Why Did One Million Jews Vanish From the Arab World?

While Western history often focuses on the Jewish experience in Europe, there exists a sprawling, 2,700-year narrative of Jewish life deeply embedded in the cultural and linguistic fabric of the Middle East and North Africa. This episode examines the vibrant history of communities in Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus, exploring how they navigated the "dhimmi" system of tolerated inequality and produced intellectual giants like Maimonides through the vehicle of the Judeo-Arabic language. We trace the seismic shifts of the 20th century—including the rise of Arab nationalism, the impact of European colonialism, and the tragic events of the Farhud—which ultimately led to the displacement of nearly one million people and the near-total disappearance of these ancient populations from their ancestral homes.