History of Judaism in Yemen

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In the course of the Magic Carpet company (1949–1950), the entire Teimanim Jewish community emigrated from Yemen to Israel, over 49,000 people. Most of them had never seen an airplane, but they believed in the biblical prophecy: God promised the children of Israel to return, carried on eagle wings .
Yemeni- Jewish family on their way to a refugee camp

The Jews in Yemen have a millennia-old history, dating back to around 1500 BC in the ancient Orient . It originated in the Jewish war (66-70 AD) with Rome through the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan , before many Jews began to move to neighboring states in 70 AD after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple Emigrate to Palestine belonging to the Roman Empire. Until the emergence of Islam , Jews regularly belonged to the country's upper class. They were merchants, in the service of the military or as ministers and had a considerable influence on the culture and identity of the country of Yemen . Their share in the population was considerable.

Sana'a family, around 1940

During the Islamic period, the social and legal position of the Jews changed. They were increasingly pushed back. Within their limited legal spectrum they could afford but significant contributions to Islamic culture of the Middle Ages, which for the period of Ismā'īlīya and Mu'tazila was so magnificently. In the period between the 9th and 12th centuries, the Jews played a large part in intellectual and social life when they participated in philosophical and Reformation issues and movements.

Another epoch of Jewish influence on Yemen can be anchored between the 17th century and the emigration of most Yemeni Jews to Israel in the 20th century . During this time, as merchants and craftsmen, they gave the country's economy a sustained boom.

Lore about the settlement of the Jews in southern Arabia

It is not known when the first Jews settled in South Arabia , how many South Arabs converted to Judaism, and when there were Jewish kings in South Arabia. There are various theories, some of which already assume a settlement before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the associated wave of flight into the old South Arabian diaspora .

It can only be stated that the Jewish communities of South Arabia are not homogeneous with regard to their origins . Locals, i.e. Jewish Yemenis, had been around for a long time. Immigrants came from the areas of Eretz Israel , Babylonia , Persia , Egypt , Syria as well as Spain and North Africa. They completed the community and the Jewish customs in the country. The settlements of the Jews in the South Arabian area do not provide information about the circumstances and the temporal context. Rather, one is dependent on the interpretation of oral traditions.

  • Yemeni Jewish women in traditional religious clothing
    On the one hand, Gen 15.19  EU is mentioned. Thereafter, at the time of King Solomon , Judeans settled in areas that some identify with Arab regions such as Wadi Jauf or Wadi Sirhan .
  • Another tradition ties in with the visit of the Queen of Sheba , because she learned of the wisdom of Solomon from merchants, who in turn were Judean subjects , which suggests the regional existence of Judeans.
  • According to another oral tradition, the settlement of the Jews in southern Arabia is said to have taken place in waves. Starting in 722 BC When the fall of the Kingdom of Israel began; then again, as already mentioned above, 42 years before the time of the destruction of the Temple of Solomon in the wake of the prophecy of the prophet Jeremias (Jer 36,2; Jer 38,2). Then again and finally with the expulsion of the Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar . Jews also came to Yemen through this expulsion.
  • A Yemeni Jewish family on Shabbat
    Jizchak Ben Zwi , in turn, allows an interpretation according to which the task of Jewish soldiers could have been to establish contact with the Jews of Sanaas , when it was said that the army with which Aelius Gallus was in 24 BC. Wanted to conquer South Arabia, 500 Jewish (provided by King Herod ) and 1000 Nabataean soldiers (provided by the King of Petra ) should have included.
A Yemeni Jew with his son

Jews in Yemen have only been reliably proven since the 4th century AD. Jewish inscriptions and synagogues have been discovered in various places in southern Arabia. Since the middle of the 4th century the kings of Himyar adhered to a monotheistic religion (see Rahmanism ); it was probably Judaism. In any case, Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar was not only the last important king of the Himyar kingdom in southern Arabia, but the only (verifiably) Jewish ruler of this kingdom. He ruled from about 521/522 to 529/530.

  • One of several inscriptions found in 1970 from Hadir near Tanim , east of Sanaa, contains a list of the 24 castes of priests in Judea ( Mishmarōt ha-Cohanīm ). In 1971, the Russian researcher Grjaznervic set himself the task of photographing these inscriptions without gaps.
  • Another insightful source, again a South Arabian inscription states that Jahuda his house Jakrub had built and completed. Research assumes that it must have been a synagogue. In addition to the Sabaean text, a Hebrew sentence also appears, unique for southern Arabia, which translates as follows: "Amen, peace, amen". The inscription shows the clients, King Dhara Amar Aiman of Saba and Dhu-Raydan , and the granting of a power of attorney to build a synagogue.
  • A Yemeni Jew
    In the first centuries of the Christian era, the Jews of Himyar were in close contact with Tiberias and Galilee . During the excavations in Bet She'arim , graves from the 3rd and 4th centuries of Jews from Himyar were found. House building and building progress on inscriptions lead to the conclusion that synagogues were meant.
  • Persecution of Christians occurred under Yusuf Asar Yathʾar. After a war of several years against the Byzantium- backed Christian Ethiopian Empire of Aksum under Negus Ella Asbeha , Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar lost his power. In 525 Yemen was conquered by the Aksumites and Christianity became the state religion. With Sumyafa ʿAshwaʿ a separate vassal Aksums was installed. A Jewish source also refers to disputes with political questions, questions of control of the trade routes, objects that led to the war with the Christians , which was first followed by the Aksumite and later the Persian occupation of Yemen. Himyar was supported by the Jews of Tiberias.

