The Community That Stayed Behind
Estimates of the Yemeni Jews who chose not to perform aliyah afterwards, down to 1962, range from 1,000 to 3,000, mostly in outlying tiny hamlets, many near the border of Saudi Arabia. In this period just 400 heeded the call. Immense efforts were made by the Aden Jewish Community Council to get the remnant communities to perform aliyah, but these were met with strong hesitation, and many Yemeni Jews were ambivalent about emigrating.
It was forbidden to native-born Yemeni Jews who had left the country to re-enter, rendering communication with these communities difficult. Muslims were therefore hired as shelihim (emissaries) to locate the remaining Jews, pay their debts, and transport them to Aden. Little came of this.
Read more about this topic: Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)
Famous quotes containing the words community and/or stayed:
“... no community where more than one-half of the adults are disfranchised and otherwise incapacitated by law and custom, can be free from great vices. Purity is inconsistent with slavery.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)
“According to Father’s lexicon people who started on a job and didn’t stay at it for 50 years were “quitters.” If you stayed 20 years and then shifted to more congenial work you were a “drifter.””
—Richard Bissell (1913–1977)