life and the book is my way of imbuing self-belief in the hearts of as many people as possible, as well as their right to be reborn as Jews.
I can only publish the book if I meet my crowdfunding target.
I need your support and invite you to partner me on a journey that is not yet over.
The next part if the journey is a second crowdfunding target of 230,000.
A series of lectures in Jewish and Israeli communities abroad, where I will serve as an advocacy ambassador for Israel around the world.
To meet fellow-Jews in a mission to influence public opinion about Israel.
I bound my fate to that of the Jewish People and became part of the Israeli Nation in stages. I enlisted in the IDF as a combat soldier and ultimately converted to Judaism. It was the most significant step I have ever taken in my life and, for the first time, out of free choice. I went through many hardships and setbacks to reach this point, and I feel an intense obligation to share how I coped with them.
As well as being a trained mental coach, I have devoted my time in recent years to lecturing to organizations, youth groups, pre-army preparatory programs, and business enterprises. I am writing Unafraid of the Long Journey to reach larger and more diverse audiences, and as many as possible. I would like to encourage people undergoing hardships and setbacks, and to show them it is possible to overcome these through awareness and even through happiness.
The Jewish People have undergone long and significant processes. We yearn for peace and security in our hereditary land and for a speedy redemption. In the perspective of eternity, we are neither
daunted nor despaired by the journey, even if it is a long and difficult one.
MainAll NewsInside IsraelFrom a Gaza mosque to an IDF combat unit fighting in Gaza
From a Gaza mosque to an IDF combat unit fighting in Gaza:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/289377
[Caption] Captivating meeting with Mr. David Friedman, US Ambassador to Israel, following one of my lectures.
I’m appealing to your generosity to donate as much as you can and invite you to buy my book.
Choose one or more of the range of gifts offered on this page for you or for your family and friends, and partner me in publishing this book.
It is my personal life story but not only my personal property – help me in this important point in my life, for Israel’s sake.
Thank you!
