The Jews of Yemen, Part III
The Islamic Period
by Nehama C. Nahmoud
THE ADVENT OF ISLAM PUT AN END to further conversions to Judaism from among the Yemenite Arabs,
and Jewish immigration to Yemen diminished to a great extent as well.
The expansion of Islam also
brought about a decline in the political and cultural importance of the
Arabian Peninsula generally, and in particular of Yemen.
Thus, for about
400 years after Mohammed's conquests, information from Yemen dwindled,
and we hear hardly anything of value on the life of the Yemenite Jews.
The imams of Yemen, the Muslim religious leaders, were notorious for
their fanaticism and intolerance towarrd all other religions. Officially
called the "People of the Book," the Jews had permission to live in
Muslim lands, but within a second-class-citizen framework of
limitations. For instance:
Any breach of the rules brought forth immediate disciplinary measures,
the least of which was a blow on the head.
All in all, however, the fate of the Jews actually depended on the whims
of the individual Arab ruler, and not all Arab rulers were tyrants.
Under a kindly ruler, it was possible to live in peace and even enjoy
life to a certain extent, even under these conditions of second-class
citizenship. But an unmerciful iman or sheikh could add to these
restrictions any other unjust caprice, including outright murder.
During the era of Rambam (Maimonides), in the 12th century, Yemenite
Jewry was bowed under a heavy burden of unjust decrees and heavy taxes.
Rambam used his influence as physician to the Arab ruler Salah ad-Din to
intercede effectively on behalf of Yemenite Jewry. Their suffering is
mentioned in his famed Letter to Yemen.
Frequently, drought and hunger joined these man-made sufferings to make
the Yemenites' living conditions nearly intolerable. Due to such
conditions over a long period of time, a messianic nostalgia was very
active among the people. Rambam's Letter to Yemen was written
because of the appearance of a false Messiah in Yemen who had a
large following among the Jews and the local Arabs; his failure
caused widespread disappointment among the people and aroused the wrath
of the imam.
Work and Learning
Engaging in the trades and crafts of the Muslims was forbidden. The
Arabs felt that all the crafts which we now consider as artistic and
creative were second-class occupations, fit only for second-class
citizens. Yemenite Jews were, thus, the jewelers, workers in precious
metals, weavers, saddle makers, sword makers, ceramists, potters,
shoemakers, painters, and carpenters for the whole country.
And not only were these crafts creative; they had two other great
advantages. The first was independence. If someone ran a little weaving
or ceramic studio with members of his family or some partners, he did
not have to report to work at any fixed time, and there was no gentile
supervision, which in turn made possible the second advantage. That was the
possibility of learning Torah all day as one worked: The workshops and
studios were actually yeshivas in disguise. The talmidei chachomim
(Torah sages) wrote their treatises at night, after work.
Torah teaching as a source of livelihood was very much frowned upon by
Oriental Jews generally and was nearly never done in Yemen. A great many
of the aforementioned craftsmen were actually, in their other lives,
rabbinic judges, mystics and saints, and Halachic arbiters.
One of the best descriptions of how this system worked comes from the
travel book Even Sapir, by Ya'akov Sapir who was commissioned by
Jerusalem's rabbinic authorities to travel to Egypt, Yemen, and India
between 5617 and 5623 (1856-7 to 1862-3).
This mori, Yusif ben Sa'adya, is full of Torah, of fear of
Heaven, of wisdom and the knowledge of life. He has a wonderful
knowledge of the Tanach and its commentaries and also of the
Talmud, the Rambam, and the later commentaries, as well as one of our
greatest teachers in Poland. In addition, he is a thorough master of
the Kabbalah, and he knows by heart every page of the writings of
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the holy Ari, ZT"L. On the whole, his memory
is remarkable. He himself has written on Kabbalah, and he
is highly thought of by the (Arab) authorities.