The relationship of the Yemeni Jews to the Jews of Babylon and Egypt

Moses Maimonides statue

The connections between the Jews of Yemen and the rest of the Jewish communities, particularly Babylonia and Egypt, were close. Spiritual guides at that time (between 882 and 942) were the best known of the geonim , rabbis and at the same time prominent Jewish philosopher and exegete , Said al-Fayyumi (also: Saadia Gaon ) and the Jewish philosopher, doctor and legal scholar Moses Maimonides . The Yemenis took over the Five Books of Moses and the Maccabees Scroll ( Megila Ha-Hashmonaim ) from Saadia Gaon . Saadia Gaon is also the godfather for prayers and poems for the Sabbath and for holidays, which also passed into the Yemeni tradition. In mutual cultural exchange, Talmud schools ( yeschīwot ) in Surah were financed by the Yemeni Jews, on the other hand the heads of the Babylonian Talmud schools venerated important personalities in Yemen with the title Nagid (Hebrew, Pl. Negidim , leader of a Jewish, mostly Sephardic medieval community). - After a false messiah appeared in Yemen in the 12th century and this - despite a large Jewish following - could be exposed, many Jews were subsequently forced to convert to Islam. Those who resisted were (severely) punished or even killed. In return, support and help were hoped for from Moses Maimonides. In response to petitions in 1172, the reply from Cairo, known as Iggeret Temān ( letter to Yemen ), was written .

The documents kept in the Geniza Kairos today give a fairly comprehensive insight into the connections between Yemeni Jews and their Jewish neighbors around the Mediterranean Sea and regions of the Middle East. Jewish world trade at that time stretched from Spain in southern Europe to India. Many Yemeni Jews had emigrated from Yemen to various regions of Jewish settlement areas. On the other hand, many Jews came to Yemen from other countries and founded their own communities here.

Jewish world trade

Yemeni Jews in Sa'da
Yemeni Jew in Jerusalem (late 19th century)

Until the 10th century, Baghdad was the center of the Islamic empire and the capital of world trade. With an extension over the regions of Rome, Byzantium, China, India, Egypt and Arabia the goods and treasures of the world were traded. The main trade route in those centuries inevitably led through the Persian Gulf . Traditions of Ibn Chordadhbeh (846–885) describe in detail the sea routes to China and India; next to that to Aden.

From the middle of the 10th century, Baghdad lost its position as the largest trading center in the meantime to Misr ( al-Fusṭāṭ ) = Old Cairo, (al-Qāhira) . During the rule of the Fatimids , the trade of the Islamic states shifted to the Red Sea in Egypt. From there it was quickly possible to establish trade relations with Palestine , Syria, Mecca , Medina and Yemen, which was then ruled by the Sulaihids . Byzantium, Amalfi , Pisa , Genoa and Marseille followed .

Al-Muqaddasi noted in AD 1000 :

"... she (Cairo) has wiped out Baghdad, is the glory of Islam, the center of trade in the world ..., the treasury of the west and the warehouse of the east ..."

Yemen benefited from this trading power from Cairo, because the rulers of the Fatimids and the Sulaihids maintained close relationships with one another.

The role of the Jewish merchants in the 11th / 12th centuries century

Since late antiquity , Aden has become insignificant as a trading star of world trade, but has flourished again as a receiving and main staging area for trade from Cairo to India. Aden acted as an emporium for the India and China traffic to Cairo.

A Yemeni-Jewish youth in Sana'a

Insofar as it can be established that long-distance trade must have been in the hands of Muslim, Persian and Christian merchants up to the 11th century, Aden, on the other hand, must have played the main role in Jewish trade in the 11th and 12th centuries, along with the Copts. The role of the Jews in this context can be explained as follows: The Fatimids ruling in Cairo were religiously strangers in Egypt. Lacking Cairo on relevant experience in world trade, classes of large merchants did not exist, unlike the currently defunct Baghdad, the Jews moved the Fatimids from the Maghreb a gradually in Cairo. A large field of activity opened up for the Jews. They and the likewise suspicious Christians were tolerated out of mere necessity. When alliances of large merchants formed, such as the so-called Karim merchants, the Jewish influence on world trade in Yemen ended again.

Merchandise at the time was: textiles and garments ( flax , linen , cotton and silk ), dyes, spices, medicines, aromatics (e.g. Cretan thyme was exported to Yemen), copper (for the manufacture of most of those used in the kitchen and household Appliances), tin and lead. There was also iron, olive oil, wax , soap, dried fruits, raisins, sugar, cheese and wine. Even paper was a sought-after commodity.

The Jews in Aden

Magen Avraham Synagogue in Aden from 1858; 2000 believers had space in it; it was destroyed in the Aden pogrom in 1947

Aden was a very important city in antiquity, in the (old) South Arabian times. According to this degree of importance, it can be assumed that Jews lived in the city at this time. Excavations in the Israeli Bet She'arim show that Jews had lived in Aden during the times of the Mishna , because graves that could be assigned to Jews from Aden came to light there when a hall was uncovered. At the time of the Gaonim , Aden was also an important spiritual center, and Jewish scholarship radiated into southern Yemen from the cultural centers of Egypt, Babylon, Syria and Eretz Israel . Evidence of this can be found in the geniza of the Ben Esra Synagogue in Cairo, because one of the documents contains instructions from the Jeminite ruler Adens Madmon Ben Yafter Ben Bendar , addressed to Halfon Ben Nethaniel Halevi from Fustāt, which clearly suggest that im 10th century Jews settled in Aden. Between the 11th and 13th centuries there was a large Yemeni exchange market with the Asian regions in the east and west. Jews often performed administrative tasks in shipping as port officials. As a Jew, Khalfon bin Bandar was the Sultan's chief customs officer.

The importance of Aden as an economic center dried up in the period that followed. The decline accelerated when the Portuguese opened the sea ​​route to India around the Cape of Good Hope . The British conquered Aden in 1839. At that time, the former metropolis had already melted into a fishing village with 600 inhabitants. Half of the residents were recruited from Jewish citizens.

Aden was again granted an almost sudden economic upswing when the Suez Canal was opened in 1869 and the sea routes to Europe and overseas were significantly shortened. The Jews in Aden had already been granted equal legal treatment to Muslims since the 1840s and the poll tax (already mentioned) fell. Since the economic restrictions were removed, large Jewish trading families were able to establish themselves in the market. Particularly noteworthy is the Benin Menahem Messa family ("the coffee king") , who exported coffee around the world.

