Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sons of murdered Yemeni Jew make aliyah

Is this heartwarming or sad?


From JTA:
Sons of murdered Yemeni Jew make aliyah

August 12, 2009
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The sons of a Jewish man killed last year in Yemen have left the country for Israel, a Yemen news agency reported.
The sons of Moshe Yaish al-Nahari left Yemen on Tuesday, according to Yemen News, quoting the murdered man's brother, who serves as the chief rabbi of the district of Ridah. Naharis daughters made aliyah in December. His parents, wife, four brothers and a sister remain in Yemen.
Nahari was gunned down in December by a man who said that Yemen Jews should convert or be killed.
Harassment and threats against Jews in Yemen have increased, according to the report. About 400 Jews remain in the country.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/08/12/1007198/sons-of-murdered-yemeni-jew-make-aliyah#When:13:24:00Z


[Minor complaint: "Naharis daughters made aliyah..." - where is the apostrophe, and shouldn't that be "al-Nahari's daughters etc.? The 'al' is part of the name. ]


According to Wikipedia, over 50,000 Jews emigrated to Israel between June 1949 and September 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet, due to pogroms, riots, and persecution. There had been emigrations before then, but durin Magic Carpet the vast majority of the Jews that had remained in Yemen departed.

Is a remnant consisting of only four hundred people enough to sustain a viable community? Perhaps not. Perhaps now it is time for them to come home to Israel.

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