Iran
The Forgotten Exodus
“I never thought there’s antisemitism. It's something from the past, for my grandparents, for my mom a little, but it's not something in my generation, or my kids’ generation. It's done . . . apparently, not.” Einat Admony is a chef, cookbook author, comedian, and social media star who grew up in Bnei Brak, Israel. With parents from Iran and Yemen, Einat spent her childhood in the kitchens of Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi neighbors. Learn about her family's deep-rooted Jewish heritage in Iran and the broader Middle East. Along with her mother Ziona’s journey from Iran to Israel in...
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Morocco
The Forgotten Exodus
“Today's Morocco is a prime example of what a great peaceful coexistence and international cooperation can be with an Arab country.” Eli Gabay, an Israeli-born lawyer and current president of the oldest continuously active synagogue in the United States, comes from a distinguished family of Jewish leaders who have fostered Jewish communities across Morocco, Israel, and the U.S. Now residing in Philadelphia, Eli and his mother, Rachel, share their deeply personal story of migration from Morocco to Israel, reflecting on the resilience of their family and the significance of preserving Jewish...
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Yemen: Live Recording with Adiel Cohen – Part 2
The Forgotten Exodus
“When we show the world that we're not what they say about us, that we're not white colonizers, that we're actually an indigenous tribe of people that was kicked out of their homeland . . . the only argument I can think about to put against the story is ‘you're lying.’ . . . If they accuse you of lying when you tell your family story, they lost.” Last week’s episode featuring Adiel Cohen—Jewish activist, social media influencer, and Israel Defense Forces reservist—received heartfelt feedback. In part two of this conversation, Adiel joins us live from the AJC Global Forum...
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Yemen: Live Recording with Adiel Cohen – Part 1
The Forgotten Exodus
“We can't expect people to stand up for us against antisemitism if they don't know who we are. And we can't expect them to know who we are if we're not there to tell our story.” Adiel Cohen: Jewish activist, social media influencer, and Israel Defense Forces reservist, has a passion for storytelling – especially that of his beloved grandmother, Savta Sarah. She fled Yemen under harrowing circumstances to come to Israel in the mid-20th century. At just 12 years old, she left the only home she’d ever known, braving dangerous terrain, bandits, and gangs – to reach safety in...
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Syria
The Forgotten Exodus
“It's quite clear to me that he was trying to recreate the hillside of Haifa with the gardens... It comes from somebody being ripped out from their home.” Syrian Jewish Playwright Oren Safdie, son of world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie, who designed Habitat 67 along with much of modern Jerusalem, knows loss, regret, and longing. Oren and his father explore their Syrian heritage and their connection to the Jewish state that has developed since Moshe’s father left Aleppo, Syria and moved, in the mid-20th century, to what is modern-day Israel. Oren also knows that being Jewish is...
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Tunisia
The Forgotten Exodus
“In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA, we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us . . . I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity... I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation.” Hen Mazzig, a writer, digital creator, and founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, shares his powerful journey as a proud Israeli, LGBTQ+, and Mizrahi Jew, in the premiere episode of the second season of the award-winning podcast, The Forgotten Exodus. Hen delves into his family's deep roots in...
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The Forgotten Exodus, Season 2: The Untold Stories of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa
The Forgotten Exodus
The multi-award-winning, chart-topping Jewish podcast, The Forgotten Exodus, is back for season two. The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. The Forgotten Exodus, a limited podcast series by American Jewish Committee (AJC), explores the critical lessons we can learn from this pivotal moment and the little-known Jewish heritage of the Middle East and North Africa. As Jews around the...
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Vote for The Forgotten Exodus at the Webby Awards
The Forgotten Exodus
has been nominated for a Webby Award, also known as “the Internet’s highest honor” — but we need your help to win! for “Best Limited Podcast Series.” It takes less than a minute. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 20, 2023. The Forgotten Exodus is the first-ever narrative podcast series devoted exclusively to the fascinating and often-overlooked history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewry from Arab countries and Iran. Created by American Jewish Committee (AJC), the series debuted as the top-ranked Jewish podcast in America last August. Please make sure that these fascinating and...
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Iran
The Forgotten Exodus
Home to one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, the story of Jews in Iran has been one of prosperity and suffering through the millennia. During the mid-20th century, when Jews were being driven from their homes in Arab lands, Iran assisted Jewish refugees in providing safe passage to Israel. Under the Shah, Israel was an important economic and political ally. Yet that all swiftly changed in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which ushered in Islamic rule, while chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” rang out from the streets of Tehran. Author, journalist, and...
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Sudan
The Forgotten Exodus
Financier, philanthropist, and longtime president of the World Sephardi Federation Nessim Gaon was proud of the Sudanese birthright that made him part of a long lineage of Jews from Arab lands. However, with growing antisemitism in Sudan, he also believed Israel offered the only safe haven for Jews around the world and devoted his life to constantly improving the Zionist project. Gaon’s oldest grandchild, Dr. Alexandra Herzog, deputy director of Contemporary Jewish Life for American Jewish Committee, shares the story of her grandfather’s flight from Sudan, his quest for equality in...
info_outlineThe world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. The Forgotten Exodus, a new limited podcast series brought to you by American Jewish Committee (AJC), explores the lessons we can learn from this pivotal moment of Jewish history. The series delves into the rich, yet little-known heritage of Jews from Arab nations, as some of those countries normalize relations with Israel, and the moving stories of courage, resilience, and reconciliation that illustrate how Jews in the Middle East and North Africa overcame tremendous challenges.
Premiering August 1, join us as we share these stories in The Forgotten Exodus.
New episodes will be released weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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Show Notes:
Theme song credit: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837
Transcript:
MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN, HOST: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century. Some fled antisemitism, mistreatment, and pogroms that sparked a refugee crisis like no other.
CAROL ISAACS, GUEST: A lot of businesses were trashed, houses were burnt, women raped, mutilated, babies killed. It was an awful time. And that was a kind of time when the Jews of Iraq started to think, well, maybe this isn't our homeland after all.
MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Others sought opportunities for their families or followed the calling to help create a Jewish state.
BENNY GAMLIELI, TRANSLATOR FOR ZE’EV TZUBERI, GUEST: So during thousands of years, the Jewish people used to dream, to go, that the Messiah will come, to go to Israel, to go to the Holy Land, to see the city of Jerusalem. It was a dream during thousands of years.
MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: In Israel, America, Italy, wherever they landed, these Jews forged new lives for themselves and future generations. American Jewish Committee will explore the lessons we can learn from this pivotal moment of Jewish history in a new limited series called The Forgotten Exodus.