Almost the entire Jewish population emigrated between June 1947 and September 1967. The background to this was the growing hostility of the city's Jews. These culminated in December 1947 in the Aden pogrom , a violent attack by Muslims against the Jewish Mizrachim community in Aden. 82 Jews were killed and 76 others wounded. In addition, the traditional Jewish community of Aden was so devastated that its millennia-old history was put to an end. Most settled in Israel after fleeing. Larger diaspores can still be found in the UK and sporadically in other countries.

The Jews of Hadramaut

Jews also lived in the eastern part of Yemen, in Hadramaut , and they form a very old community. They belonged to the Mizrachim ("Edot Hamizra"), the oriental Jews. After the Jews were expelled from the Hejaz by Mohammed , they formed the largest communities in the region alongside the Jews from Aden. Because of their remoteness, they did not become known to the wider world until the 1940s. Despite their own distinctive traditions, many converted to Islam. When Israel was founded , they returned to the Promised Land as one . The centers of the hadramautic Jews were mainly in Tarim , asch-Schihr , Al-Mukalla and Seiyun . The Ben Haneen , Ben Haiem , Ben Yaze'a , Ben Zaghio , Ben Ysra'ail and Ben Qatian stood out as family associations, all of which were converted to Islam between 1509 and the 1960s.

The Jews of abbān

Ḥabbān is located halfway between Aden and the Hadramaut in the Shabwa province . In some ways the Jews living in this area differ from those in other parts of the South Arabian country. These differences can be seen in customs, prayers, clothing, and appearance. In contrast to the rest of the Jews in Yemen, the Jews of this region grew their hair and beards. On the other hand, they shaved their mustaches . They do not hug each other when they meet, but wrap their hands around them and lift them up crossed. Accompanying a questioning ritual, one kisses the other's hand and vice versa. This is repeated several times. The Ḥabbān Jews are neither of Cohanite nor of Levitic - that is, of priestly family - descent. From this it has already been deduced that they are direct descendants of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel . Despite their small, homogeneous community, they are in good contact with their fellow believers. They were also privileged vis-à-vis the Muslim authorities, because apart from the poll tax, nothing was required of them. Traditionally they were all silversmiths, but they also went into gold and farrier craft. They cultivated some leased land for private use. The Jabbān Jews were divided into several main families; these were the families al Adani , Doh , Hillel , Maifa'i , Ma'tuf , Shamakh , Bah'quer and D'gurkash . They had two synagogues, ritual baths, a religious court and schools. There were no illiterate males among the Jabbān Jews.

In the 16th century, based on a tactical individual performance by Suleyman the wise men in Ḥabbān, they were assigned their own district. Severe droughts brought the Jabbān Jews into existential hardship in the late 17th century, as many died. Family planning stalled due to the blatant deficit of women. The first large-scale emigrations began. In particular, the families of the Bah'quer and D'gurkash left Yemen to serve the princes of the Indian Nizam in Hyderabad or the Mughals or the Omani Said dynasty . The remaining families of the al Adani , Doh , Hillel , Maifa'i , Ma'tuf and Shamakh decimated so much due to the drought that the Ḥabbān population barely numbered 50 at the end of the 18th century. Conversions to Islam and marriages outside of one's own community caused the population to rise again. With the main waves of emigration in the post-war period , however, they too left the country to emigrate to promising Palestine.

From the 17th to the 19th century

Enthronement of Shabbtai Zvi

In the 17th century, the situation for the Jews became dramatic. Imām al-Qāsim (the great) enacted laws that restricted the living situation of the Jews even more than before. Now trade regulations were also restricted, for example the trade in wine and arrack was banned. The conversion to Islam was made binding. Yemen has been declared Holy Earth . As far as the further deterioration of the situation was already indicated under Imam al-Qāsim, his successor Ahmad bin Hasan ibn al-Imām al-Qāsim rigorously enforced the law in the middle of the second half of the century. The reign of his predecessor in office was still marked by the long and ultimately successful defensive struggle against the Turks. Famine, bad harvests and diseases such as the plague drove the Jews to Sanaa, the seat of government.

In the 17th century, Shabbtai Zvi (1626–1676) was celebrated by large parts of the Jewish population as the Savior and Messiah . It conveyed such high hopes for a better life that one broke free from the bondage rules and consciously disregarded the laws. When Shabbtai Zvi converted to Islam, a crisis broke out in the country, in the course of which the pressure to Islamization increased significantly and all objectors were banished from the city to a scorching hot spot, the Mauza on the Red Sea . The main excerpt from the exiles is dated 1679. The Jews coined the term Galut Mauza (exile in Mauza).

On the other hand, this made it clear that the absence of Jews and their crafts in the country would trigger a subsequent crisis that could hardly be controlled. The remaining population simply couldn't get by without the ubiquitous Jewish craft. Repairs to the goods were now impossible, and the demand for jewelry in the aristocratic circles was increasingly unsatisfied. This desolate state led to a rethink among the Muslims. With promises of forgiveness and the right to stay, the Jews were ordered back to Sanaa and housed in the Bir al-Azab district outside the city, as their former townhouses had been seized by Muslims.

Noteworthy was the common name of the Great Synagogue in Sanaa originally called Kanīssa al-Ulamā , which was given the inglorious name Masğid al-Ğala (Mosque of the Exiles) after it was converted into a mosque during the period of exile . At the same time, the Jewish ritual baths became public hammams . The tragic events are recorded in the poetry (song) of the poet Shalom Shabazi .

The great wave of Jews emigrating to Palestine began in the late 19th century . The first immigrants came to Palestine in 1882. From 1908 to 1914 the flow of Yemeni Jews to Jerusalem and the surrounding area almost doubled. They were mainly employed as agricultural workers and artisans.

Yemenis' Messiah Expectations in the 19th Century

Many Arabs, as well as Yemenis, had high Messiah expectations during the 19th century . People who played a role in this context were:

According to the reports of the world traveler Jacob Saphir , the majority of the Yemeni Jews still believed in the proclamations of Shukr Kuhayl I during his travels in the 1860s.

