Project Diaspora Expeditions

04/24/2026

Adam found a curious serenity in the Straight of Hormuz. The news calls this 21-mile chokepoint where the world’s oil stops and wars start. But deep in the Omani fjords lies Kumzar, a village where the “border” between the Arab world and Iran completely vanishes.

This is the only place on the Arabian Peninsula where the native language isn’t Arabic. It’s Kumzari: a language that combines Old Persian, modern Arabic, and the slang of 16th-century Portuguese sailors.

The Kumzaris are a living bridge in one of the world’s warring devises. Out here, warships might be on the horizon, but the only real skirmishes are between the bossy local goats.

Adam met Suleiman Al-Kumzari, whose identity (and boat) are dedicated to keeping this remote culture connected to the world.

04/10/2026

ISIS’s former “caliphate” was headquartered in the Jewish Quarter of Mosul, Iraq. Biblically known as Nineveh, Mosul is one of the oldest and most significant cities of the Old Testament. However, Mosul’s 8,000 years of civilization effectively ended for the Jews during the Farhud pogroms of the 1940s, and for every other minority – including Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims – during the ISIS occupation of the city from 2014 to 2017.

The aerial bombardments that drove ISIS out of their command center left Mosul’s Old City in apocalyptic ruin. Yet, even amid the destruction, Adam found signs of the neighborhood’s heritage. Stars of David in the latticework appeared beside graffiti marked “Safe,” indicating the area had been cleared of the landmines and improvised explosive devices ISIS left behind as they retreated.

Today, Mosul is slowly rebuilding. However, these ancient houses and the millennia-old cultures that once inhabited them are lost forever.

04/05/2026

We just sent out our very first monthly Project Diaspora newsletter!

In just two months, this community has grown to 350+ people who believe the same thing we do:

That travel can be a way to meet some of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, now entering their final chapter.

And if we don’t witness them now, they may disappear within decades.

This first edition lays out what we’re building:

3 expeditions.
1 mission.

Syria 🇸🇾
Tunisia 🇹🇳
Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

These aren’t “trips.”

They are once-in-a-century opportunities to meet the last members of communities that have existed for thousands of years.

Syria is already almost full.

If you’re not subscribed to our monthly newsletter yet, you can sign up here: https://www.diasporaexpeditions.com/register-interest

03/20/2026

ED in conversation with Migration Expert and International Journalist, Dan Brotman - covering his journey to Jewish communities around the world including Ir...

03/05/2026

Adam recently snuck into an abandoned Jewish villa in Baghdad’s Bataween district, once one of the city’s most prestigious neighborhoods. Today, it is one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.

The house still hints at its former grandeur, left behind by owners now living in exile.

Nearby stands Baghdad’s last synagogue, abandoned since 2003.

Inside the house, the only living creature was a donkey.
Most locals today don’t even know Jews once lived here.

Join an upcoming Project Diaspora Expeditions Jewish trip to Tunisia and Syria to engage with the remaining members of biblically old communities. Check out our website for more information.

03/01/2026

Today, 85% of the global Jewish population lives in the US and Israel. As a result, many ancient Jewish communities around the world are nearing their final chapter. In some cases, diaspora populations have declined by as much as 90%, with only a handful of members remaining.

Project Diaspora Expeditions co-founders Adam Heffez and Dan Brotman have travelled to more than 100 countries, documenting Jewish communities at the far corners of the world, some endangered and nearly gone.

On March 8th, they will be speaking about the unique, far-flung Jewish communities they have encountered across Iraq, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, and other edges of the map.

Join us for an evening exploring these journeys before living history becomes memory.

More details here:

Many ancient Jewish communities around the world are nearing their final chapter as nearly 85% of Jews live in the US & Israel. Dan Brotman & Adam Heffez, co-founders of Project Diaspora, have each traveled to more than 100 countries. Join us for an evening exploring their journeys to such p

02/25/2026

Somaliland is a country not recognized by any UN member state except Israel, but like neighboring Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti, it has a history of Yemenite and Adeni traders settling along major trade routes and establishing communities.

Somaliland is one of the least-visited countries in the world, receiving only several hundred visitors a year.

In the coastal city of Berbera, I found the remnants of a former synagogue in what was once the Jewish neighborhood. The distance between Berbera and Aden is only 259 kilometers, or 161 miles.

If you look hard enough, there are still signs of Yemenite and Adeni Jewish heritage throughout the Horn of Africa.

Join us on a Project Diaspora Expedition by visiting www.diasporaexpeditions.com

02/23/2026

Kanzen is one of Ethiopia’s two remaining Adeni Jews. Now 90 years old, he recalls that his family was among the first to leave the British Protectorate after the 1947 anti-Jewish riots, in which 82 Jews were killed.

They settled across the Red Sea in Asmara, then under British administration, and today the capital of Eritrea. They joined a community of up to 400, mostly Adeni Jews, living in the city.

Firsthand accounts from the very few Jews who remained in the Horn of Africa despite political turbulence and war in both Ethiopia and Eritrea, like Kamzen, are crucial to document now, before it is too late.