From Yemen to Israel on eagles’ wings

 

Theirs was a simple life immersed in Judaism. Women rose early to prepare breakfast, and men went to synagogue for morning prayers, and learned chumash, mishna and mussar before and after their prayers. The Jews of Yemen were not usually involved in agriculture and they worked as artisans. At the end of the day, there were prayers and more learning.

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But there were storms on the horizon. A 1922 government decree stipulated that all orphaned children had 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 became an undercurrent in an uneasy existence.

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

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With the establishment of the State of Israel, there were severe anti-Jewish rioting and it became clear that Jews could no longer remain in Yemen. Operation Magic Carpet, known in Hebrew as kanfe nesharim or “On Wings of Eagles” was one of the most remarkable rescue migrations in modern Jewish history. Nearly the entire community of Yemenite Jews, some 50,000 people, was transported on 380 flights to the newly established state between 1949 and 1950.

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The Jews sold their belongings and set out on foot or by donkey, travelling weeks through harsh terrain to reach the British-controlled port of Aden. Many had to wait months outside Aden for a plane out. In Aden, they were gathered in a large transit camp where conditions were crowded, hot, and had limited sanitation. From there, they were flown non-stop to Israel in a secretive, large-scale air operation. that included. As many people as possible were boarded on each plane, some of them converted cargo planes, not by the number of seats but by the maximum weight the aircraft could safely bear.

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They arrived during a tough time for Israel. There was a severe housing shortage, and families were assigned to ma’abarot camps. Those taken to Rosh Ha’Ayin were placed in an abandoned British Air Force base. Families lived in tents, while the buildings were used for communal activities, as a kitchen, clinic, school, and nursery. This museum was once a nursery in one of these British buildings.

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This museum provides a glimpse into the life of this centuries-old Jewish community. It describes their dramatic aliyah between 1949–1950, their early hardships in the transit camp, and their central role in building up the modern city of Rosh HaAyin.