The Path to On Eagles’ Wings: The Story of Yisrael Yesh‘ayahu-Shar‘abi
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Path to On Eagles’ Wings: The Story of Yisrael Yesh‘ayahu-Shar‘abi
After his arrival in the Land of Israel, Yisrael Yesh‘ayahu-Shar’abi got to work advocating for Yemeni Jewish needs, including a path to ‘aliyah for those fleeing Yemen. Although Yesh‘ayahu eventually served as Speaker of the Knesset, among other government roles, the focus of this talk will be on his advocacy for Operation On Eagles’ Wings, the large-scale migration of Yemeni and ‘Adeni Jews to Israel in 1949-50. As head of the Histadrut “Department of Yemenis and Oriental Communities,” Yesh‘ayahu articulated an inclusive vision of Zionism and pressed the Labor leadership to support ‘aliyah from Yemen. The ‘aliyah of most of the Yemeni Jewish community was not inevitable – it was the culmination of decades of work by Yesh‘ayahu and other Labor Zionist Yemeni Jews. This is not just Yesh‘ayahu’s story; it is the story of Mizraḥi migration, of a forgotten school of thought, and of how the “Ingathering of Exiles” came to include non-European Jews.
Monday, 2 May at 12:00PM EST
(Ticket: $10)
12PM EST ◊ 7PM Jerusalem
About the speaker:
Benjamin Berman-Gladstone is a doctoral student at the Skirball Department for Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the Department of History at New York University. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies and Judaic Studies and received honors for his thesis on the idea of an “Ingathering of Exiles” in relations between the American, Israeli, and Yemeni Jewish communities during Operation On Eagles’ Wings. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 2018 and spent the 2018-2019 year in Jerusalem on a Fulbright research scholarship. His writing about issues related to Israel, American Jewry, and Southwest Asian affairs has been published in the New York Times, Haaretz, Tablet Magazine, the Jewish Daily Forward, Tower Magazine, the Times of Israel, the Jewish Advocate, the Hill, the Brown Daily Herald, and the Brown Political Review.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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