hḳhylh hyhṿdyt vtymn, nṿshʾy htfḳydym shvh ṿmṿsdṿtyh mtḥylt hmʾh hy"ṭ ʿd tḥylt hmʾh hkh'
From the time of the gradual decrease of the Indian trade in the 13th century, the Jewish community of Yemen was cut off from all other Jewish communities. As a result, the Yemenite Jews did not experience the dynamic development that distinguished the Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities. Not...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Hebrew |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1981
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1980, Volume: 51, Pages: 9-28 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | From the time of the gradual decrease of the Indian trade in the 13th century, the Jewish community of Yemen was cut off from all other Jewish communities. As a result, the Yemenite Jews did not experience the dynamic development that distinguished the Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities. Notwithstanding a small influx of Egyptian and Iraqi Jews, the character of the Jewish population in Yemen remained largely unchanged, and because Islam now had absolute hegemony, the community enjoyed no converts. Only internal migration protected the population from physical and spiritual atrophy. By the end of the 17th century, the structure of the Yemenite community had been shaped, and its basic organization changed little until the Yemenite diaspora liquidated the population in the 1950s. Yemen was primarily a village population, and more than 80% lived in approximately 1,200 settlements. This dispersion was the direct result of the society's economic structure. The great majority of Yemenite Jews were engaged in trades and services useful to the Muslim peasants, and so were tied economically to Muslim villages. This economic structure decisively influenced the religious organization of the community, in terms of both institutional and spiritual leadership. Daily life was simple. The individual was closely bound to family and clan, so that the life of the community centered around the synagogue, whose offices were generally dominated by one clan in particular. Since most of the Jews were artisans, the congregations had no paid officers. Everything was conducted on a voluntary basis: the (rabbinic) law court, the great yeshiva in Sanʿa, hospitality and other social services, even the presidency and the rabbinate. Tradition, discipline and acceptance of the authority of the offices and those who held them secured the internal economy of the congregations. In this way, the Jewish congregations in Yemen, like most Jewish congregations of the Middle Ages and early Modern Times, were each a kind of state within the state. Only one office, that of the Aqel ("Head"), was remunerated. This was a secular office: its holder represented the Jewry at the government, was in charge of personal taxes, transmitted communications from and was responsible for implementing the orders of the Muslim government to the Jews. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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