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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Yemen 01: Arabs, Turks, and Ottomans

Merchants - troops - conversions to Islam - connections to Baghdad and Cairo - fall of the Fatimids and persecutions and messianism since 1174 - Turkish and Ottoman rule 1633-1919 - discriminations and emigration to Palestine until 1919

from: Yemen; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 16

presented by Michael Palomino (2008)

[Borderlines]

<YEMEN, country in S.W. corner of the Arabian Peninsula; capital, *San'a.

During the many centuries of its existence Yemen changed its boundaries many times. In recent times - after the abolition of the kingdom (1962), the expulsion of Bader, the Zaydi imam (ruler), and the abolition of the British protectorates over *Aden (from 1900 in British hands) and the neighbouring sultanates - its frontiers have become more unstable than ever, in the north bordered by Saudi Arabia and in the south by the South Arabian Republic (1968).

[Jewish merchants - Roman troops with Jews in Arabia - lack of sources]

No historic sources are available which prove the authenticity of the traditions and suppositions concerning the beginnings of Jewish settlement in South *Arabia, and particularly in Yemen. It can be assumed that during the Second Temple period

[[according to the latest archeology the "Second Temple" was the only one]]

there were Jewish merchants who lived in the capitals of Babylonia and Persia and traded with Saba and Kush. The temporary settlement of Jewish merchants and agents in Yemen in the course of their business became in due time a permanent settlement and Jewish communities started to develop in South Arabia. It (col. 739)

is possible that the remnants of the Jewish auxiliary force sent by Herod with the Roman expeditionary troops under Aelius Gallus to conquer South Arabia (25 B.C.E.) remained in the country after the expedition was defeated in the vicinity of *Najran (Najrān). Undoubtedly the Jews who later proselytized in *Himyar (Ḥimyar) were not emissaries from Babylonia or Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel), or themselves indigenous converts from South Arabia, but Jewish settlers from the above-mentioned countries.

Due to lack of material in Jewish sources, except in Himyarite (Ḥimyarite) inscriptions at *Bet She'arim, other sources were explored (see the discussion of these problems in the articles *Himyar (Ḥimyar) and *Yusuf As'ar Dhu Nuwas (Yūsuf As'ar Dhu Nuwās), the Himyarite (Ḥimyarite) king who embraced Judaism and was killed in the war with the Abyssinians in 525 C.E.).

[Jews during Muhammad's times - Jews in Arab literature - Jews converting to Islam - no community mentioned]

Even in Muhammad's time, during the conversion of South Arabian tribes to Islam, Jews were not mentioned. Indirect proof of the spread of rabbinic oral traditions, and particularly Jewish legends, in South Arabia are provided in Muslim hadith literature [[oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Muhammad]] and Legends of the Prophets  by two South Arabian Jews, *Ka'b al-Ahbar (Ka'b al-Aḥbār), who (col. 740)

converted to Islam in the time of the caliph Omar and participated in the conquest of Jerusalem, and *Wahb ibn Munabbih, who lived a generation later and himself embraced Islam or was a son of a convert. Nevertheless there is no mention in this material of Jewish communities in the country.

Turmoil later prevailed in Yemen and in 897 Sa'da, the main city on the caravan route between San'a and Mecca, was conquered by a Zaydi imam, the Zaydis being the most moderate among the Shi'a sects of heterodox Islam. The Zaydi dynasty succeeded in extending its rule over the whole of Yemen and ruled, with interruptions and withing varying borders, until the revolution and overthrow of the kingdom (imamat, imāmat) in 1960.

[Jewish communities in Yemen during the Arab high culture times - contributions - relations with Cairo (Fostat), India, the Bundar family with connections to Baghdad, Egypt and Maghreb]

Information concerning Jewish communities in Yemen from the 11th century bear witness to the continuity of Jewish settlement in this territory from pre-Islamic times, as it is not reasonable to assume that the Jews then started to immigrate to Yemen from other countries; during this period Christianity disappeared completely from South Arabia. The Arab geographer Bakri (Bakrī) (11th century) related that during the caliph Omar's reign the Jews and the Christians were not expelled from Najran (Najrān), Yamama (Yamāma), and Bahrein. Iggerot (letters) of the geonim [[Talmud interpreters of the Jewish academies, religious leaders]] were found in the Fostat (Cairo) Genizah [[store-room / depository in a synagogue for worn-out / used religious books and texts]] which testify to relations between the center in Iraq and the Jews in Yemen.

