My grandmother used to say that a Jew always knows where they are born but does not know where they will die. And that has been true for generations of our people: wandering Jews, we have lived in countries across the globe. Adam and Eve were the first to leave their home when they were forced from the Garden of Eden into a world which was harsh and unkind. Abraham, our ancestor, left his homeland and his family, all he knew, to forge a new path in the world. And this shabbat, we find Jacob, fleeing the wrath of his brother, headed for an uncertain future, stopping along the way and dreaming of a ladder connecting the heavens and the earth. Each one of these ancestors travelled on a journey, some by choice and others by necessity or force.
This week, along with reading the story of Jacob’s journey, we commemorate the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands. They were forced to leave their homes, communities and everything they knew, often with only the clothes on their backs and begin again in new and foreign lands. And the departure of the Jews from these countries was almost total. Of Libya’s 40,000 Jews none remain. Syria, a community of 30,000 now has only four Jews. Egypt’s 75,000 Jews are reduced to 3 Egyptian-born and 22 total number of Jews living there. The oldest is a 90 year-old man who converted to Islam. Iraq’s thriving Jewish community of 135,000 in 2021 has only 4 remaining, and in Yemen 30,000 are now six: a woman, her brother, three others and a man in prison for trying to smuggle out a Torah scroll. The more than 850,000 Jews in Arab lands are today reduced to a handful sprinkled across many nations, some living openly as Jews, many hidden. Beautiful synagogues, stunning buildings, are empty, serving as tourist sites, unable to gather a minyan. The music, prayer and learning, the life which infused these spaces is no more and this Shabbat we acknowledge the incredible losses.
But it is also an opportunity to celebrate the life and rich culture which thrived in Arab lands for centuries: poetry, music, art, the diverse beauty of the communities which have been scattered to the four corners of the earth. For many years, Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews and culture were pushed to the corners of mainstream Judaism. The stories and heritage, the food and the music, were housed often exclusively in Sephardi and Mizrachi spaces, and not part of the general community. In more recent times, there has been an embrace of the culture and blessings, the richness and diversity they bring to the community. And so much here at our synagogue with the presence of Rabbi Mordecai: his knowledge and his passion. We are so blessed.
So as we reflect on Jacob’s journey, we commemorate and celebrate the journeys of our people from Arab Lands.
Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio OAM
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