The Yemeni Jewish Exodus: Operation Magic Carpet and a Lost Community

Episode 146 of The History of Yemen explores the ancient and vanished Jewish community of Yemen, from its roots in the Himyarite kingdom to the dramatic airlift known as Operation Magic Carpet. Lucas and Luna trace the story of Yemenite Jews through centuries of Zaydi rule, the infamous 'Orphan's Decree,' and their unique religious traditions that preserved Biblical Hebrew. They cover the rise of Zionism in Aden, the 1947 Aden pogrom that shattered the community, and the 1949-50 airlift that brought nearly 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. The conversation touches on the controversial absorption process in Israel, the lost villages of the Tihama, and the last families who left in the 1990s. A nuanced look at a diaspora that spanned two millennia and ended in a single decade.

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