The Jews in the 20th Century

Yemeni Jew 1914
Imām Yaḥyā's summer palace

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, Imām Yahyā (Arabic يحيى محمد حميد الدين, DMG Yaḥyā Muḥammad Ḥamid ad-Dīn; 1869–1948, Imam and King of Yemen from 1904–1948) broke with the newly won freedom of the Jews. He let the Jewish fellow citizens know that the Omar conditions were reintroduced and that they should be observed. The prohibited list was reintroduced and even harassed. So Jews were allowed only in the sidesaddle horse riding, a Muslim could not be touched in passing by them, money was not to be lent at interest, because this would lead to the end of the world, and always had a Muslim be witnessed over honor.

By law, Jews had to clean the latrines . The greatest pain for the Jews was the reintroduction of the so-called orphan law . An orphan was considered to be Muslim from birth and thus born of natural faith. The angry Jews married 7- to 8-year-olds themselves in order to give them their own family status and to protect them religiously regardless of the death of their parents.

In 1947 there were religiously motivated pogroms in Aden against the city's Jewish community. By 1948, 100,000 Yemeni Jews had emigrated to Eretz Israel . In 1949 and 1950, around 50,000 Jewish Yemenis were flown to Israel under the code name Operation magic carpet . In mid-2009 there were only about 300 Jews left in Yemen. The recurring attacks by Al-Qaeda recently resulted in the majority of families emigrating to Israel in June 2009 and in March 2011 the Jewish communities completely abandoned their settlements.

Jewish craft and trade tradition

The majority of Yemen's Jews were and are craftsmen. Some of them worked as traders.

Some families from Mocha , Manacha , Sanaa or Taizz traded with Calcutta , Bombay and Cochin in southern India, where they operated trading posts for Yemeni imports. With the British occupation of Aden, Jewish trade in the country declined to the point of irrelevance.

The Jewish handicraft in Yemen is different: In modern times (18th century) the Jews were famous for their arts in the silversmith's trade. Equally important were her skills as mint masters for the imams. In the middle of the 19th century the scholar Jakob Saphir from Jerusalem visited Yemen and Aden. He noted:

“The Arabs in Yemen do not practice any handicraft ... They have fields, vineyards and estates and they do trade. The Jews practice almost all trades: silversmiths, blacksmiths, sheet metal cutters, tailors, weavers, leather processing, pottery, gunpowder production and the like. a. "

After the Jews returned from their exile in Mauza, a symbiotic relationship developed between Jews, who practiced almost every trade, and Muslims, who ran agriculture and thus ensured the commercial value for the purchase of Jewish products. To that extent there was barter. Hardship, drought and wars often caused agricultural barter goods to fail, which is why the Jews had to be mobile in order to be able to sell their goods. Of 100,000 Jews in Yemen at the beginning of the 20th century, four fifths lived in villages, spread across over 1,000 settlements across the country.

The emigration of many Jews to Palestine tore gaps in the extended families and thus in the production processes of the family trade. In small villages there were no longer enough men to hold the minyan . The remaining family members therefore gave up their domicile and moved to larger settlements or cities. With the Jewish mass emigration, the traditional handicraft was almost completely lost. The emigration from southern Arabia to Israel particularly affected central Yemen, southern Yemen, Aden and Habbān. In the northern part of Yemen there are Jewish settlements to this day, whose Jewish residents are still active as silversmiths.

The legal position of the Jews in Yemen

Illustration of a miqweh

In the years 643 and 644, many Jews and Christians who did not want to be converted to Islam fled from Najd , Khaibar and the Hejaz to southern Arabia. There - as in all Islamic countries - the foreign tax ( al-ğizya ) was imposed on them if they refused to convert to the Islamic faith. As far as the Koran:

"Fight against those who do not believe in God and Judgment Day and do not forbid (or: declare it forbidden) what God and his Messenger have forbidden and do not belong to the true religion - from those who received the scriptures - ( fights against them) until they meekly pay tribute out of hand (?)! "

- Koran , sura 9, verse 29 : translation by Rudi Paret

In return, they enjoyed the status of a protected citizen . This tax was progressive and forced the wealthy to pay more than the poor. In this respect the Koran again:

"... And we would never have imposed a penalty (on a people) without first having sent an envoy (to them)."

- Translation according to Paret

In addition to the foreign tax, there was further discrimination introduced by the caliph Omar , who was murdered by a Christian slave in 644 , and which were feared as Omar conditions . After that, Jews were not allowed to build new synagogues or renovate existing synagogues for many centuries. They were not allowed to pray aloud or teach the Koran to their children . Blue or yellow ribbons or fabrics should be worn to ensure a visual differentiation from Muslims. Men were not allowed to wear belts and / or swords. Own immersion baths ( miqweh ) in the households were forbidden, and horses were not allowed. Houses could not be built higher than those of their Muslim neighbors. Only donkeys were allowed to be kept and used as a means of transport. Riding these animals was only permitted without a saddle. Rings made of gold and silver were taboo for women. A Jew had just as little to deal with government business as he did with Muslim subordinates. In the case of inheritance, Islamic law applied . In addition to al-jizya was the dhimma may also have another special tax, called Kharaj , are demanded.

These rules were implemented with varying degrees of strictness, and often not observed at all. In peaceful times, the payment of higher protective taxes often helped, with which a relatively comfortable life was bought. Furthermore, the protective tax ensured freedom of movement and settlement for Jews, freedom to exercise religious cults, communal self-government and its own jurisdiction, which was not allowed to contradict matters that were not of internal Jewish origin.

The last Jews of Yemen have recently been subjected to persecution again and at the beginning of 2011 asked Israel and the USA to fly them out of the country.

Religion and culture

Distribution map of the Jewish diaspora (ca.1490)

The written legacy of the Yemeni Jews is quite rich and partly preserved. It includes works in the fields of philosophy , language , medical sciences, and those involving various aspects of Judeo-religious traditions. Manuscripts from the Yemen areas are kept as special treasures in great libraries around the world. The religious content of the Torah and its study predominate in the literature that has been preserved for posterity. These specifically Jewish topics encompass all areas of religion and tradition. So z. E.g. the Mishnah , as the most important collection of religious legal traditions of rabbinic Judaism , the Talmud , the most important written work of Judaism after the Tanach - the holy scripture of Judaism, or the Halacha , epitome of the legal part of the traditions of Judaism. Other topics covered are the slaughter laws, religious commandments, the writings of Maimonides and the commentaries on his works, prayer books, the mystical tradition of Judaism, the Kabbalah , and the so-called questions and answers (Hebrew She'elot uTeshuvot) , which the offer religious precepts in simple form for memorization.

