Ethiopian, Israeli, American — One Woman's Story | Tali Aynalem
7/14/202650 min
What does it mean to be Ethiopian, Israeli, and American — all at once?
Richard Taite sits down with Tali Aynalem, a former IDF soldier, Ethiopian Israeli American writer, and social media influencer whose videos about Jewish identity, Israel, and history have reached millions.
Tali shares her remarkable story: growing up in Israel, moving to Oregon at age 10, serving in the IDF as an admin worker with the Givati Brigade combat unit stationed along the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria, and returning to the United States — before October 7th changed everything.
She and Richard discuss what it felt like to lose close friends overnight to ideology, why she finally decided to speak out, how she stays optimistic in a climate of rising antisemitism, and what she believes the world gets wrong about Israel and Jewish identity.
Tali also opens up about her new Substack, her decision to date exclusively within the Jewish community, and why she believes being Jewish — proudly, openly, and without apology — is the only answer to the moment we're in.
Follow Tali Aynalem on Instagram and subscribe to her Substack for weekly essays on Jewish identity, history, and culture.
New episodes of We're Out of Time drop every Tuesday on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTali Aynalem· Guest0:00
It's just very dehumanizing when people just don't assume that your existence is right or your people's existence in a land that belonged to them is right. You know? That's just very traumatic. It's very, um... I don't know, it's almost... I, I, I just feel like it's earth-shattering, 'cause what you think is reality is no longer reality, and it's based on propaganda. It's very... It's a very strange thing to go through, to lose people that you think care about you, but then they care about people that they don't even know across the globe.
Speaker 20:36
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Richard Taite· Host1:15
Our guest today is Tali Eyalim. Tali is an Ethiopian Israeli-American writer, former IDF soldier, and social media influencer whose videos about Israel, Jewish identity, history,