The #Jews of Yemen are one of the most ancient and indigenous communities of the Middle East
Our community first arrived in the Arabian peninsula prior to the destruction of the First Temple in #Jerusalem, over 2,500 years ago
2) Depite the geographic distance from other Jewish communities, Yemeni Jews preserved authentic traditions of Judaism as well as pronounication of the Hebrew language
As such, we are not Sephardic, but rather have our own unique branch of traditions
3) One example is wearing of the prayer shawl (talith) on the left shoulder at all times, not only during prayer
You'll see notice this in all pictures from Yemen
4) Another example is the strict schooling starting at age 3.
All kids would learn our ancient traditions of Hebrew pronounciation, as well as start memorization of the entire Torah, Prophets, Mishna, and Maimonides
5) Unlike the rest of the Jewish world, Yemeni kids would start reciting the Torah in public in synagogue starting at age 5, and wear Tefillin well before age 13
Schooling was very serious! Sitting in a circle, half the class would need to learn to read upside down
6) That's why many of our grandparents would prefer to read upside down
In this picture, an elder is holding a prayer book upside down, a common picture from my chidhood
7) Jews dominated the craft of precious metal in the Arabian peninsulate for over 2,000 years. They were noted for their skilled use of fine granulation and filigree, producing ornaments such as women's bracelets, necklaces, as elaborate daggers, worn by all men in #Yemen
8) Sana'a alone had hundreds of Jewish silversmith shops whose work was appreciated and popular throughout the entire Arabian peninsula
9) Our ancestors were also masters at crafting unique emboridered garments embedded with jewlery
Garment designs differed depending on age, occasion, and marital status
Both men and women would work together to produce these amazing garments
10) Both traditions of Jewlery and garments are strongly preserved today in #Israel in our community
Here is a wedding in #Israel showing some of these authentic traditions
11) Another tradition unique to the Arabian Peninsula is women's poetry
#Jewish women in #Yemen wrote and published poetry as early as the 17th Century in both Arabic and Hebrew, reflecting anecdotes and expressions of every day life
12) In fact, all our wedding songs today are based on this ancient poetry
A new generation of Yemeni Jewish musicians in #Israel is preserving this important tradition by reviving this poetry in their music
13) Jews lived all over Yemen, but major communities lived in 4 primary regions:
🔷Sana'a
🔷Shar'ab (Taiz)
🔷Aden
🔷Hadramaut
14) The Jews of Sana'a lived in a Jewish Quarter called Qa'a al-Yahud قاع اليهود, similar to the Jewish Quarter in #Jerusalem
Highly influenced by Maimonides, the Sana'a community followed a rational philosophic approach and opposed all forms of mysticism
15) The leader of the Sana'a community was Chief Rabbi Yaḥya Qafiḥ يحيى القافح
Rabbi Qafih formed the Dor De'ah movement, promoting learning of the rational philosophies of Maimonides, mathematics, sciences, languages, and Arab philosphers Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sina, and Ibn-Rushd
16) The community of Shar'ab as-Salam #Taiz took a very different route. This community of 1,000 were devout mystics, dedicating their time to meditation and study of the Zohar and Kabbalah
This beautiful village is where my grandparents lived
17) This was the home of Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, the 17th C poet and scholar. R' Shabazi wrote huge amounts of poetry in Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic
Jews and Muslims would make a pilgrimage all year round to his tomb, still in tact today and protected by a local Muslim family
18) #Aden was always a major a port city, hence this community was highly influenced by other Jewish traditions. During the 19th C, they took on many Sephardic customs
They developed their own unique cuisine. Jachnoon, perhaps the most popular Yemeni Jewish dish, is from Aden
19) Headed by Rabbi Banin Menahem Moshe Cohen, the community built major educational and professional institutions
They were the first in #Yemen to build a major girls school
In this picture, King Edward VIII visits the Jewish community of #Aden in 1922
20) Finally, the community of Hadhramaut חצרמוות حَضْرَمُوتُ was the most unique
They grew long hair, wore different clothes, and most were warriors!
21) In fact, it was the Jews of Hardhramaut that King Abdullah of Jordan picked to be his bodyguards
They are members of the famous Ma'atuf family, whose descendants live in #Israel today and practice a uniqe form of Yemeni martial arts!
22) The Jew of Hadhramaut are also known as Habbani Jews
Many live in the town of Bareqet in #Israel and preserve their unique traditions
23) Yemenite Jewish surnames often reveal our city of origin
24) #Yemen was historically very tribal and split into independent governates.
