Fled Yemen to become an IDF soldier
Three years ago, Eliyahu Dahari arrived alone in Israel and began studying at a yeshiva, but he insisted on enlisting in the ultra-Orthodox track of the IDF and convinced his parents to follow him to the Holy Land.
Sgt. Dahari immigrated by himself from Amran, near Sanaa, where he was born and raised, and enrolled as a yeshiva student in Bnei Brak. At one point he went to work to keep himself financially, and then stopped his studies in favor of enlisting in the army.
"It was my dream since I was a kid, to serve in the IDF, to be a fighter," he told Ynet. "In the recruitment offices, they wanted me to be a driver but I didn't give up and I insisted on being accepted to the Netzach Yehuda battalion. It was not easy at first, especially in training, but today I am pleased. Military service changed my life. Today I am independent, feel part of Israeli society."
Dahari will soon be completing his military service and will begin to study at the expense of the army. He lives alone in Be'er Sheva and eight months ago, managed to persuade his parents to immigrate from Yemen.
My father was unable to sell his four-story house because he was afraid he would be discovered to be leaving," he added. "They just left the house as is, with the equipment and furniture, with the car in the garage, and immigrated with the clothes on their backs.
"It's dangerous to live as a Jew in Yemen, and there were situations where we stayed for a long time without leaving the house, and if we went out, for shopping, for example, we would have to be sharp and alert. They could have easily ended our lives there. Today, there are maybe three more Jewish families in Yemen. Most either immigrated to Israel or left for London, or the US.
"At first I didn't know how to immigrate, so I turned to a friend in Israel who arranged for me an airplane ticket, took me to Amman, and after the arrangements at the Israeli embassy I flew to Israel."
Dahari has one uncle left in Yemen but contact with him is sparse because of a lack of media.
