Operation Magic Carpet

Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., Jews played a prominent role in Yemen's economy and politics. With the advent of Islam in the eighth century, Yemenite Jews were relegated to the lowest rung of the social ladder and to poverty. Until the Ottomans gained control of the area in 1872, Yemenite Jews were forbidden to leave the country. From World War I to 1948, roughly one-third of Yemen's Jews, about 16,000 in total, left for Israel. With Operation Magic Carpet (June 1949 through August 1950) nearly 50,000 Yemenites were airlifted to Israel by the Israeli government.

It was a long and arduous journey. The nearest airport was 200 miles away at Aden. The Yemenites picked up their few possessions and began to walk. Along the way they were looted and abused by the local Arab population. They reached Aden, exhausted, on the verge of starvation. Although the operation was called Magic Carpet, it was on crowded planes that the Yemenite Jews were transported from refugee camps to the promised land. The Jews of Yemen had never seen airplanes, but were not frightened by them. It was after all in the book of Isaiah that G-d promised that his children would return to Zion "with wings, as eagles."
 
 The common thread running through Yemenite recipes is that they are high in spice and low in fat and sugar. Yemenites love adding pine nuts to dishes for flavor and texture. Most Yemenite meals commence with flaky bread ('Miloach') accompanied with 'chilbeh', a fenugreek relish and 'z'chug', a green chili and coriander mixture or a red chili version called "shatta." Tahina (sesame seed paste) is also popular and eggplant (which arrived from India, located directly across the Arabian Sea) is the favorite vegetable.

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