"We can't expect people to stand up for us against antisemitism if they don't know who we are. And we can't expect them to know who we are if we're not there to tell our story."

Adiel Cohen: Jewish activist, social media influencer, and Israel Defense Forces reservist, has a passion for storytelling – especially that of his beloved grandmother, Savta Sarah. She fled Yemen under harrowing circumstances to come to Israel in the mid-20th century. At just 12 years old, she left the only home she'd ever known, braving dangerous terrain, bandits, and gangs – to reach safety in Israel.

Recorded live at AJC Global Forum 2024 in Washington, D.C., this conversation explores the vibrant life of Yemenite Jews and the scarred history of Jewish persecution in the country. In a candid conversation, Adiel reflects on his advocacy, both online and off, and emphasizes the importance of sharing diverse Jewish stories.

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Show notes:

Learn more about the series here.

Song credits:

Pond5:

"Desert Caravans": Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837
"Meditative Middle Eastern Flute": Publisher: N/A; Composer: DANIELYAN ASHOT MAKICHEVICH (IPI NAME #00855552512)
"Suspense Middle East" Publisher: Victor Romanov, Composer: Victor Romanov; Item ID: 196056047

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Episode Transcript:

Adiel Cohen:

Because they dare to fight back, they knew that they're no longer safe, because God forbid Jews resist to oppression and to violence. And the same night, my grandma told me that her father gave her a pair of earrings, silver earrings, and he told her, 'Sarah, take these pair of earrings and keep them safe. That's the only thing that you can take with you to Eretz Yisrael.'

Manya Brachear Pashman:

The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century.

Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations despite hardship, hostility, and hatred, then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland.

I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East.

The world has ignored these voices. We will not.

This is The Forgotten Exodus. Today's episode: leaving Yemen.

On the night of October 7, while Hamas terrorists were still on their murderous rampage through Israel, 26-year-old Adiel Cohen was drafted to serve in a reserve artillery corps unit and rocket division of the Israeli Defense Forces. He went directly to a base near one of Israel's borders to start working on his unit's vehicles and tools. But that is not the only battlefront on which Adiel has been serving.

Adiel is a content creator on social media, creating Instagram posts and TikTok videos to counter the antisemitism and anti-Israel messages proliferating online. One way Adiel dispels some of these misconceptions is by sharing his own family's story. Adiel's grandparents on both sides were in that group of 800,000 Jews who fled Arab lands and started life anew in Israel. In 1950, they fled Yemen, making their way to Israel to help build a Jewish state.

Today's special episode of The Forgotten Exodus presents an exclusive interview with Adiel, recorded in front of a live audience at the AJC Global Forum 2024 in Washington D.C.

Adiel, you heard stories from your Savta Sarah who passed away only a few months ago. She was your paternal grandmother. Could you please share that side of your family story in Yemen?

Adiel Cohen:

Of course. So first of all, I want to thank you all for coming and listening to my story. It's my first time in this type of AJC event, especially on that scale. It's very exciting to me, and it's amazing to see this beautiful display of Jewish solidarity and strength. So I'm very, very honored to be here. Thank you.

So the history of the Jewish community in Yemen dates back for as long as the Israelite Kingdom existed. It dates back all the way to King Shlomo (Solomon) and the First Temple when we had trade with the kingdom of Sh'va (Sheba), at the time that ruled Ethiopia and Yemen.

And for my family, as far as we can tell, we go back all the way to that era. I do know that I have one ancestor somewhere along the line 15 generations ago from the Jewish community of Iraq that migrated into Yemen.

But my ancestry for the most part is in Yemen, Yemenite Jewish. I did a DNA test. The results were nothing too revolutionary, aside from 1% Nigerian. But yeah, it just came out Yemenite Jewish. And they spent pretty much the entire diaspora in Yemen until 1950.

Manya Brachear Pashman:

And your grandfather was a jeweler, right? A silversmith?

Adiel Cohen:

He was. So fun fact: the work of silver and crafts made of silver, was a profession only done by Jews in Yemen. So you can imagine how impactful it was for the economy in Yemen. And you know, a lot of people say that Jews, like, control the economy and all these, you know, stereotypes that we know. In Yemen, we really drove a big part of the economy, because of the professions that we did that were pretty much only Jews doing them.

So he used to do silver work and jewelry. He did both the traditional Yemenite jewelry which is made of thin silver wires, creating these beautiful patterns. And not just jewelry, but also Judaica, candlesticks, and all these ritual tools like the can for the b'samim (ritual spices), for the Havdalah.

Beautiful, beautiful art, passed from his father and then his father, all the way, thousands of years as far as we can tell. And nowadays, my uncle, my father's brother, is preserving this tradition. He has a gallery in Tzfat, if you're ever planning to go there. Now, it's not really a good time, but definitely hit me up, and I'll send you his way. Very proud of that tradition. Definitely.

Manya Brachear Pashman:

That's lovely. Were they city folk? Or did they live in a more agricultural area?

Adiel Cohen:

They were fully city folks. They lived in Sanaa, the capital, both sides of my family. It's interesting, not a lot of people know, but there's a lot of nuance in the Yemenite Jewish community. So Yemen is a pretty big country and pretty diverse. You've got mountains and green terraces and agriculture, but you also have very, very dry desert, and you have port cities.

So every Jewish community in Yemen was very unique in its culture and its essence in their professions. And in Sanaa specifically, they were more into spirituality and humanities. They were intellectuals and thinkers, a lot of philosophy, a lot of the Jewish philosophy and poetry in Yemen came from Sanaa. And this is where both sides of my family come from.

Manya Brachear Pashman:

Did they live in harmony with their neighbors in Sanaa for most of that time?

Adiel Cohen:

Yeah, so the relations between Jews and Arabs in Yemen vary. It was a roller coaster for the most part of history, and it really depended on the king and the leadership at every single time. And there were times of great coexistence and flourishing and times where, you know, you could see Jewish poetry and literature and just like in Spain, like what we hear in Spain.

But there were also times of great conflict and oppression and violence. One instance that I can point out to was in the 1600s, in 1679, it was an event called the Mawza Exile. Not a lot of people know about it, which is a shame, because it is the single most traumatic event in the history of our community. It lasted one year, and during this year, the king decided that all the Jews in Yemen should be expelled to the desert.

And the desert in Yemen is very, very harsh – wild animals, climate, lack of food, soil that cannot be cultivated. And of course, this also came with burning of books and literatures and archives. Yemenite Jews, up until then, kept archives of their family trees and scriptures and poetry. We don't have a lot of it left before the 1600s, because of this event. Two-thirds of the community perished during that year, there was no one to fill the jobs that Jews used to do.

And at some point, the king allowed Jews to come back to their homes and live in their own ghettos. That was from the 1600s till 1950 with Operation Magic Carpet. But in the more moder...