Yemenite Jews

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Yemenite Jews (Hebrew: תֵּימָנִים, Standard Temanim Tiberian Têmānîm; singular תֵּימָנִי, Standard Temani Tiberian Têmānî) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן, Standard Teman Tiberian Têmān; "far south"), on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. They are sometimes considered to be Mizrahi.

Contents 1 History of the community 2 Religious traditions 3 Yemenite Jews and Maimonides 4 Religious groups 5 Form of Hebrew 6 Writings 7 References 7.1 Endnotes 7.2 Prayer books 7.3 Other works 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] History of the community

Local Yemenite Jewish traditions trace the earliest settlement of Jews in this region back to the time of King Solomon. One legend has it that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold and silver with which to adorn the Temple in Jerusalem. Another legend places Jewish craftsmen in the region as requested by Bilqis, the Queen of Saba (Sheba). The Beta Israel or Chabashim (Jews in neighboring Ethiopia) have a sister legend of their origins that places the Queen of Sheba as married to King Solomon.

The Sanaite Jews have a legend that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple. It is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, travelled to Yemen. The Jews of Habban in southern Yemen have a legend that they are the descendents of Judeans who settled in the area before the destruction of the Second Temple. These Judeans supposedly belonged to a brigade dispatched by King Herod to assist the Roman legions fighting in the region. ^[1]

Also, another legend states that when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, whereupon he pronounced a ban upon them. According to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action Ezra was denied burial in Israel. As a result of this local tradition, which can not be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are used. This also is not validated. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a poor people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of some Yemenites, as Yemen is extremely poor. However, some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story as myth, if not outright blasphemy. ^[2]

The immigration of the majority of Jews into Yemen appears to have taken place about the beginning of the second century C.E., although the province is mentioned neither by Josephus nor by the main books of the Jewish oral law, the Mishnah and Talmud. According to some sources, the Jews of Yemen enjoyed prosperity until the sixth century C.E. In the 3rd century C.E. a Himyarite king named Abu-Kariba Asad-Toban (c. 390 - 420 C.E.) converted to Judaism and was successful in spreading the religion throughout the region. Even more dramatic was the conversion of Abu-Kariba's grandson, Zar'a, who reigned from C.E. 518 to 525. Legend ascribes his conversion to his having witnessed a rabbi extinguish a fire worshiped by Arab magi, merely by reading a passage from the Torah over it. After changing his religion, he assumed the name Yusef Ash'ar, but gained notoriety in history by his cognomen Dhu Nuwas.

It was around the 3rd century that the ruling family Himyarites converted to Judaism. Jewish rule lasted until 525 CE, when Christians from the Aksumite Kingdom of Ethiopia took power in Yemen. After the advent of Islam, large numbers of Jewish communities converted en mass. Diasporic migrations of Yemeni Jews can also be traced through settlement patterns of Yemenis in general, such as the Ha-Redeye in East Africa.

In a controversial move, the State of Israel beginning in 1948 initiated Operation Magic Carpet and airlifted most of Yemen's Jews to Israel. They would later be accused of taking the children away from their parents, inoculating the children with Zionist philosophy, and forcing them to abandon their 2,000+ years traditions of maintaining long peyot and other Orthodox Jewish religious customs.

[edit] Religious traditions

The Yemenite Jews are the only Jewish community who maintain the tradition of reading the Torah in the synagogue in both Hebrew and the Aramaic Targum ("translation"). Most non-Yemenite synagogues have a hired or specified person called a Baal Koreh, who reads from the Torah scroll when congregants are called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah. In the Yemenite tradition each person called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah reads for himself. Children under the age of Bar Mitzvah are often given the sixth aliyah. Each line of the Torah read in Hebrew is followed by the Aramaic translation.