As such, religious tolerance was very dependent on location and time in history
For my grandparents in Shar'ab (Taiz), they experienced wonderful co-existence with their Muslim neighbors
25) In Northern areas under Zaydi rule (the godfathers of the Houthis) Jews and other minorities were discriminated against and even had to wear special symbols to clearly show their religion
Luckily, most of Yemen was not under Zaydi rule...
26) The expulsion of the Jews of Yemen started in 1949 with the riots in Aden
Several homes and community buildings were burned and destroyed and Jewish residents attacked
27) The Yemeni government decided to exile most of the 50,000 Jews of #Yemen between 1949-1951
My grandparents' community had to walk by foot from Taiz to Aden, close to 200km, in order to reach an emergency airlift to #Israel
Many died on the way
28) After 2,500 years of loyal citizenship, the Jews of #Yemen were forced to leave their homes without their belongings
This is a very painful memory for our community
29) Jews from all Yemeni communities met in Aden in preparation for their migration to #Israel
Despite all the challenges and pain, they kept their faith and resilience and continued to smile through it all
30) They lost their homes and belongings, but never lost their faith
Starting a new life in new world: different languages, different traditions and cultures, and with it, new challenges
32) All Yemeni Jews first landed in the city of Rosh HaAyin, where they would spend the next few months rebuilding their communities, synagogues, and workshops
For there, the community moved to different cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Rehovot, and various Moshavim in the South
33) Our grandparents kept all their traditions: religious, language, pronounication, clothing, food, and of course, the mada'a: the huge Yemeni smoke pipe😂a new arrival in the Levant
🧵 1) The Mufti of #Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, was the founder of Palestinian Nationalism and a Nazi collaborator
In his early writings, he identified as a South Syrian
However, as more Jews arrived and bought land in #Israel, he shifted to a new form of local nationalism
2) In 1936 he established himself in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany by making propagandistic radio broadcasts and by helping the Nazis recruit Muslims from Bosnia and the Caucauses to the Waffen SS
3) His master plan was to establish Nazi death camps in the Dotan Valley in North Samaria and to slaughter all the Jews of the Middle East
He even visited concentration camps in Europe in order to learn first hand about their systems and techniques
🧵 1) Amazing how the staff at al-Shifa, the largest hospital in #Gaza was complicit with hostages and rape victims from #Israel being dragged into their property by #Hamas terrorists on October 7th
🧵1) The Houthis recently made the news with attempted rocket attacks on #Israel but they have been wreaking havoc in #Yemen for over a decade
Like #Hamas, The Houthis are funded by #Iran. They killed over 500,000 Yemenis and ethnically cleansed Yemen's entire Jewish community
2) Ever heard of Taiz? It's #Yemen's 3rd largest city, which has been under complete blockade by the Houthis since 2015!
Despite pleas from human rights organizations, the Houthis continued shelling civilians, starving the population, and not allowing any humanitarian aid
3) The Houthis have also destroyed ancient heritage sites in #Yemen, like the 3,000 year old Al-Qahira castle and the16th-century mosque of Sufi Sheikh Abdulhadi al-Sudi
Our revered Sage Rabbi Shalom Shabazi's tomb is in Taiz, and there are rumors they damaged it as well
🧵1) Margalit Zinati is not Sephardic, Ashkenazi, or Yemeni
Her family has lived in the Galilee continuously for over 2,000 years. She comes from a family of Cohanim who left #Jerusalem upon the destruction of the 2nd Temple and found safe haven in the town of Peki'in
2) Peki'in was a #Jewish village since the time of the Temple and is mentioned extensively throughout the Mishna and Talmud.
It is recorded that the influential Sage Rabbi Yehoshua and his many disciples set up their Yeshiva in Peki'in
3) The #Jewish population of Peki'in saw a significant drop during the Crusader and Mamluk period. During the early Mamluk period documents show the growing presence of #Druze in the village. But #Jews continued living in the village throughout, the majority of which were Kohanim
🧵The #Cairo Geniza is a collection of 400,000 #Jewish manuscript fragments which were stored in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fostat #Egypt 🇪🇬
Spanning 6th-19th Centuries, the Geniza comprises the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world
2) The Torah forbids throwing away writings containing the name of God. It was common to open personal letter with an invocation of God so this rule is not limited to religious materials
All such documents must be stored in a separate archive, and the buried in a cemetery
3) In practice, these archives contained any writing in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic, even if it had no religious significance
As such, the Geniza gives us a unique peek into the past
Over the past decade, applying #AI techniques led to discovery of important lost works