The Yemenite Jewish communities supported the academies of the geonim in Iraq and the latter praised the heads of the communities for their support and awarded the honorific alluf [[chief judge in the Babylonian colleges]] on behalf of the academies. Especially outstanding in its support was the community of San'a, where there was a regional center for collection of money for the academies in Iraq, and later in Egypt. A complaint about the community in *Yarum (Yarūm), which had ceased to send contributions, is voiced in one of the letters. The communities of Tarj (in the district of 'Asir ('Asīr), Sa'da (Ṣa'da) (north Yemen), and Dala' (Ḍāla') (in the south) are also mentioned, as obviously was the name of Aden.

In the 11th century relations with Fostat, the center of Egyptian Jewry, became more intimate. In one of the extant letters from the Genizah a Jew from Sa'da (Ṣa'da), Sa'id (Sa'īd) b. Abraham, who visited Egypt in 1134 is mentioned. He was mentioned in the prayer on the Sabbath for the head of Jewry, the head of the yeshivah [[religious Torah school]] in Egypt, Masliah (Maṣliaḥ) ha-Kohen. An Iraqi Jew, the representative of the academy in Baghdad, who was present in the synagogue protested against the infringement upon the central authority of world Jewry.

Much is also learned from Genizah records about the role of Aden as a transit center for the Jewish trade with India.

The Benei Bundar (Bundār), a family of representatives of the Jewish merchants in Aden, have been traced for some generations during the 11th and 12th centuries. The first known member of the family is Japheth (Hasan) b. Bundar (Bundār). His son Madmun (Maḍmūn) (d. 1151), the Jewish wakil (wakīl) (representative) of Aden, was recognized as the local dayyan [[judge]] by the Jewish authorities in Baghdad, as well as in Egypt. Hew was the *nagid (prince, leader) of the Jews in Yemen, and his official position as representative of the Jewish merchants in Aden brought him into close contact with merchants from the Maghreb (North Africa) and Egypt. A document of the bet din [[ecclesiastical court]] in Fostat relates that he was known as "Our lord and great man, our master and rabbi Madmun (Maḍmūn), the great lord in Israel." A Maghrabī poet composed a panegyric for him, no doubt during a stay in Aden. By virtue of his office Madmun (Maḍmūn) dealt with the estate of two merchants from the Maghreb who had drowned in the sea, one of them a "Nafusi" ("Nafūsī) resident in Tripoli. Madmun (Maḍmūn) also dispatched goods to Persia. Of particular interest is a letter sent from Juwwa (district of Aden) which mentions a large sum (hundreds of dinars) collected in the village, part of which was personally donated by the writer. (col. 741)

[Maimonides]

*Maimonides received over a hundred dinars, a sum far too large even for a great scholar and therefore certainly intended for his school. Maimonides was in steady contact with the Yemen community and from his Epistle to Yemen much is learned about the situation there during his times.

[Fall of the Fatimids in Egypt - fanaticism and persecutions of the Jews in Arabia and Yemen - messianic movement - informations in letters from Madmun and Obadiah of Bertinoro]

The fall of the Fatimids in Egypt and the rise to power of the *Ayyubids influenced the situation in Yemen, which also came under their rule (1174). These changes aroused the fanaticism of the Shi'ites, who some years before (1165) had forced many Jews to convert, under the imam 'Abd al-Nabi' ibn Mahdi ('Abd al-Nabī' ibn Mahdī). The campaign was conducted by a former Jew who was a recent convert. The persecutions caused a messianic movement among the Jews and one of them claimed to be the messiah. In their confusion the Yemenite Jews and their leader, *Jacob b. Nethanel al-Fayyumi (Fayyūmī), sought guidance from Maimonides. He wrote his Epistle to Yemen, probably a compilation of several shorter responsa, which is supposed to have been composed during the early 1170s (c. 1172). In his letter Maimonides especially dealt with the belief in the advent of the messiah. The account given by the 12th-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela (pp. 95-96) about the power of the Jews in Yemen, and particularly in Aden, is an embellished legend.