The Yemenite Jews practice a special chant when reading from the Torah, a different chant when reading from the Prophets (Haftara), and yet another melody or chant when reading from the Psalms. Likewise there is a special chant for readings from Megillat Aicha (Lamentations), and yet still a different chant for readings from Mishle (Proverbs), and another melody for Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), the latter of which is read during the Sukkot holiday. So too, there is a totally different chant taken up by them when reading from the Zohar. Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther) which is read on Purim also differs in its reading from all the rest. Only by repetitive hearing of these different melodies, year in and year out, can one become accustomed to their sounds, and automatically associate oneself with the book which is being read. For the mood of the book is characterized by its chant. This tradition finds its source in the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 32.a), which says: "Anyone who reads without a melody, or who recites without a chant, the scripture says of him, 'I have also given unto thee precepts which are not good.' " – cf. Ezek. 20:25 ^[3]

In larger Jewish communities, such as Sana'a and Sad'a, boys were sent to the Ma'lamed at the age of three to begin their religious learning. They attended the Ma'lamed from early dawn to sunset Sunday through Thursday and until noon on Friday. Women were often illiterate in Yemen, but Jewish women were required to have a thorough knowledge of the laws pertaining to Kashrut and Taharat Mishpachah (family purity) i.e. Niddah. Some women even mastered the laws of Shechita, thereby acting as ritual slaughterers.

Like Yemenite Jewish homes, the synagogues in Yemen had to be lower in height then the lowest mosque in the area. The Jews took an extra precaution not to make their synagogues fancy to avoid provoking jealousy among Muslims. In order to accommodate this, synagogues were built into the ground to give them more space without looking large from the outside. People also sat on the floor instead of chairs. This is in accordance with what Rambam (Maimonides) wrote in his Mishneh Torah:

"We are to practice respect in synagogues... and all of the People of Israel in Spain, and in the West, and in the area of Iraq, and in the Land of Israel, are accustomed to light lanterns in the synagogues, and to lay out mats on the ground, in order to sit upon them. But in the cities of Edom (portions of Europe), there they sit on chairs."

- Hilchot Tefila 11:5

"..and because of this (prostration) all of Israel is accustomed to lay mats in their synagogues on the stone floors, or types of straw and hay, to separate between their faces and the stones."

- Hilchot Avodah Zarah 6:7

The lack of chairs may also have been to provide more space for prostration, another ancient Jewish observance the Jews of Yemen continued to practice until very recent times [1]. There are still a few Yemenite Jews who prostrate during the part of every-day Jewish prayer called Tachanun (Supplication), though such individuals usually do so in privacy. Jews of European origin generally prostrate only during certain portions of special prayers during Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Prostration was a common practice among all Jews until some point during the late Middle Ages or Renaissance period.

In some parts of Yemen, minyanim would often just meet in homes of Jews instead of the community having a separate building for a synagogue. Beauty and artwork were saved for the ritual objects in the synagogue and in the home.

[edit] Yemenite Jews and Maimonides

The average Jewish population of Yemen for the first five centuries C.E. is said to have been about 3,000. The Jews were scattered throughout the country, but carried on an extensive commerce and thus succeeded in getting possession of many Jewish books. When Saladin became sultan in the last quarter of the twelfth century and the Shiite Muslims revolted against him, the trials of the Yemenite Jews began. There were few scholars among them at that time, and a putative prophet arose; he preached a syncretic religion that combined Judaism and Islam, and claimed that the Bible foretold his coming.

One of Yemen's most respected Jewish scholars, Jacob ben Nathanael al-Fayyumi, wrote for counsel to Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. Maimonides replied in an epistle entitled Iggeret Teman (The Yemen Epistle). This letter made a tremendous impression on Yemenite Jewry, and effectively stopped the new religious movement.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the condition of the Jews of Yemen was miserable. They were under the jurisdiction of the local Muslim Imam, and they were forbidden to wear new or good clothes, nor might they ride a donkey or a mule. They were compelled to make long journeys on foot when occasion required it. They were prohibited from engaging in monetary transactions, and were all craftsmen, being employed chiefly as carpenters, masons, and smiths. ^[4]

At the beginning of the nineteenth century they are said to have numbered 30,000, and to have lived principally in Aden (200), Sana (10,000), Sada (1,000), Dhamar (1,000), and the desert of Beda (2,000). The chief industry of the Jews of Yemen at this time was the making of pottery.

[edit] Religious groups

The three main groups of Yemenite Jews are the

1. Baladi
2. Shami
3. Maimonideans or "Rambamists" (who were strict followers of Talmudic law as compiled by Maimonides, aka "Rambam"), though the Maimonideans are typically considered a type of Baladi Jew. In fact, they are the original archetype of the Baladi Jews.

• The Baladi generally follow the legal rulings of the Rambam (Maimonides) as codified in his work the Mishneh Torah.

