Review

Author(s): Avihai Shivtiel

Review by: Avihai Shivtiel
Source: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Nov., 2004), pp. 243-244
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4145511
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Britsih Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, November 2004 Carfax Publishing
Taylor & Francis Group

31(2), 243-251

Bibliographical Section

A: REVIEWS: HISTORY

JEWISH EMIGRATION FROM THE YEMEN 1951-98, CARPET WITHOUT

MAGIC. By REUBEN AHRONI. Richmond, Surrey, Curzon, 2001. xiii + 202 pp

The massive immigration of the Jews of Yemen to Israel, referred to by both the
newcomers and the planners of the operation of flying them over to Israel as the 'Magic
Carpet' (alluded to in the subtitle of the book under discussion), took place between
1949 and 1951. That is to say, it officially began soon after the creation of Israel in 1948,
when the newly-bom state, in fulfillment of the Zionist dream, if not fantasy, attempted
to put an end to the dispersion of the Jews around the world by bringing over millions
of Jews from the diaspora and resettling them in Israel. The Yemenite Jews were
therefore but one group in exile targeted by both the Israeli government, headed by
David Ben-Gurion, and the Jewish Agency, who jointly exerted all efforts to transfer to
Israel complete Jewish communities, mainly from Asia and Africa. The other two
massive immigrations, which took place about the same time, were those of the Jewish
communities of Iraq and Morocco. The reason for the urgent removal of these
communities was two-fold: to rescue them from the dangers they were facing from a
local hostile society which increased as a direct result of the creation of Israel, and harsh
government policies which were adopted in the countries of their domicile, and to boost
the Jewish population of Israel. This project gained impetus especially in view of the
successful absorption of many survivors of the Holocaust in Europe who arrived in
Palestine after the Second World War. It was only in the 1990s that Israel saw a
comparable influx of immigrants, this time from the former Soviet Bloc and Ethiopia.
However, the complete liquidation of the Jewish diaspora at large has never been
accomplished. Western Jews enjoyed, in general, a high standard of living and personal
security which they could never achieve in Israel, whereas Eastern and Middle Eastern
communities were not officially allowed to emigrate. In addition, a relatively small
number of Jews preferred to stay in the Yemen, Morocco and Iraq, even when the
restrictions on immigration were eased or lifted completely, and in spite of the fact that
their personal safety continued to be at stake. Efforts exerted by the Israeli governments
and various international organizations to persuade them to move to Israel and persuade
the relevant governments to allow them to leave, have never ceased. And some successes
have been recorded. The main reasons for their refusal to emigrate were usually their
fear of changing their lifestyle and the wars between Israel and the Arabs.
Being a continuation of Tudor Parfitt's excellent account of the Jews of Yemen
entitled The Road to Redemption: The Jews of the Yemen 1900-1950, (Leiden: Brill,
1996) (which was reviewed by the present author in JJS, XL, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1997)
Reuben Ahroni's book tells the story of the remnants of the Jewish community in the
Yemen and later in Israel between 1951 and 1998. After a brief introduction that sets out
the goals of his research, the author provides, as a background, a description of the state
of events in the Yemen and the region at large, from the 1950s to the 1990s, including
the fall of the British Protectorate of Aden, which served as an exit port for the

ISSN 1353-0194 print/ISSN 1469-3542 online/04/020243-09 @ 2004 British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
DOI: 10.1080/135301904042000268231

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REVIEWS: HISTORY

immigrants, the split into two Yemens, the Soviet and Egyptian involvement in the
country, the reunited Yemen, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the first Gulf War, and global
politics and their impact on the Jews in Yemen. With the help of scores of original
documents found in archives, mainly belonging to those who were involved in their
transfer to Israel, published here for the first time, the author describes in detail the
experiences and ordeals of the rescuers and the rescued, clearly demonstrating that it was
equally difficult to persuade unfriendly regimes as well as the immigrants themselves to
leave the fatherland. Hence, although the overwhelming majority of the Jews have in fact
left the Yemen since 1949, a very small minority still lives there today.
The bulk of the book, however, concentrates on drawing a picture of the lengthy,
tough and complicated negotiations, usually through third parties, until the successful
completion of the various operations of transferring of the Yemenite Jews to Israel.
Those included the gathering of thousands of immigrants from all over the Yemen and
delivering them and their property to Aden whence they were usually flown to Israel.
Alternative routes had to be found after the British evacuation of the colony.
Furthermore, the constant need for co-ordination between the army of emissaries
(headed by Col. Max Lapides), mediators, representatives of the various organizations,
politicians and diplomats, and last but not least the Yemenite authorities, under a thick
cover of secrecy, were almost always, as one may imagine, marked by insurmountable
obstacles and impassable barriers, when the endeavours and persistence of those
involved often ended with broken promises and unfulfilled commitments made by
charlatans, causing a great deal of disappointment and frustration. It seems that it was
often the case of 'too many cooks...'.
The final chapter very scantily depicts the encounter of the immigrants with Israeli
society who received the newcomers with both suspicion and mockery. Although the
author offers a 'low key' description of the confrontation, one cannot avoid the
conclusion that the eccentric immigrants, who wore tatty traditional rags, had long
sidelocks, spoke an unintelligible kind of Hebrew with a strong alien accent and had to
be taught how to put on shoes(!), were regarded as peculiar, even for a society which
was used to welcoming newcomers from the four comers of the earth. Being strict
orthodox, used to the same customs and the traditional service practices in the
synagogue, they lived in a ghetto style, close to each other and usually marrying within
the community. As expected, it took some of them several years to adjust to the new
environment in their struggle for survival; not without sacrifices and scars.
Ahroni's book offers the reader a well-balanced analysis of the story of the Yemenite
Jewish community over the past nearly fifty years. Moreover, the lucid style, the
authentic documents and the illustrations are a good example of and a most interesting
guide into the mysteries and intrigues of present-day international politics, which in this
case concerns itself with the oldest Jewish community in the world.
AVIHAI SHIVTIEL

POWER IN THE PORTRAYAL: REPRESENTATIONS OF JEWS AND MUSLIMS

IN ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH-CENTURY ISLAMIC SPAIN. By Ross BRANN.
Princeton & Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2002. xi + 194 pp

This is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Islamic Spain. It is also an unusual

one in its chosen comparative perspective. The emphasis is on 'otherness' a highly
topical leitmotiv in today's disturbed world-and specifically 'otherness in eleventh and
twelfth-century al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) involving two of its three confessional

244

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