1st Floor, Room 108

Although there were more than a million Jews living in Arab lands in the first part of the twentieth century, today only a few thousand remain.  This situation is largely the result of policies instituted by Arab governments in the second half of the twentieth century when persecution of Jews became state policy.  The fate of Rabbi Gabbai's family, who lived in Egypt, is emblematic of these programs.  In 1967, when the Egyptian government decided to imprison Jews, his family was rounded up and placed in prison camps.  There was no due process, no charges, and no trial.  The family lost their shirt business and their property.  Rabbi Gabbai eventually immigrated to the United States.  Now he is the Emeritus Rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the city. 

Despite the fact that persecution of Jews increased in these countries in the second half of the twentieth century, Jews had long lived as second-class citizens (dhimmis) in Arab lands.  There was some improvement in that status during the short period of the early twentieth century when Europeans held sway in the Middle East and North Africa.  The film Silent Exodus tells the history of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands. The influential filmmaker, Pierre Rehov, who left Paris due to antisemitism, has been called a "lion in exile."