• The Shami generally follow the legal rulings of the Rambam (Maimonides) or the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law). In the 1600's, they accepted the Zohar (which had made its way to Yemen), and modified their siddur (prayer text) to accommodate Kabbalistic beliefs.

In the early part of the 20th century, a group of Maimonideans called Dor Daim (the "generation of knowledge") became a strong sub-group of the original surviving Maimonideans. Their goal was to bring Yemenite Jews back to the original Maimonidean method of understanding Judaism that existed in pre-1600's Yemen. For them, it was about being true to the Talmud.

The liturgy of most Baladi Jews was developed by a rabbi known as the Maharitz (Mori Ha-Rav Yihye Tzalahh). He attempted to break the deadlock between the pre-existing followers of Maimonides and the new followers of the mystic, Isaac Luria. Before promoters of the Zohar gained influence in Yemen, the Baladi Jews had all been Maimonideans.

Dor Da'im are followers of Maimonides who, for the most part, did not accept the Maharitz's compromise, although most do follow the same basic nusach (prayer text) as codified in their siddur the "Tiklal." They reject the Zohar, a book of esoteric mysticism; in this they are similar to the old-time Spanish and Portuguese Jews (Western Sephardi Jews), who are also sceptical about the Zohar.

In terms of liturgy and of interpreting Jewish law Shami Yemenite Jews were strongly influenced by Syrian Sephardi Jews, though on some issues they reject the later European codes of Jewish law, and instead follow the earlier decisions of Maimonides. Unlike the Baladi Jews, they accepted the validity, authenticity and content of the Zohar, and modified the original Yemenite nusach to incorporate changes based on Kabbalah. ^[5]

In the 1980's, a new community of Yemenite Jews was found, and its members were airlifted to Israel. They lived in the mountains on the barren disputed border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, land that Saudis claim as part of Saudi Arabia; however, the Jews did not have citizenship. They are the Chabani tribe of Jews. They dressed in robes and went barefoot, the women covered their hair, and the men grew their hair long, to the shoulders. They are known to have broad shoulders and muscular, very strong physiques, contrasting the thin studious appearance of most Yemenite Jews. They also carried long guns on their backs and defended themselves in the harsh region they lived in, also contrasting the typical passivity of Yemenite Jews.

[edit] Form of Hebrew

There are two main pronunciations of Yemenite Hebrew, considered by many scholars to be the most accurate form of Biblical Hebrew, although there are technically a total of five that relate to the regions of Yemen. In the Yemenite dialect, all Hebrew letters have a distinct sound, except for the letters ס sāmekh and ש śîn. The Sanaani Hebrew pronunciation (used by the majority) has been indirectly critiqued by Saadia Gaon since it contains the Hebrew letters jimmel and guf, which he rules is incorrect. There are Yemenite scholars, such as Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, who say that such a perspective is a misunderstanding of Saadia Gaon's words.

The following site gives a list of notes on Yemenite pronunciation of Hebrew [2].

Rabbi Mazuz postulates this hypothesis through the Jerban (Tunisia) Jewish dialect's use of gimmel and quf, switching to jimmel and guf when talking with Gentiles in the Gentile dialect of Jerba. Some feel that the Shar'abi pronunciation of Yemen is more accurate and similar to the Babylonian dialect since they both use a gimmel and quf instead of the jimmel and guf. ^[6]

While Jewish boys learned Hebrew since the age of 3, it was strictly for Torah learning. Speaking Hebrew colloquially was considered blasphemous, a belief widely held by most Orthodox Jews until modern times. Yemenite Jews spoke in regional Judeo-Arabic, and females did not study Hebrew at all. Yemenite Jewish women were generally illiterate.

[edit] Writings

The oldest Yemenite manuscripts are those of the Hebrew Bible, which the Yemenite Jews call "Taj" ("crown"). They date from the ninth century, and each of them has a short Masoretic introduction, while many contain Arabic commentaries.

Yemenite Jews were acquainted with the works of Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Kimhi, Nahmanides, Yehudah ha Levy and Isaac Arama, besides producing a number of exegetes from among themselves. In the fourteenth century Nathanael ben Isaiah wrote an Arabic commentary on the Bible; in the second half of the fifteenth century Saadia ben David al-Adani was the author of a commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Abraham ben Solomon wrote on the Prophets.

