Image: The last Jews of Yemen. Yemeni Jews demonstrate outside the Cabinet office in Sanaa, March 2009 (photo credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS, retrieval credit: Jerusalem Post).
In today’s podcast, Benjamin Berman-Gladstone will be talking about a forgotten subject: the 20th Century history of the Jews of Yemen and Aden. Once upon a time, Yemen was a Jewish State. From the late 4th century until 525 CE, the Himyarite Kingdom in Southern Arabia was a Hebrew-led polity, making it one of the very few sovereign kingdoms outside of ancient Israel to adopt Judaism.
After King Abu Karib As'ad (al-Kamil) converted to Judaism, the royal court, nobility, and much of the population followed. Polytheistic symbols were replaced in royal inscriptions by monotheistic references to Rahmanan (the God of Israel). Ultimately, Yusuf Dhu Nuwas (Yusuf Asar) became the last major Jewish ruler of Himyar following a Byzantine-backed invasion by the Christian Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopia).
Despite the fall of the Kingdom, an indigenous Jewish population lived in Yemen for roughly 2,000 years, preserving unique liturgical traditions, ancient Hebrew pronunciations, and distinct Judeo-Arabic culture. Yet this long, distinguished history of Hebreo-Yemenite sovereignty and indigenuity was to come to an abrupt end in the 20th Century with anti-Jewish violence making life in in Southern Arabia impossible.
This is the background to today’s podcast which focuses on the 20th Century and the end of this ancient civilisation. In particular, Benjamin places his attention on the divisions between Yemeni and Adeni Jews who were divided by borders and cultural differences, yet frequently united by their determination to make aliyah.
Migration to the land of Israel was to bring tens of thousands of Yemeni Jews to and through Aden over decades: the history of that contact, though often fraught, offers a case study in Jewish solidarity.
Benjamin Berman-Gladstone is a Fellow at the Katz Centre for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Middle Eastern Studies, Israel Studies, Jewish History, Antisemitism Studies, and other journals.
HARIF is a UK charity representing Jews from North Africa and the Middle East (UK no.1186454) that is dedicated to promoting their history, culture and heritage.
Few in the West know that ancient Jewish communities, predating Islam by a millennium, produced the Babylonian Talmud, great rabbis, doctors, thinkers and poets.
Few in the West are aware that modern Jews were an integral part of the Middle East before they were driven out of their homes in the second half of the 20th century.
Over 2,000 years of history in the MENA came to an abrupt and tragic end just 50 years ago. Jews departed for Israel and the West, leaving an enormous cultural and economic void behind.
In another 20 years, few Jews who were born in these countries will still be alive. A vital chapter of Jewish identity, history and culture – an entire civilisation – will be lost. HARIF is here to make sure it is not forgotten.
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