Israel has finally reflected its diversity on the Israeli beauty pageant , a black woman has won the crown!
Yityish Aynaw, known to her friends as Titi, is an Ethipian olah (immigrant) to Israel, who came to the country 10 years ago, when she was 12.
Yityish left her Facebook profile open for public, however, I thought it would be best not to share any photos there, in case she changes her mind later. However, let me give you a few hints about what kind of woman she is:
The new Miss Israel doesn’t seem to be a gung-ho about politics, however, she still “likes” Amir Peretz, the famous Moroccan-born Israeli politician, who is a member of Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah party.
Beside being a “fan” of Will Smith, Titi defines Martin Luther King to be her personal hero.
Titi hopes to be “the first black TV host in Israel” and to help change the stereotypical image of the Ethiopian women and immigrants generally in Israel.
Here is a short interview of Yityish Aynaw…

Anyway, before we jump into the lingual part, let me tell you some facts about Miss Israel contest generally:

• First Miss Israel ever was Miriam Yaron, who was born in Germany.
• First Israeli-born Miss Israel was Michal Har’el, from Jerusalem.
• First IDF soldier to compete in the Israeli beauty pageant was Chavatzelet Dror.
• First mizrahi Miss Israel was Ora Vered, who was born in Yemen.
• First Miss Israel to win Miss world was Rina Mor, in 1976.
• Youngest Miss Israel ever was Dana Wexler.
• First Israeli Muslim and Arab to be Miss Israel was Rana Raslan, in 1999.

Now let’s see how to say Beauty Queen in Hebrew.

Before we start, let me tell you that it is very common to say “miss yisrael” instead. Here is how Israelis write it and say it:
מיס ישראל
[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/miss-israel-in-hebrew.mp3″ text=”Miss Israel in Hebrew”]
To literally say “beauty queen” you’d literally say “queen beauty” think of it as if you were to say “queen of beauty”:

Queen in Hebrew is “malka”, pronounced and written this way:

מַלְכַּה
[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/queen-in-hebrew.mp3″ text=”Queen in Hebrew (audio pronunciation)”]

Beauty in Hebrew is “yofi”, pronounced and written like this:

יופי
[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/beauty-in-hebrew.mp3″ text=”Beauty in Hebrew (Audio pronunciation)”]
Together, they would be “malkat yofi”. But when we Israeli talk to each other about the beauty queen, they have to use “the”, right? After all, how many Miss Israel’s are there in Israel?!
So “the” in hebrew, is “ha”, and interestingly we don’t put it before “queen”, we rather put it before “beauty”. So we literally say “queen (of) the beauty”. Here is how to write and say that
Malkat hayofi
מַלְכַּת היופִי
[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/the-beauty-queen-in-hebrew.mp3″ text=”Beauty Queen in Hebrew (Audio pronunciation)”]
Update!!! Titi is going to meet President Barack Hussein Obama when he comes to Israel! Here is a short interview about that…