Among the midrash collections from Yemen mention should be made of the "Midrash ha-Gadol" of David bar Amram al-'Adani. Between 1413 and 1430 the physician Yaḥya Zechariah b. Solomon wrote a compilation entitled "Midrash ha-Ḥefeẓ," which included the Pentateuch, Lamentations, Esther, and other sections of the Hebrew Bible. Between 1484 and 1493 David al-Lawani composed his "Midrash al-Wajiz al-Mughni." ^[7]

Among the Yemenite poets who wrote Hebrew and Arabic hymns modeled after the Spanish school, mention may be made of Yaḥya al-Dhahri and the members of the Al-Shabbezi family. A single non-religious work, inspired by Ḥariri, was written in 1573 by Zechariah ben Saadia (identical with the Yaḥya al-Dhahri mentioned above), under the title "Sefer ha-Musar." The philosophical writers include: Saadia b. Jabeẓ and Saadia b. Mas'ud, both at the beginning of the fourteenth century; Ibn al-Ḥawas, the author of a treatise in the form of a dialogue written in rimed prose, and termed by its author the "Flower of Yemen"; Ḥasan al-Dhamari; and Joseph ha-Levi b. Jefes, who wrote the philosophical treatises "Ner Yisrael" (1420) and "Kitab al-Masaḥah." ^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] Endnotes

1. ^ Jewish Communities in Exotic Places," by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson Inc., 2000, pages 6-7
2. ^ "The Jews of Yemen", in Yemen: 3000 Years of Art and Civilization in Arabia Felix, edited by Werner Daum, page 272: 1987
3. ^ Yemenite Jewry: Origins, Culture, and Literature, page 6, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986)
4. ^ Yemenite Midrash - Philosophical Commentaries on the Torah, translated by Yitzhak Tzvi Langermann: Harper Collins Publishing, pages 292-294
5. ^ Rabbi Yitzhaq Ratzabi, Ohr Hahalakha: Nusakh Teiman Publishing, Bnei Braq
6. ^ Encyclopedia Judaica, vol 13 col 1122-24, "Pronunciation of Hebrew", by Dr. Shlomo Morag, Keter Jerusalem 1971,
7. ^ Yemenite Midrash-Philosophical Commentaries on the Torah, translated by Yitzhak Tzvi Langermann, Harper Collins Publishing
8. ^ Chakhamei Teiman (Sages of Yemen), by Yeshivat Hod Yoseph, volume 1

[edit] Prayer books

• Siahh Yerushalayim, Baladi prayer book in 4 vols, ed. Yosef Qafahh
• Tefillat Avot, Baladi prayer book (6 vols.)
• Torat Avot, Baladi prayer book (7 vols.)
• Tiklal Ha-Mefoar (Maharitz) Nusahh Baladi, Meyusad Al Pi Ha-Tiklal Im Etz Hayim Ha-Shalem Arukh Ke-Minhag Yahaduth Teiman: Bene Berak : Or Neriyah ben Mosheh Ozeri: 2001 or 2002
• Siddur Tefilat HaChodesh - Beit Yaakov (Nusahh Shami), Nusahh Sepharadim, Teiman, and the Edoth Mizrakh
• Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, Siddur Kavanot HaRashash: Yeshivat HaChaim Ve'Hashalom

[edit] Other works

• Halikhot Teiman - The Life of Jews of Sana'a, by Rabbi Yosef Qafahh, Machon Ben-Tzi Publishing
• The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa In Modern Times, by Reeva Simon, Michael Laskier, and Sara Reguer (Editors), Columbia University Press, 2002, Chapters 8 and 21

[edit] See also

• Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)
• Mizrahi Jews
• Demographics of Yemen
• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• List of Jews from the Arab World
• Kfar Tapuach, founded by Yemenite Jews in the late 1970's
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)
• Ha-Redeye

[edit] External links

• Jews of Yemen Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906
• The Yemenite step: Judaism and Islam in Yemen: A Cast Study in Historical and Cultural Interaction
• The Jews of Yemen Homepage
• The Jews of Yemen, The Last Generation by Zion Ozeri (review)
• The Yemenite Jews - Jewish-Yemenite Diwan AUVIDIS/UNESCO D8024 (Reissue) Anthology of Traditional Music 2003
• Yemen: A Land of Pure Dreams
• Naphillath Panim A historical perspective on Tachanun from a Yemenite and Maimonidean perspective.