In addition, there is a large number of secular writings, especially secular literature, poetry in Hebrew and Arabic, supplemented by philosophical and ethical works as well as works on the subjects of astronomy and medicine .

Religious groups within Judaism in Yemen

There are three main groups of religious developments within the Yemeni Jewish community. On the one hand there is the Baladi , on the other hand the Shami and finally the Maimonidians (who are also called Rambamists ). The differences can best be seen in terms of the influences that Yemeni tradition demanded. Mainly the work of Maimonides and the kabbalistic tradition, which was embodied in the Zohar , as well as the teachings of Isaak Luria , who came from a named family of rabbis and scholars, which were effective from the 17th century , were the decisive factors.

The Baladi Jews (translated: land) followed the decisions of Maimonides , the Rambam , which was set out in his work Mishneh Torah . The Rabbi Maharitz (Mori Ha-Rav Yihye Tzalahh) in turn tried to merge the deadlocked paths of the Maimonidians and the views of the modern Isaac Luria , who essentially followed the teachings of ancient Yemeni tradition.

The Shami Jews (translated: those from the north ) referred to Palestinian Zoharians from the 17th century and adapted their prayer book to the teachings of Isaac Luria. They followed the cultural Sephardic tradition, the doctrines of Maimonides and the Shulchan Aruch , a summary of religious rules (Halachot) of Judaism revised by several generations of rabbis.

The Rambamists are close to the Dor Daim , making them followers of the Talmud. They represent a subgroup of the Baladi .

Wedding traditions

A bride wears a traditional wedding costume among the Yemeni Jews. This is equipped with a lot of jewelry, which in particular holds a lot of gold threads. The elaborately decorated hairstyle is decorated with flowers, especially with wine diamonds, which are believed to be able to deter the devil. The overhang dress has a multitude of gold threads. Traditional rituals introduce the wedding ceremony. During the wedding ceremony itself, which can last up to seven days, songs are sung, the texts of which are Hebrew , but also Arabic , and between which there is an alternation. The content is about friendship and love. Using henna (camphire) hands and feet are rubbed so located that signs showed signs that keep for weeks and in the Song of Solomon found in the Talmud as well as rainfall. They symbolically mean forgiveness (pardon) and absolution (after acquittal due to admission of guilt) in memory of temptation .

Language and literature

language

The Hebrew language was a spoken language until Nāsi Jehūda , who edited the Mishnah in the 2nd century AD . In the following years it mutated into the language of prayer and study; this for a long period of approximately 1500 years. In the 19th century, the Hebrew language reawakened as a living language of everyday life . This statement applies axiomatically to all Jewish communities with one exception: the Yemeni. The Yemeni Jews continuously preserved Hebrew as a spoken language and also as a written language . It was Yemeni Judaism - and not Babylonian - that preserved the Babylonian language tradition, the roots of which can be found in the language of Erez Israel .

Philological analyzes show that the Yemeni tradition, older than the Ashkenazi and Sephardic variants, transmits the Hebrew language in the purest manner. As an example, a distinction was made between simple and doubled consonants . The Yemeni Jews also passed on other languages, such as various Aramaic (e.g. Targum ) and Arabic. Arabic was not just a colloquial language, but was used by Saadia Gaon in his Tafsir to translate the Torah.

Hebrew grammar (grammar book: Tiğān ) was learned for a lifetime in the synagogues of Yemen . The training of the consonants, vowels and accentuation marks of the Bible conveyed the Tiğān booklet in teaching form. The work was published in Hebrew as well as Arabic. The Yemeni doctrine took place with unprecedented rigor in the life of a Yemeni Jew. The ability to transcribe and multilingualism belonged to the basic education. Philosophy , grammar and other scientific studies shaped the more demanding educational goal. As a result, the Yemeni Jews were granted a high level of education and the Muslim authorities took note of this (sometimes enviously).

Pre-cabbalistic literature

Many of the scriptural interpretations of pre-Kabbalistic literature, regularly lost elsewhere, were retained by the Yemeni Jews in their ancient versions. The Geniza in Cairo manages documentation that provides information about the close ties between the Yemeni Jews and Babylon and the interactions. The authoritative authority of the Yemeni Jews was Saadia Gaon . His influence reached in almost all everyday questions of daily life. Since the Yemeni Jews were generally also well versed in Arabic philosophy, it was inevitable that they would participate in the disputes of their time. Even more: They also dealt with the writings of Plato , Aristotle and Hippocrates . They preserved their educational approach into modern times. The texts of these Greek authors were available in Arabic translations, which were written in Hebrew. In contrast to the Jews elsewhere, the interest of Yemeni Jews in science and philosophy is based on the hope that their real problems can be answered. These are especially questions of the diaspora and reminiscences of their political oppression. Of course, metaphysical questions about salvation were also the subject of interest. In addition, one pursued the allegorical interpretation of scriptures and biblical legends. This ultimately led to a vehement internal Jewish dispute in Yemen. Significant works, however, emerged from this creative engagement: So Bustan al-Uqūl (Garden of Knowledge), Iggeret Tehiyat Ha-matim (Writing about the Relived ) - al-risāla al-yaminiya and above all the works of Maimonides and Saadya Geon .