By profession he is a blacksmith and makes swords, plows, shovels,
hammers, hoes, and in general all the tools used by farmers. His
workshop is a vaulted room on the slope of a hill on which the town
is built. His old father and his younger
brother, who are equally educated, help him in his work. The father
looks after the
bellows and holds the iron while the brother uses the hammer. And even
during this hard work they talk of the Torah and other edifying
things. Here in this vaulted
room he makes rulings on Halacha, judges, and gives advice to all
who desire
it.
Toward evening he takes his working tools and carries them on his back
up to his
house, then he goes to the beith k'nesseth (communal synagogue)
and studies as is the custom here after the evening prayer. Even
during the night he does not rest, but rather for him the night
becomes a vigil of the Torah and of wisdom.
Shar'ab and the Shar'abi family
The name Shar'abit means "an inhabitant of the town of Shar'ab." The
Jews of Shar'ab were known for their learning an piety. In that town
they were all weavers by trade. This kind of manual work was
particularly favored by Yemenite Jews, as it was mechanical and
repetitive, leaving minds free for Torah. As the weavers, many of them
distinguished Torah scholars, worked their looms, they conversed on
Torah topics.
Shar'abi is a very old Yerushalmi (Jerusalemite) name, going back 400
years to the time when Mori Sar Shalom Shar'abi came to the Holy City to
the Beith-El Yeshiva for Kabbalah scholars.
How did Mori Sar Shalom get to Jerusalem? That is another favorite
Yemenite story:
Pretending to humor the woman, Mori Sar Shalom asked to go up to the
roof, as
the windows in the room were too narrow to jump through. As soon as
they
reached the roof, he threw himself down into the courtyard below --
landing
unharmed from his five-story leap. From there he made his way on foot
to
Jerusalem via Iraq.
On his arrival in Jerusalem, he sat modestly in a corner of the
Beith-El
synagogue, but was soon recognized as the great scholar that he was.
The Turkish Regime
Yemen's great gaon and poet, Mori Salim (Sholom Shabazi), describes
the degradation of the Yemenite Jews under the Turkish regime, when the
Jews were caught in the middle of the feuds between the Turkish
governors and the native imams.
In the second half of the 1600's, a period of famine and pestilence, the
Arabs finally threw the Turks out of Yemen. To celebrate their victory
they deported the Jews from the capital of San'a to Mauza, a
fever-ridden wasteland on the shores of the Red Sea. Over two-thirds
perished.
Mori Salim worked as a weaver and, in spite of his material
difficulties, he learned, wrote, and became the leader of the community.
He bewailed the plight of the exiles in many poems and, it is said,
through his influence with the ruler of the country, or as others say,
because the imam and his household were afflicted with great suffering
by a miracle of Mori Salim, the imam recalled the Jews. Mori Salim's
songs from this period are still sung by the Yemenites in Israel today
-- over 600 have been preserved.
Mori Salim's tomb became a pilgrimage spot for all Yemenite Jewry, and
many miraculous cures have been reported. His daughter is buried beside
him and is equally renowned as a tzadekess (saint) who took her own
life rather than agree to forced conscription into an Arab ruler's
harem.
Next issue, the conclusion: Into Judaism's mainstream.
This little town has a great rabbi. In Yemen the rabbi is called
mori; the mori can be a judge, preacher, ritual slaughterer,
cantor, and sexton, all in one.
Once Sar Shalom Shar'abit went to the city of the Muslims to sell his
handwoven
cloth. There the wife of a very important personage saw him from the
window and
found him attractive, for his face was beautiful with the light of
Torah. She had
him brought to the upper story of the house, ostensibly to buy cloth.
But he soon
realized that her intentions were sinful. He prayed, vowing that if he
escaped unharmed spiritually and physically from this situation, he
would go to live in the Holy City.
Nehama C. Nahmoud is the author of several works on
Oriental, Middle Eastern and Sephardic Jews. She lives in
Jerusalem.