A letter from Yemen (from 1202) written by Madmun (Maḍmūn) b. David, probably a descendant of the above-mentioned Madmun (Maḍmūn), mentions the help which Maimonides extended to Yemenite Jews, who were then ruled by one of the Ayyubids. The *Midrash ha-Gadol, edited by David b. Amram 'Adani (Adanī) (13th century) and an allegoric treatise, Kitab al-Haqa'iq (Kitāb al-Ḥaqā'iq) ("Book of the Truth"), written by Judah b. Solomon of Sa'da (Ṣa'da) (14th century) bear witness to the literary production of the Yemenite Jews during a period for which no other sources are extant. A note on a responsum of Maimonides remarks that it was brought by Jews who moved from Egypt to San'a in 1366.

Some interesting information about the Jews of Aden and Yemen is found in a letter by R. *Obadiah of Bertinoro which was written from Jerusalem (1489):

"In these days Jews came here from the Land of Aden ... and they tell that there are many large Jewish communities ... those people are inclined to be black. They possess no tractates of the Talmud, only the Rav Alfas [R. Isaac Alfasi] and the commentaries, and [the books of] Maimonides. All of them are versed in Maimonides" (Yaari, Iggerot, 140).

[Jews in Yemen between Turks and Zaydi population under al-Mutahhar - full Turkish occupation since 1633]

After the conquest of Yemen, and particularly of San'a (1546), by the Ottomans a period of tribulations began for the Jews, who were victims of the tension between the Turks and the Zaydi population and their imam, al-Mutahhar (al-Muṭahhar). Accounts of these events are found in R. *Zechariah al-Dahiri's (al-Ḍāhirī's) Sefer ha-Musar. The imam al-Mutahhar (al-Muṭahhar) accused the Jews of treachery in aiding the Turks and persecuted the inhabitants of San'a (1586). The regulations about special Jewish garments and headgear were renewed.

The greatest poet among the Yemenites, Shalom *Shabbazi (c. 1617?-1680?), who was born in Ta'izz, south Yemen, alludes in the introduction to his Midrash Hemdat (Ḥemdat) ha-Yamin to the bloody persecutions and forced conversions to Islam in south Yemen (1618) which were instigated by the Turkish governor of the province. Revolts of the Yemenite tribes against the Turkish occupation were continuous, and that of 1627-29 was one of the most significant episodes in these wars and led to the occupation of the whole country by the Turks in 1633. The Hebrew chronicles about that revolt were published by Y. Ratzhabi (Zion, 20 (1955), 32-46).

The lot of the Jews, which was bad during these wars, changed for better under the victorious Zaydi imams.

[Persecutions under al-Mahdi - expulsion to Mawza at the Red Sea for one year 1678-79 - return]

Half a century later (in the late 1670s) a new wave of persecutions began which were caused by the zealous imam (col. 742)

Ahmad b. Hasan al-Mahdi (Aḥmad b. Hasan al-Mahdī) (1676-81), who attempted to exile all non-Muslims from Yemen. A decree was accordingly issued (1676) ordering the destruction of all synagogues in the country and the expulsion of all Jews to *Mawza', located along the very unhealthy southern shore of the Red Sea (Tihamah (Tihāmah)). The order was executed in 1678-79, the exile of Mawza' lasting only one year, after which the expellees were allowed to return to the homes they had been forced to abandon.

In the meantime famine and illness decimated them and most of the returnees were obliged to build new quarters as the former ones were destroyed or occupied by Muslims. The community of San'a suffered more than others and that "exile" remained in its memory.

[Chronicle from 1717 to 1726 - drought, famine, and conversions]

R. Sa'id *Sa'adi (Sa'īd Sa'adī) (first half of the 18th century) composed a chronicle on the events in Yemen from 1717 to 1726, Dofi ha-Zeman ("Faults of Times"). During a drought and famine the imam succeeded in inducing many Jews to convert, promising them a stable livelihood. The diary is very valuable, as it describes the trouble and disasters of Yemenite Jews (published in Sefunot, 1 (1957)).

