ABSTRACT
It did not take long for the euphoria to fade and for the grim reality to sink in. While most of the new immigrants thanked God and all concerned for bringing them to the land of their fathers, to reunite with their families, some voiced utter disappointment. Much of what they had seen in Israel did not meet their expectations. The apartments that were made available to them through government aid were too cramped for their large families. Many found it difficult to adjust to the working conditions in Israel. In Yemen, they claimed, the pace of work was more relaxed. Men worked for a few hours a day and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with friends and chewing qat, a mildly narcotic weed. Moreover, while in Yemen they were mainly jewelers, silversmiths, or market vendors, in Israel they were being trained to do work that involved physical labor, such as laying tile floors. In short, they found the transition to modernity too overwhelming and too demanding. Some complained that promises made to them while in Yemen were broken. One of the immigrants, Yaʿakov the Goldsmith, had this to say about his initial mixed feelings about Israel:
When I was in Yemen, I thought that all Jews in Israel have pe’ōt (sidelocks) and cover their heads with kippot (skullcaps). But when I descended the plane, I saw big houses, cars, roads, and people with shaved beards. I thought that the whole country is desolate like a desert, without roads, cars, or anything …
That’s what the Satmars told us … they visited our houses and told us that here [in Israel] they don’t provide food, that people die of hunger, that Jews are stripped of their religious faith, and children are snatched. 1
Asked about the life of Jews in Yemen, Yaʿakov, who still had relatives in Yemen, assured the reporter that the Muslims in Yemen treated the Jews with respect, ‘not even one hair of our head fell to the ground.’ 2 He depicted the Jews’ life in Yemen as good; each had a house, even a Toyota. As to the question whether it was true that Jewish women were kidnapped and were forced to marry Muslims, he answered that these women married Muslims out of their free will and that no one forced them to do so. 3