Zohar book

(Kabbalistic) literature from the 16th century

The well-traveled scholar Yiḥye al-Dhahiri from Kaukabān left the first traces of Kabbalah in Yemen . As the originator of the first kabbalistic ideas, his ideas entered his maqamen book Sefer hamussar . Another monumental work, Melechet Schlomo by the great Mishnah scholar Rabbi Schlomo al-Adani , was written a little later and is still considered one of the best commentaries on the Mishnah. The time of the Kabbalah made the authors of works of merely secular content in Yemen increasingly silent. Since the Galut Mauza , five personalities are to be highlighted for a period of about 300 years who were able to exert the greatest influence on the Jews of Yemen. In the 17th century Salem Shabbazi , in the 18th century Salem Iraqi-Hacohen and his sons Yiḥye and Yiḥye Sālih , and finally at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century Yiḥye Qāfiḥ . The Talmid Chacham was required at this time . The Talmid Chacham was a scholar and poet in personal union. Only those who mastered the Torah as well as understood how to get involved in expressions of social life in the form of poetry and songs could find recognition of their time. At the same time, and in the twentieth century, this process was clearly intensified, the dispute over Kabbalah began. It was a dispute for and against the Zohar , probably the most important work of Kabbalah and the epitome of Jewish mysticism . In terms of content, it was primarily about comments on texts of the Torah in the form of homiletic meditations as well as narratives and dialogues. The dispute led to the separation of communities and division into camps. Major disputes became particularly popular in the 1910s and again in the 1930s. To this day, the parties are said to be reluctant to face each other.

poetry

In addition to prayer books and the Torah, the so-called divans of various Jewish poets were available in almost every Yemeni-Jewish household . If someone did not have a volume of poetry, one was borrowed from the neighbor. The favorite poems were copied. It mostly contained songs and hymns of praise for the Sabbath and for recurring festivals. Occasions for celebrations in this sense were marriage or births.

The most prominent artist, usually also with several works in the divans, was the Kabbalist Shalom Shabbazi . Over 150 other poets can be identified beyond doubt. But neither are many others. Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic were the languages ​​in which the poems were written. Linguistic mixtures within one and the same poetry were not uncommon, because rhyme and rhythm were also taken into account and great importance was even attached to them. The earliest known poet was Abraham Ben Chalfon , who lived and worked at the beginning of the 14th century. The heyday was under the aforementioned Shabbazi, i.e. in the 17th century AD. Shabbazi is indirectly also the inspiration for the much later idea of oracles - and divination -Brauchtums, as he explains in one of his writings, how to draw a stick figures in the sand in order to read from the human fate. It is also particularly noteworthy that Hebrew poetry originated exclusively in Yemen during that century, and nowhere else.

The poetry basically formed a unit of creation with a coordinated melody. There were no poems that couldn't be sung. The associated melodies became fleshed out, they were never written down. First and foremost, poetry was religious. The belief of the Jews in the diaspora in Yemen was the basis of their national existence. In general, Hebrew poetry in Yemen served the synagogue and the family, both of which together formed the center of life. This in the sense of Galut and Geula (diaspora and redemption), two topics that (d) belong together inseparably.

Kathstrauch
Coffee bush

Typically, the texts dealt with subjects such as the ending of bondage or the hope of the Messiah's arrival and return to Zion . Symbolic and allegorical descriptions originating from mysticism were borrowed . Action poems also dealt with topics from the history of the Jewish people, such as the exodus from Egypt.

Doctrine and ethics completed the poetry picture. The Jewish character in the Diaspora should be preserved and the individual strengthened in his belief. The doctrinal content should already encourage children to turn away from the futility of the times, to adhere to the teachings of the wise, and to perform their religious duties. You should do good works and try to avoid all sin.

In poetry, the themes of body and soul, sin and crime, the hereafter and the last judgment , paradise and damnation, the living and the dead appeared. Proverbs and parables are often included, a phenomenon that occurs in the Arabic literature that was written at the same time .

The poetry of Shalom Shabbazi was considered outstanding, which is why his poem The Qat and the Coffee is presented:


The coffee and the qat
They asked me: Tell me,
who do you prefer to talk to?
Who do you think has the preference?


Does the Qat mean:
I have been chosen
and precious too.
My proud bush
sticks out
from the mountain Ṣabor
There the nightingale has its nest.
She lays
her eggs in the castle walls .
In my branches
Sits down
Lets rise happily
The most beautiful songs.


The coffee replies:
I am the first morning joy
with which the day is always inaugurated.
The Schzlī is
who gives me the high reputation!


The Qat says:
I am even more famous,
Since I am an ornament to every festival.
I boast of the most beautiful bush that
lets its leaves shine.
The noble of the highest order
serves as the wise me in the land!


The coffee said again:
Who weighs of the two of us?
That should be decided by Those who
enjoy me every day.
In Rome and Syria
those who take delight in
me also appreciate me . People like to bring me on ships
from China and India
.


The Qat answered:
I am the festival crown
And give strength to the voices
in the loud male choir.
From Ibb to Taizz
sayings and verses without equal reach
To my praise and fame.
And so in all of Teman
I am highly recognized.


The coffee went on:
Go to me!
Do I have to repeat to you
that my fear is the first in the
morning - which one never forgets!
You grow up there on the heights
That nobody can see you!
But my fruits are guarded, so
that no one can care!


Said the Qat:
Everyone sings his own praises.
Who would have ever spurned my paper,
That when the twilight rose
only stands before us all the more beautiful?


Replied the Schazliya
I am honored in every situation,
because those who enjoy me remain sober.
I do not bring dullness and no plague,
whether it is a layman or a judge.


Said the Qat:
I serve nobly
and also princes with the pleasure of living.
The maiden looks at
me with sweet pleasure , and young men, whoever it may be,
touch my leaves tenderly,
each one according to his or her own way


The coffee tree says:
No more talking, no words
One takes you at lunchtime and in the evening,
But I shine at the feast,
The wedding guests always enjoy themselves.


Then I said:
I value both of you,
my longing is for you two, fill
my heart
with silent consecrations of thanks.
But on top of that I wish me
the grape wine
and lively friends!
And he who
hurts the heart wound, I make healthy.


Companions now, you wise,
let us praise friendship!
And
spend the time with lively singing .
The discord is over.
May the Lord be blessed!
Bring peace to his Salem,
no harm be done to him!

This poem, which was also sung, is about an argument between a bachelor and a married man. It is assigned to the poem form of qasida . It was popular and also understandable for the female population. Secular themes are sung about regularly. They were entertaining folk songs, often with the character of discussion about opposing couples. Examples include Qat , coffee (see above), coffee and tobacco or eye and heart.

