Nadene Goldfoot
Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish is an American actress, comedian, and author who is Black and Jewish. After guest-starring on several television series, she gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show.
Her breakthrough came in 2017 when she starred in the comedy film Girls Trip, receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Dina. That year, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work as a host on a Saturday Night Live episode, and published a memoir, The Last Black Unicorn. She stars in the TBS series The Last O.G., and executive produces and voices Tuca in the Netflix/Adult Swim animated series Tuca & Bertie. In 2021, she won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, for her comedy album Black Mitzvah.
A Mitzvah in Yiddish is a "good deed." Officially, it was a commandment, one of the 613 mentioned in the Talmud. Today it's used colloquially for any good or charitable deed. Visiting the sick is a mitzvah.
Her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn (written with Tucker Max) was released in December 2017 by Simon & Schuster and debuted at #15 on The New York Times best-seller list.
Tiffany Haddish’s Netflix special “Black Mitzvah” was nominated for outstanding variety special along with fellow Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who was tabbed for his “23 Hours To Kill.”Haddish spoke with Alma about her journey to claiming her Jewish heritage (her dad was an Eritrean Jew) and her decision to study Torah and become a bat mitzvah.
“When I came up with the concept for my special,” Haddish explained, “I was trying to figure out a way to tell my truth, my experiences in life, and also maybe open other people’s eyes to the fact that in African American culture, there is nothing that says, ‘OK, you’re officially a woman,’ or ‘You’re officially a man.’ There’s no ceremony. There’s no rite of passage … Knowing who you are, knowing where you come from, that’s what makes you an adult. And being able to share your story. That’s what I love about Judaism, because it’s all about sharing your stories and questioning and learning from each other.”In December 2019, Haddish decided to have her Bat Mitzvah ceremony at age 40. Reform Rabbi Susan Silverman, the sister of comedian Sarah Silverman, officiated.
Haddish was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. Her father, Tsihaye Reda Haddish, was a refugee from Eritrea, and was from an Ethiopian-Jewish family. He was a refugee because of the war going on since the 60's between Ethiopia and a section on it-Eritrea wanting independence. Ethiopia expelled 77,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin it deemed a security risk, thus compounding Eritrea's refugee problem. The majority of those were considered well off by the Ethiopian standard of living. They were deported after their belongings had been confiscated. On the Eritrean side, around 7,500 Ethiopians living in Eritrea were interned, and thousands of others were deported. According to Human Rights Watch, detainees on both sides were subject in some cases to torture, rape, or other degrading treatment.
Her mother, Leola, was an African American small business owner. Haddish's father left when she was three years old.
She won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for Black Mitzvah, with the news being broken to her in the middle of a recording of Kids Say the Darndest Things which was just aired on TV on channel ABC which I saw. This was the first I had heard of her and didn't even catch her name, but found it anyway.
Haddish married William Stewart in 2008. He helped Haddish locate her once-estranged father who walked her down the aisle at their first wedding, which she described as "one of the happiest days of my life." They have since divorced.
Haddish became a naturalized citizen of Eritrea on May 22, 2019 while taking part in festivities there commemorating the 28th anniversary of Eritrean independence from Ethiopia. She first visited the country in 2018 to bury her Eritrean-born Ethiopian-Jewish father who came to the U.S. as a refugee, and to connect with her relatives.
Eritrea is a northeast African country on the Red Sea coast. It shares borders with Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti. The capital city, Asmara, is known for its Italian colonial buildings, like St. Joseph's Cathedral, as well as art deco structures. Italian, Egyptian and Turkish architecture in Massawa reflect the port city's colorful history. Notable buildings here include St. Mariam Cathedral and the Imperial Palace.
According to the Pew Research Center, as of 2010, 62.9% of the population of Eritrea adheres to Christianity, 36.6% follows Islam, and 0.4% practices folk religion. The remainder observes Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths (<0.1% each), or are religiously unaffiliated (0.1%).Therefore, Jews make up less than 1% of their population.
Jews first settled in Eritrea in the late 19th century, emigrating from . Many Jews came to the country in search of economic and commercial opportunities. In 1905, the Asmara Hebrew Congregation was formed. During the 1930s, many Jews arrived in Eritrea fleeing persecution in Europe.
The last celebrated at the Asmara Hebrew Congregation was in the 1950’s. During that decade the Jewish congregation numbered more than 500. On the , Jews came from all over Africa to the for services. In 1948, many Jews left Eritrea when gained its independence. Nevertheless, the majority of the Jewish community left the country in the 1970s during its thirty year battle with Ethiopia for independence. In 1975, the and much of the community were evacuated. By then, only 150 Jews remained in Eritrea.
Today, only a handful of Jews remain in Eritrea. The synagogue is kept up by Samuel Cohen, one of the few Jews left in Eritrea. The Cohen family immigrated to Eritrea around 1900. It is often difficult to get enough people together for a , Israeli diplomats and officials occasionally make up the difference. The Jewish cemetery is located on a hill just on the outskirts of Asmara. There are nearly 150 graves in the plot.
Although, is not an officially recognized religion in Eritrea the Jews are left alone. Jews have never been in Eritrea.
Jews are found next door in Ethiopia, and have been brought to Israel in this past generation. They had been under attack by the Christian population there.
In September 2020, Haddish revealed she had tested positive for COVID-19 amid the pandemic.
Resource:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-unorthodox-to-maisel-here-are-the-notable-2020-jewish-emmy-nominations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Haddish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/emotional-eritrea-homecoming-comedian-actress-tiffany-haddish
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-mitzvah
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