[Jews in Yemen under Ottoman rule - Suez Canal and Ottoman rulers - bad reports about Jews by travelers]

The Ottoman Empire reinstituted its shaky power in the country in 1849 and Yemen was nominally a vilayet governed by a vali (governor-general). Nevertheless, the situation of the Jews, who were suspected by the imams and the native Muslim population of a friendly attitude toward the conquerors, did not change for the better. With the opening of the Suez Canal the Ottoman rulers tried to fortify their position in Yemen, and the powers of the imam were restricted to religious matters. The Jews felt themselves more secure, but their social and economic situation remained without change. Jewish and non-Jewish travelers (e.g., J. *Saphir, Joseph Halevy, H. Maltzan, H. Burchardt, and others) who visited the country describe the Jews' social and economic position in dark colours. These reports aroused the interest of European Jewry and were helpful in preparing them for their emigration to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) (see below).

The revolt of the imam Yahya (Yaḥa) (1904-48) against Ottoman rule soon after his ascent to the imamate brought new disaster for the Jews. The Jewish population of San'a, which was conquered after a prolonged siege by the imam (1905), numbered according to one report at that time no more than 150 persons. Another traveler writes:

"During the siege entire families died stolidly in the street, or turning their faces to the wall in their own house, for it was little use begging when bread was sold at thirty shillings per pound"

(quoted by E. Brauer in his Ethnologie der jemenitischen Juden [[Ethnology of the Yemenite Jews]] (1934), 48). The situation was no better in other towns of the country. The struggle between the imam and the Turkish forces continued for some years;the Turks finally evacuated the country (1911). In the meantime organized alyyot of Yemenite Jews to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) began. Indeed, bigger groups began to arrive from 1882, one of the first of which settled in the village Silwan (Silwān) (near Jerusalem).

[[By the immigration to Palestine began an inner Jewish racism between Asian Jews and European Jews, lasting about 100 years. The European Jews never wanted to accept that Asian Jews have the same rights]].

Social Position.

[The Arab social hierarchy - the Jews living at the bottom of the social order]

Although the Zaydi sect is considered the most tolerant and liberal wing of the Shi'a, the situation of Jews, the only non-Muslim religious minority in Yemen, was always very precarious. The Jews stood at the bottom of the social order in Yemen: the first in order were the gabili (gabī l ī), the Arabs of pure blood, the big landowners, and the sayyids [[patrons]], the descendants of Husayn (Ḥusayn) and Fatima (Fāṭima), the daughter of Muhammad.

Muslim merchants and craftsmen were also free people, but of lower rank.

Beneath them stood the tillers of the earth, the peddlers, and the craftsmen, who were busy in unhonoured crafts 8e.g., smithery). The Jews were seen as serfs without any rights. Jewish testimony against a Muslim was not accepted in the Muslim courts, and every Jew therefore had to find a Muslim patron, a sayyid, who took the Jews under his (col. 743)

tutelage and protection for a fee and was responsible for his client's life and goods. The patron was obliged to avenge the blood of his client and family and to recover goods stolen or robbed by a Muslim. In San'a the iam was ex officio protector of the Jews.

[The clean sewers order for the Jews 1846-1950]

In 1846 the degrading duty was put on the Jewish community in San'a to clean all sewers in the town. Although later mitigated, the order remained in force until 1950 and was an obstacle in the emigration of persons who did that work. The community had to pay a ransom to allow them to emigrate.

[Discrimination of the Jews under imam Yahya 1904-1948]

Immediately after the conquest of San'a the imam Yahya (Yaḥya) [[1904-1948]] renewed the old regulations of Omar (see Covenant of *Omar), with many additions. It was forbidden for the Jews to: be clad in bright garments; use stockings; bear weapons; be busy in the same occupations as Muslims; use saddles; look upon the private parts of a Muslim (in the bath); study the Torah outside the synagogues; recite prayers in a loud voice; blow the shofar loudly; and lend money for interest.

They were also obliged to honour the Muslims and to walk on their left side.