Friends songs, love songs, rank disputes (e.g. discussions between two cities about their historical significance, Aden vs. Sanaa or Taizz vs. Sanaa) and lots of funny entertainment poetry shaped the Jewish-Yemeni contribution to world culture.

Formally, several song forms are distinguished in Jewish-Yemeni poetry. So there is naschid , schira (plural: schirot ), hedhwuya , saffeh and hallel . Naschid is characterized by the chanting of groups; Meter and rhyme do not change. Shira , on the other hand, often changes meter and rhyme (similar to the muwaschahat in Arabic poetry). Due to the flexibility of the shira, this poem was easy to dance, sing and play.

Musical rites

Shofar Sabbath horn blown by a Yemeni Jew

Yemeni Jews traditionally use antelope and kudu horns (which are considered kosher ) as shofar and thus as a ritual wind instrument on special holidays (for example on Rosh Hashanah - in the Torah this day is also called the day of the shofar ( Lev 23: 23-25  EU ) - in Jewish worship).

The Jews of Yemen were very much caught up in the original Jewish music, which was far less cultivated by other Jewish communities. Their unique musical folklore was thoroughly researched by Abraham Zvi Idelsohn from 1907 onwards. The Jewish music researcher diagnosed the self-sufficiency and isolation of the Yemeni Jews in cultural and territorial terms as a prerequisite for the preservation of these traditions. For example, the rabbis in Yemen forbade Arab songs from being sung, which was quite common among Jews in other Arab countries. Likewise, Arabic melodies with Hebrew lyrics were inopportune. The folklore was exclusively religious, there was no secular music. A distinction was made between two types of folklore. The only feature for the distinction was the separation of the sexes between men and women. It was researched that the women's songs, dance songs (wedding songs) of older origin, narrow ambitus , frequent motif repetitions and asymmetrical rhythms. Metrical freedom, on the other hand, shaped the songs of men. The motifs were theatrically overemphasized and presented emotionally.

See also

literature

  • Reuben Ahroni: Jewish emigration from the Yemen, 1951-98: carpet without magic printed & bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd., Guildford and King's Lynn, ISBN 0-7007-1396-4
  • Reuben Ahroni: The Jews of the British Crown Colony of Aden: history, culture, and ethnic relations (1994)
  • Hans-Caspar Graf von Bothmer: Masterpieces of Islamic book art: Koranic calligraphy and illumination in manuscripts from the Great Mosque of Sanaa in Werner Daum Yemen , Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5
  • Werner Daum: From Aden to India and Cairo: Jewish world trade in the 11th and 12th centuries in Werner Daum Yemen , Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5
  • Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman: Darda'im. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 2: Co-Ha. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02502-9 , pp. 60-66.
  • Ursula Heimberg : Filigree and Granulation. Decoration techniques in silverware in Southwestern Arabia. In: Baessler Archive N.F. 34, pp. 69–91, 1986
  • Ursula Heimberg: Silver jewelry from southwest Arabia. In: Baessler-Archiv N. F. 34, pp. 333–455, 1986
  • Kerstin Hünefeld: Imām Yaḥyā Ḥamīd ad-Dīn and the Jews in Sana'a (1904–1948). The dimension of protection (dhimma) in the documents of the collection of Rabbi Sālim b. Saʿīd al-Ǧam times. Klaus Schwarz-Verlag, Berlin 2010
  • Aviva Klein-Franke: The Jews in Yemen in Werner Daum Yemen , Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5
  • Aviva Klein-Franke: Tradition and innovation in jewelry production in Yemen in the 20th century. In: Simurgh 1, pp. 19-29, 2005
  • Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper: The Yeminites: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Culture , Jerusalem 2000
  • Fritz Piepenburg: Six songs from Yemen in Werner Daum Yemen , Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5
  • Christian Robin: Himyar et Israël. In: Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres (ed.): Comptes-rendus des séances de l'année 2004. 148/2, pages 831-901. Paris 2004 (covers Yemeni Judaism up to the 6th century)
  • Bradford Towne: Generational Change in Skin Color Variation among Habbani Yemeni Jews Human Biology, 62: 1 (1990)
  • Manfred W. Wenner: Small economic history of Yemen in modern times in Werner Daum Yemen , Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5

