Unlike most Jews whose ancestors wandered from one foreign land to another the Yehudei Teiman endured only one long galus. The uniquely preserved customs the distinctive pronunciation ofLashonKodesh and the inborn refinement of manner all indicate a communal identity that has endured. Yet from the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 most of Yemen’s Jews left the sun-baked land that held so much history and grandeur to start anew. Operation Magic Carpet airlifted a majority of Yemen’s Jews to the Holy Land in 1949–50 and there were other waves of immigration to Israel for those who remained in 1959 1983 and 1993. And while most left a few hundred remained — until now. The remaining Jews of Yemen have experienced sporadic danger in recent years exacerbated by civil unrest in an ongoing battle between government troops tribal factions and terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. The government provided some protection for the Jews of Sana’a and nearby Raida but every family knows someone who was harassed or shot by hostile Arabs. In the beginning of 2013 the Israeli government with the help of a Qatari airline began airlifting the remaining 300 Jews from Raida and the approximately 100 in the capital ofSana’a — where the Jews have been forced to live in a guarded compound since they were driven from their homes by al-Qaeda terrorists in 2007. Still most Yemenite Jews considered their lives good: comfortable houses extended family close by close-knit communities and a culture they knew well. Their reasons for leaving were as spiritual as they were physical.