Yemenite Jews

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

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). Interestingly enough, the Chabashim (Jews in neighboring Ethiopia) have a sister legend of their origins that places the Queen of Sheba as married to King Solomon.

Related Topics:
Solomon - Chabashim - Ethiopia - Queen of Sheba

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The Sanaite Jews have a legend that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. 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 belonged to a brigade dispatched by King Herord to assist the the Roman legions fighting in the region.

Related Topics:
Temple in Jerusalem - Jeremiah

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Yet, another legend states that Ezra the scribe 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, no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are used. 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.

Related Topics:
Ezra - Jerusalem

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The actual 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 some 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.

Related Topics:
Second century - Josephus - Mishnah - Talmud - Sixth century - Dhu Nuwas

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