Page 16 - Nachlaot Very Advanced RA1 130918

Very Advanced Level – ‫רמה מתקדמת מאד‬

The Batei Goral Neighborhood
In 1881, a man named Suleiman Amar arrived in Jerusalem. Suleiman Amar was
born in Yemen and all his life dreamt of coming to Jerusalem. In 1881 he was able
to realize his dream: a large group of immigrants left Yemen for Israel and
Suleiman left with them.

The new immigrants from Yemen had many problems. At first, the Yemenite
authorities didn't want to allow Jews to leave Yemen because it was the Jews who
did the most undesirable jobs and no one wanted to work in these jobs in their place.
In the end, the French consul convinced the authorities to let the Jews leave and
they started on their way.

The way to Israel was difficult. Many people died on the way. The money almost
ran out. Even when they arrived in Israel, they walked many kilometers until they
arrived in Jerusalem. All together, it took four difficult months for the travelers to
reach Jerusalem.

Suleiman saw the walls of the city from afar and became emotional. His dream had
been realized! He began running quickly toward the city. But he was old and weak
and had tired greatly from the difficult journey. He reached only the walls of the
city and died, one moment before realizing his great dream about Jerusalem,

The immigrants who reached the city entered it tired, weak, and penniless. They
had been certain that the Jews of Jerusalem would be happy to see them and would
help them and that everything would be okay. But the Jews in Jerusalem didn't
believe that the immigrants from Yemen were really Jews because the Yemenites
had very dark skin and the Jews of Jerusalem had never seen Jews with such dark
skin. They thought that the Yemenites were lying about being Jews and didn't want
to help them. For three years the immigrants lived in abject poverty. In 1885,
Natan Adler, the Chief Rabbi of London, donated money to help them.

In reality, the neighborhood is comprised of no more than twelve residences in
small houses. The neighborhood got its name because its residents earned their
homes through the drawing of lots. Since there were fewer actual apartments than
members of the community, the members traded living quarters from time to time.

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