One of the most severe ordinances was the edict issued in 1921 and rendered more severe in 1925, according to which all orphans who were minors had to convert to Islam and be educated within it. The Jews did everything they could to rescue the orphans by adoption into families, mostly of the kin, or smuggling them over the border to Aden and from there to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel). Nevertheless, the persecutions lasted for years and caused much suffering to the orphaned children and to those who tried to redeem them from forced conversion.

Economic Situation.

[Professions: silversmiths, weaving, smithery, carpentry, peddlers, merchants]

The low social position of the Jews and the general poverty of the country in Islamic times are sufficient to explain the fact that the majority of the Jewish population were craftsmen living in poverty. The richest and most honoured of the community were the silversmiths, as Islam does not allow its believers to work in gold and silver and to produce jewels and coins, seeing these occupations as acts of usury.

There were also those who worked in weaving, smithery, and carpentry, which spread in the qa' (qā') (Jewish quarter).

Those living in the townlets and villages were peddlers who were accustomed to wander with their packs of hardware, fancy goods, and haberdashery needed by the native population, returning to their homes for the Sabbath and holidays only. Many craftsmen also earned their livelihood in a similar way. According to older sources some Jews were landowners, but they had to lease their lands from Muslims. In San'a and the seaports a few Jews were merchants, dealing in import and export, particularly of coffee. Droughts, which caused famine and starvation, generally plagued the entire population. The Jewish sources often refer to such periods of tribulations and sufferings.

Messianic Expectations.

The social position, poverty, religious fervor, and also the beliefs of the neighbouring Zaydi Muslim sect - who also expected the advent of an imam-redeemer - help explain why messianic movements disturbed Yemenite Jewry more often than those living in other countries. Mention has already been made of the rise of a pseudo-messiah in Yemen in the times of Maimonides. Hayyim Habshush (Ḥayyim Ḥabshush), the guide of Joseph Halevy during his journey to Najran (Najrān) (1870), reports in his History of Israel in Yemen (Sefunot, 2 (1958), 249) the appearance of a pseudo-messiah in the Hadhramaut in 1495. The expectations for the appearance of the Messiah were very strong in Yemen in the first half of the 17th century. It is quite understandable that the appearance of *Shabbetai Zevi (Ẓevi) aroused an ecstatic movement in Yemen, which brought about a bloody persecution by the reigning imam Isma'il (Ismā'īl) (Sefunot, 252-5). (col. 744)

Most significant are the pseudo-messianic events in the 19th century. The first was the appearance in San'a of Judah b. Shalom (b.c. 1840), called Shukr Kuhayl (Kuḥayl). He was ordered in a dream by the prophet Elijah to be the Messiah - the redeemer. Shukr divorced his wife and in 1862-64 traveled throughout the country, calling the Jews in the small towns and villages to follow him. He also found many followers among the Muslim population who believed in his prophecies. He was murdered at the instigation of the imam, but this pseudo-messiah was a sincere man who believed in his mission. Shukr promised to reappear and his believers waited for him. Indeed, three years later (1868) an impostor appeared who declared himself to be Shukr and sent letters to all the communities in Yemen, Egypt, and Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) announcing his return and advent. He even sent for Shukr's divorced wife and married her; she bore him a son. On learning about this impostor Joseph Saphir wrote his Epistle to Yemen, in which he warned the Jews not to follow this false Shukr.  A third pseudo-messiah Joseph b. Abdallah, appeared, according to Habshush (Ḥabshūsh) (Sefunot, 2 (1958), 278-81), in 1893. This one was more depraved than his forerunner the pseudo-Shukr and used his influence among the population for material gain and immoral purposes.

Literary and Scholarly Activities.

The community's connections with the geonic academies in Baghdad (see above) give an indication that Yemenite Jews were influenced by them in their religious life and spiritual activities. A passage from al-*Kirkisani (al-Kirkisānī) (Kitab al-Anwar wa al-Maraquib (Kitāb al-Anwār wa al-Marāquib)  ed., Nemoy,1, 135), the famous Karaite historian (first half of tenth century), explicitly states that the Babylonian version of the Bible was in use in Yamāma, Bahrein, and Yemen. Some customs in the Yemenite prayer rites go back to the prayer book of R. Saadiah. Fragments of an Arabic translation have been found in the genizah of Joseph bin Guryon's (Yosippon) History of the Jews during the Second Temple [[which according to the latest archeology was the only temple]], which were prepared by Zechariah b. Sa'id al-Yamani (Sa'īd al-Yamanī), and a Yemenite Jews wrote an Arabic commentary to Alfasi's compendium to the Talmud tractate Hullin (Ḥullin). The latter fact serves to confirm the later report in R. Obadiah of Bertinoro's letter (see above) that Alfasi was studied in Yemen.

