Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will recount it to thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. (Deuteronomy 32:7)
This organization shall be known as HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF JEWS FROM EGYPT, and not of Egypt or of Egyptian Jews, but FROM EGYPT
A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR PASSOVER
By: Joseph Abdel Wahed
Today, as we celebrate the First Exodus from Egypt some 3,200 years ago, let us also remember the Second Exodus of Jews that took place not so long ago, but is unknown to most people.
In the years between 1945 and 1970, nearly one million Jews, indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, were compelled to flee, sometimes brutally, from the lands of their birth. Like their ancestors, they too left in a hurry and under similarly harsh conditions. They fled Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Aden, Tunisia and Iran. And “on the wings of Eagles”, nearly 36,000 Jews from Ethiopia landed safely in Israel.
And so, on this sacred night, let us say a special prayer for these Forgotten Refugees. Let us tell their story, which is often left out of the narrative of the modern Middle East.
Therefore, with bitter herbs on your plate and a piece of matzo in your hand, please recite the following:
We thank you G-d for delivering these Forgotten Jewish Refugees from their modern day pharaohs whose hearts were hardened and full of evil. Many of these Forgotten Refugees were harassed, intimidated, insulted simply because they were Jews, until they were forced to flee. They were made to live as strangers in their own countries and denied basic human and civil rights. They left behind their millennia-old culture and heritage, their beautiful synagogues and sacred Torahs, Jewish schools and hospitals, their homes and their personal belongings.
“But G-d heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said unto the children of Israel: I am the Lord and I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptian (and from other tyrants) and redeem you with an outstretched and strong arm. So, as in the First Exodus, we thank the Lord for this Second Exodus that we are a free people and blessed with the presence of the land of Israel”.
“On this Passover and on every Passover in the future, when we eat matzo and the bitter herbs, we must cherish the memories of our forgotten brothers and sisters. And as Jews, always yearning for the winds of freedom, we say to them: We Will Not Forget You.”
JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa - www.jimena.org) presents an additional prayer to be read at this year’s Seder to honor the Jews who were forced to flee in a “Second Exodus” from Egypt and other Arab states. Our organization represents Jews who were either expelled or otherwise compelled to leave their ancient homes throughout the Arab world.
Key Facts
- Today, 99% of the ancient Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa no longer exist. Out of some 900,000 Jews who lived in the Arab countries until 1948, only a few thousand remain.
- During the exodus, Arab governments confiscated property from the fleeing Jews worth tens of billions in today’s dollars.
JIMENA calls on the global community to hold Arab governments accountable for the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes, and the confiscation of their communal and private property.