Nassau County Legislator Mazi Pilip spoke at the March Lakeville Civic Association meeting held at MLFD Company 4 hosted by Lakeville Civic Association President Gordon Charlop.

Those in attendance were treated to an interesting evening that focused not on politics but rather on Pilip’s extraordinary journey.

Pilip was born and spent the early years of her life in the Gondar region of Ethiopia, a rural area in the North. She spoke of her experiences growing up Jewish in this remote enclave, with comparatively minimal resources.

By her teenage years, events led her to be one of the roughly 15,000 Ethiopian Jews that were ferried out by the Israeli government in an effort known as Operation Solomon. She shared the gratitude she felt and how it led her to enroll in the IDF, against her father’s wishes.

Mazi spoke warmly of her developing relationship with the gentleman who was soon to be her husband and how they ended up here with a family that now includes seven children.

The focus of the evening was on Pilip as a person not as a politician and it was in that relaxed mode that the association members came to know a different side of her.

The last few minutes were spent on her role in the Nassau County Legislature discussing the kinds of problems that they are responsible for. She fielded audience questions before departing to polite applause.

Next month, on April 16, the Lakeville Civic Association will host School Superintendent Kenneth R. Bossert as the Superintendent discusses his vision for the district.

You’re invited to join us! We’ll again be at the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department Company 4 at the corner of Northern Boulevard and Jayson Avenue starting at 7:15.