From Maimonides' time onward writing commentaries to his works was one of the main literary activities in that country. Y. Ratzhabi, the bibliographer of Yemenite literature, provides a special section in his work, called "Maimonidesiana" (KS, 28 (1952), 125-57). Some aggadic Midrashim and homilies also seem to have been in circulation in Yemen and to have disappeared later. In any case some of Maimonides' halakhic opinions seem to be based on unknown traditions, which were recorded in David b. Amran *Adani's Midrash ha-Gadol, a work compiled in the 13th century.

The Yemenites favoured that literary genre of aggadic-midrashic compilations and there are some extant works, e.g.,

-- Nur al-Zalam (Nūr al-Ẓalām) ("the Light of the Darkness") by *Nethanel b. Yesha (14th century; edited with Hebrew translation by Y. Kafah (Kafaḥ), 1957);

-- Siraj al-'Uqul (Sirāj al-'Uqūl) ("The Candle of the Minds") by Mansur al-Damari (Manṣūr al-Ḍamārī) (14th century);

-- and many others.

One of them, Kitab al-Hawa'iq (Kitāb al-Ḥawā'iq) ("Book of the Truth"), an allegoric treatise on the aggadot (see above), aroused a controversy between the Jews of Sa'da (Ṣa'da) (the dwelling place of the author) and those of San'a. The Sa'dans (Ṣa'dans) agreed that the pleas of the two parties be sent to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) for decision (see Y. Kafah (Kafaḥ): Kobez al Jad, 5 (1951)).

The two best known Yemenite writers in the Jewish world are:

-- R. Solomon *Adani (1567-after 1622 (?)), who was born in San'a and died in Hebron, the author of the Mishnah commentary Melekhet Shelomo; and

-- *Zechariah (col. 745)

al-Dahiri (al-Dāhirī) (16th century), the author of Sefer ha-Musar (ed. by Y. Ratzhabi, 1965), containing 45 maqamat (maqāmāt) (speeches in rhymed prose) written in the manner of Judah Al-Harizi's (Al-Ḥarizi's) Tahkemoni (Taḥkemoni).

Sefer ha-Musar is an important source for Jewish history in the East, as its author traveled in Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) and in other Middle Eastern countries and gives an account of his impression about the Jewish communities. Among the Yemenites themselves, the poet Shalom Shabbazi is possibly the most famous. His poems and liturgies were influenced by pre-Lurianic mysticism, as R. Isaac *Luria's teachings had not reached him. Only a small part of the thousands of poems ascribed to him by tradition is extant.

From the 16th century on the Kabbalah and especially later its Lurianic school and system found its way to Yemen and influenced Jewish literary production in the areas of commentaries to the Bible, prayers, and liturgic poetry. Particularly productive in this field was Sar Shalom *Shar'abi (Shar'abī) (1720-1782), who emigrated to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel). He was one of the pillars of Beth-El, a yeshivah [[religious Torah school]] in the Old City of Jerusalem in which Kabbalah was studied. His son Isaac and grandsons Raphael and Abraham followed him in his work.

One of the greatest rabbinic authorities and religious leaders in Yemen was Mori *Yihya Salih (Mōri *Yiḥya Ṣāliḥ) (1715-1805), whose literary production included responsa,commentaries, treatises on shehitah (sheḥitah) (ritual slaughtering), and a history of the Jews in Yemen, of which only fragments are extant (published by D. Sassoon: Ha-Zofeh (Ha-Ẓofeh), 7 (1923)).