Web links

Commons : History of Judaism in Yemen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Gerhard Heck, Manfred Wöbcke: Arabian Peninsula in the Google Book Search
  2. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen p. 256
  3. ^ Society for the Promotion of Science of Judaism (Germany), monthly for history and science of Judaism, Volume 3 in the Google book search
  4. ↑ Taib A, Golat Teiman (Hebrew.) Tel Aviv 1931, p 20
  5. ↑ Shalom Gamliel, A gateway to the lives of zhe Yemenite Jews , in Yemenite Paths (Heb.), Eds. Sh. Gamliel
  6. ^ M. Zadok, History and Customs of the Jews in the Yemen (Hebrew), Tel Aviv 1967, p. 18
  7. ^ Jizchak Ben Zwi, The origin of the settlement of Jewish Tribes in Arabia In: Eretz Israel Book, vol. 6, 1960, p. 135
  8. ^ Christian Robin: Himyar et Israël. In: Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres (ed.): Comptes-rendus des séances de l'année 2004. 148/2, pages 831-901. Paris 2004
  9. ↑ Cf. Iwona Gajda: Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l'époque monothéiste. L'histoire de l'Arabie ancienne de la fin du ive siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à l'avènement de l'Islam. Paris 2009, p. 84.
  10. ↑ Rainer Degen and Walter W. Müller, a Hebrew-Sabaean bilinguis from Bait al-Aswal from Yemen fn. 6 in Aviva Klein-Franke, p. 257
  11. ^ HZ Hirschberg: The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar. (Yemen) In: The Jews of Yemen, Studies and Researches. eds. Y. Yeshaýahu / Y. Tobi, Jerusalem 1975, pp. 21-24
  12. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen , p. 257
  13. ^ Shlomo Dov Goitein : The Jews of Yemen between the Palestinian and the Babylonian Exilarch. In FN 10, pp. 53-58
  14. ↑ SDGoitein: Yemenite Jewery and the India Trade. in FN: 10, pp. 33-52
  15. ↑ S. D.Goitein, Yemenites in Jerusalem and Egypt in the times of Moses Maimonides and his son Abraham (Hebrew) in FN 10, pp 120-134
  16. ↑ KNChauduri, Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean , Cambridge 1985
  17. ↑ SDGoitein, From Aden to India In: Journal of the Economic and Social History ofe the Orient, XXIII (1980), pp. 43-66.
  18. ^ Subhi Y. Labib , Trade History of Egypt in the Late Middle Ages (1157–1517) , Wiesbaden 1965
  19. ^ Robert Bertram Serjeant: Trade in Yemen in early Islamic times and in the Middle Ages. P. 160 ff.
  20. ↑ Manfred W. Wenner: Brief economic history of Yemen in the modern age. P. 308 ff.
  21. ↑ Aviva Klein -Franke, Die Juden im Yemen , p. 259
  22. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke, The Jewish Community in Aden in the 19th Century (Hebrew) in: Pe'amim No. 10, 1981, pp. 36-60
  23. ↑ Twilight in the Kingdom: Understanding the Saudis in the Google Book Search
  24. ↑ Hejaz: Coastal province in Northwest Arabia. now part of Saudia Arabia. The origin of permanent Jewish settlement is obscure, but there is evidence of the presence of Jews between the 1st and 4th cents. CE. In ancient poetry of the region, the Jews are depicted chiefly as traders and wine-merchants. The most important Jewish community was that of Medina.
  25. ^ The Jewish Kingdoms of Arabia 390-626 CE Decimated by the rise of Islam
  26. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke, Die Juden im Yemen , p. 262
  27. ↑ S. Ma'atuf, Habban (Hadramaut) Jewery in the load-generation (Heb.) Mathesis, 1984, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, pp 7-20
  28. ↑ ما هذا الشئ الغريب الذي يضعونه على جباههم ؟؟
  29. ↑ Bradford Towne, p. 87 (see lit.)
  30. ↑ Reuben Ahroni, The Jews of the British Crown Colony of Aden: history, culture, and ethnic relations ff, p two hundred and first
  31. ↑ Y.Ratzaby, The Revolt of al-Qāsim , (Heb.), In Zion: # 20, 1965, pp 32-46.
  32. ↑ Y.Ratzaby, The Exile to Mauza , (Heb.), In: Sefunoth, No. 5 (1961), pp 339-395.
  33. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke, Die Juden im Yemen p. 258
  34. ↑ This song is partly translated by Erich Brauer in his work Ethnologie der Yemenitischen Juden , Heidelberg 1934, pp. 36–37
  35. ↑ a b Jascha Nemtsov, Zionism in Music: Jewish Music and National Idea in the Google Book Search
  36. ↑ Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman, The Jews of Yemen in the nineteenth century: a portrait of a Messianic community in the Google Book Search
  37. ↑ Jerry Rabow, 50 Jewish messiahs: the untold life stories of 50 Jewish messiahs since Jesus and how they changed the Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds in the Google book search
  38. ^ The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights , by Harris Lenowitz, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, page 229
  39. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen, p. 259
  40. ↑ Zadok, FN 4, pp. 82-83; also in Qorah, FN 4, pp. 26-27
  41. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke, The Orphans, their flight and their immigration to Palestine - A study of rescue operation in Yemenite Path, FN 1, pp. 85–111
  42. ↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 323.
  43. ↑ Martin Gehlen in: Der Tagesspiegel , July 14, 2009
  44. ↑ Tobias Kühn in the Jüdischen Allgemeine
  45. ^ Yemen's last remaining Jews: A community in decline
  46. ^ BR Jüdischer Schmuck aus dem Yemen, July 19, 2015, 1 p.m., 15 minutes, accessed on December 3, 2016
  47. ^ Carsten Niebuhr : Description of Arabia from personal observations and news collected in the country itself , Copenhagen 1772, p. 209
  48. ^ Carsten Niebuhr: The first Scientific Mission to Southern Arabia as a source for the History of the Jews in Yemen. In: Pe'amim No. 18, 1964, pp. 81-101
  49. ↑ Saphir, FN 4, pp. 230-244
  50. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke, Economic conditions, Commerce an Crafts of the Jews of Yemen , (Heb.), In: Se´i Yona, ed. Sh. Seri, Tel Aviv 1983, pp. 47-70
  51. ↑ Mishael Maswari-Caspi, Introduction to the Poll Tax in Yemen - An Historical Essay , (Heb.), In the book of Sh. Gamliel, The Jizya-Poll Tax , Jerusalem 1982, pp. 15-75
  52. ^ Benny Morris, Righteous Victims - A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict. 1881–2001 , Vintage Books, New York, p. 9.
  53. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen, p. 263
  54. ↑ Sh. Morag, The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Jemenite Jews , Jerusalem 1963, pp. 11-16
  55. ^ Felix Klein-Franke, A Jewish Yemenite Manuscript of al-Biruni's Elements of Astrology In: Kiryat-Sepher, Jerusalem, vol. 47,4 (1972), p. 720
  56. ^ Y. Levi-Nahum, Hasifat Genuzim Miteman (Hebrew), corresponds to: Revelation of Ancient Yemenite Treasures (ed. Sh. Greidi), Holon, 1971, pp. 238–285
  57. ↑ D. Blumenthal, The Philosophic Question and Answer of Hoter b. Shelomo , Leiden 1981, pp. 9-24
  58. ↑ S. Sh. Halkin (Ed.), Moses Maimonides Epistle to Yemen , New York, 1952, pp. 4–106
  59. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen, pp. 267–269
  60. ↑ Aviva Klein-Franke The Jews in Yemen, pp. 269–275
  61. ↑ after Abu al-Hasan al-Schazli of Mocha, to whom the invention and spread of coffee enjoyment is ascribed
  62. ↑ Shofar
  63. ↑ Jehoash Hirshberg, Music in the Jewish community in Palestine 1880-1948 - A Social History , Moscow, 2000, p 28 (in Russian translation)
  64. ^ Edith Gerson-Kiwi, Jewish Music in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicans , Vol. 9, London 1980, p. 637