A Rescue Mission
                     in Port Said



Throughout the Sinai Campaign, as the battles raged on, there were some people who considered an apparently marginal topic, one not included in the military orders of the day: the fate of Egyptian Jews in general and of the Port Said community in particular. Can we reach them, help them or perhaps even rescue them?...

We asked whether they and other Jews were prepared to come to Israel. Their response was immediate: "Certainly! But how can we? We told them to prepare a list of candidates and we would exert all efforts to assist them in coming...

The Israel Navy employed two fishing boats in this mission, to be manned by its own personnel, including many reservists...

On Friday night, we gathered all the Jews into two groups, one at the Jewish Club and the other at the synagogue, telling them to come one family at a time, in order not to arouse suspicion, carrying only one suitcase or knapsack per person. At 4 a.m. on Saturday, November 17, Avraham and I found about half the community - men, women and children - waiting for us at the Jewish Club, together with their possessions, after a long, tense and sleepless night of extraordinary anticipation. From there, we proceeded to the synagogue to meet with the second group, headed by the old and well-respected Rabbi Pinhas and several synagogue dignitaries and functionaries, who held the congregation's Torah scrolls...

The navy men were well prepared for rapid embarking. They grasped the immigrants in their strong arms and cast them deep into the hold of the ships, whose motors were already running. A few minutes later, we were proceeding northward towards Israel, at maximum speed. Next day - at dawn - the two boats reached Haifa. The immigrants were still in shock over all that had befallen them.

Standing at the dock, I saw how Navy sailors and Jewish Agency officials helped the dizzy and weary Jews to disembark, once they were let in on the secret mission. One immigrant couple, together with a Navy man, who was helping unload the boats, suddenly let out a cry of joy. They had recognized one another - parents and son.

Several days later, I stood on the verandah of a home on Mount Carmel, facing the Haifa port thinking about the time I spent in Egypt. A rather strange thought came over me: on Shabbat, 13 Kislev, 5717, we brought to Israel an entire small Jewish community, together with its Rabbi and Torah scrolls. Perhaps I ought to take a look at the Torah portion for that Shabbat. I opened the Bible and saw that the portion for that week was Genesis 32 - 36, with the reading from the Prophets in Hosea 11, which includes the passage: "For He shall roar, and the children shall come trembling from the West. They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will ask them to dwell in their houses, saith the Lord."
 
 

Homecoming, written and compiled by Nathan Efrati

The Israel Economist Publishing House, 1982

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