For hundreds of years the Jewish communities followed their traditional ways of secular and religious life, not being influenced by external trends and currents. Nevertheless, two or three generations ago, influenced by contact with Jewish travelers from Europe and Asia and parallel to the first bigger aliyyot to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel), some changes began in this backward society. At first a very small circle opposed the overwhelming rule of mysticism in intellectual life and looked for contacts with more progressive elements. Yihya *Kafah (Yiḥya Kafaḥ), one of the leaders of that movement - known by the name Darda' (from the Hebrew Dor de'ah, "generation of wisdom") - became the principal of the first "modern" Jewish school founded in San'a (1910). Yomtob *Sémach,who was on an Alliance Israélite Universelle mission in Yemen in that year, tried to help Kafah (Kafaḥ) and his circle. The ruling imam saw in that school, where the Turkish language was also taught, an instrument of foreign influence.

The aims of the Darda' were more far-reaching than the education of school-age boys. They intended to return to the study of talmudic and rabbinic literature, and their attitude toward the Zohar and the later kabbalistic works and customs introduced by Isaac Luria and his pupils was negative. The trend was to ban all these innovations from the religious life, but they met strong opposition on the part of the majority of the community, which was led by Mori Isaac ha-Levi *Yihya (Mōri Isaac ha-Levi Yiḥya) (1866-1932),the hakham bashi (ḥakham bashi) [[spiritual leader]] and last chief rabbi of San'a (1906-32). The conflict was even brought before the imam Yahya (Yaḥya) (1914). The decision did not change anything in the attitudes of the opponents and the conflict lasted for years, at least until the death of the leaders of the two parties. Mori Joseph *Kafah (Mōri Joseph Kafaḥ), the grandson of Mori Yihya (Mōri Yiḥya), was one of the leading modern scholars of the Yemenite community in Israel. Halikhot Teiman (1961), his work about customs and usages of the Jewish population in the towns (in San'a, Shibam (Shibām), 'Amran ('Amrān), Manakheh (Manākheh), Dhamar (Dhamār), Yarim), is the most authoritative description of a past which seems far away from the modern reader. The controversy itself was solved by the mass aliyah to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) (see below).

Two German scholars, C. Rathjens and H. von Wissmann, who undertook very extensive research on (col. 746)

South Arabia, give a detailed list of about 500 places where Jews lived in north and middle Yemen, receiving it from the hakham bashi (ḥakham bashi) [[spiritual leader]], who drew it up according to the tax lists in his possession. No data was available for the south. The places they could identify according to the maps are given by them (fig. 64). According to their estimates approximately 60-70,000 Jews lived in the country at the time (see bibl.).

[H.Z.H.] (col. 751)

Settlement in Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel).

The important waves of immigration of Yemenite Jews to Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) began in 1882, thus corresponding with the Bilu aliyah from Russia. Reports of the renewed settlement of Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) reached Yemen and attracted many immigrants from there. Until 1907 the immigrants came from the urban populations of San'a and central Yemen; they settled mainly in Jerusalem, as they sought spiritual revival and a life of religious observance and sanctity in the Holy City. Their integration into the local population was difficult, particularly from the economic point of view, but they revealed a great aptitude for acclimatization. They dominated the building trades, working in the quarries as stonecutters and as masons, construction labourers and plasterers, as well as in every craft where work was available. In 1908 their numbers in Jerusalem reached 2,500, whereas in Jaffa they numbered only 350 in 1903.

The second mass emigration from Yemen began in 1908 and was composed of Jewish villagers from northern Yemen (Haydan (Haydān) and Sa'da (Ṣa'da) who turned to agricultural work and settled in the first Hebrew moshavot [[settlements]]. The suffering they encountered and the difficulties they experienced in adapting themselves economically were no less than the difficulties of their brothers in Jerusalem. They used all their strength in establishing themselves on the land and managed to secure a firm position in the society, becoming hired agricultural labourers for other Jewish farmers. They purchased land from their savings and erected separate quarters for themselves near the agricultural moshavot [[settlements]] in Judea and Galilee. At the end of World War I there were 4,500 Yemenite Jews in the country.> (col. 752)

Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yemen, vol. 16, col. 739-740	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yemen, vol. 16, col. 741-742	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yemen, vol. 16, col. 743-744
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yemen, vol. 16, col. 745-746	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Yemen, vol. 16, col. 751-752

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