The immigrants from Yemen

Their life was a simplistic life that was immersed in Judaism.  Women rose early to prepare breakfast, and men went to synagogue for morning prayer, and learned chumash, mishna and mussar before and after prayers. Jews were not usually involved in agriculture and they were artisans of various types. At the end of the day, there were prayers, and then more learning.

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However, there were storms on the horizon. A 1922 government decree stipiulated that all orphaned children were to be raised as Muslims. To prevent this several dozen Jewish orphans were hidden by the community and then smuggled out of the country. Fear was an undercurrent in an uneasy existence.

There were messianic expectations in the community. Between 1881 to 1882, 200 to 300 families sailed from Hodeida to Port Said, and then to Jaffa, and finally settled in the village of Silwan in Jerusalem. They were not welcomed in the Old City and settled outside it in caves. More groups followed in 1911 and 1912, and again after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

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In 1948 there were severe anti-Jewish riots and it was clear that Jews could no longer remain in Yemen. Operation Magic Carpet, also known in Hebrew as “On Wings of Eagles,” was one of the most remarkable rescue migrations in modern Jewish history. Between 1949 and 1950, nearly the entire Jewish community of Yemen was transported to the newly established Israel.

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The Yemenite Jews sold their belongings and then set out on foot or by donkey, travelling days or weeks through harsh terrain to reach the British-controlled port city of Aden.  In Aden, they were gathered in a large transit camp where conditions were crowded, hot, and with limited sanitation. From Aden, they were flown to Israel in a secretive, large-scale air operation in aircraft (including converted cargo planes) that flew nonstop routes from Aden to Israel. They waited months outside Aden, Yemen, waiting for a plane out. Space was at a premium, and as many people as possible were boarded, not by the number of seats, but by the maximum safe weight of the aircraft.

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In Israel there was a severe housing shortage, and families were assigned tents in ma’avarah camps. One of the tents is on display in the museum.

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The building for the museum dates to the time of the British Mandate and originally served as part of a British Air Force base. After 1948, the abandoned camp became a transit (ma’abara) camp for these immigrants. This particular building functioned as a baby house for the immigrant children. The building was restored and repurposed as a museum.

 

The museum highlights the centuries-old Jewish community in Yemen, the dramatic aliyah of Yemenite Jews (especially 1949–1950), their early hardships in the transit camps, and their central role in building Rosh HaAyin, which became a major Yemenite population center.