(English) WILL THE JEWISH SILVER CRAFT SURVIVE IN YEMEN?

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March 5, 2012
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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

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Yemenite history in black and white

Posted on Jerusalem Post By BARRY DAVIS 01/06/2012 A new photography exhibition chronicles the life of the Jews of Yemen in pre-state Israel. Photographs of Yemenite Jews have provided some of the most iconic images of pre-state Palestine. Monochrome shots of striking-looking people of all ages, generally with peyot and in traditional dress, can be found in coffee table books on Eretz Israel. But it seems that no one had managed to put together a serious display of photos from the earliest days of Yemenite Jewish presence in these parts. That has been set to rights with the exhibition entitled “A Yemenite Portrait: Photography and Memory 1881- 1948,” which opened at the Eretz Israel Museum in Ramat Aviv yesterday. The show is the brainchild of curator Guy Raz, who calls himself a researcher of the history of local photography. Raz started working on the exhibition eight years ago and spent long hours tracking down sources of archival material, and then trawling tens of thousands of photographs taken by some of the leading pre-state photographers. These include the likes of Avraham Soskin, known primarily for his pictures of the earliest years of Tel Aviv, and Ephraim Moshe Lilien, who were both highly active at the beginning of the 20th century. Later there were European photographers such as French-born Helmar Lerski, who lived in Palestine from 1932-48 and later settled in Switzerland, and Hungarian-born photojournalist Zoltan Kluger. The show incorporates some 100 pictures divided into two chronological sections – from 1881 to 1930 and from 1930 to 1948. “The photographers in the first period all came from Russia and Poland; the second group mostly came from Germany and Austria,” says Raz, adding that the two sets of documenters approached their craft with highly contrasting mindsets. “The works in the show are all by Ashkenazi photographers from Europe, so there is a sort of encounter between different worlds here. Up to 1930, the photographers who came here were from Russia and Poland, and they had a romantic and Oriental approach. When the Germans and Austrians came, they brought a more modernist and artistic angle to photography here, and specifically the pictures they took of Yemenite Jews,” he explains. Raz certainly had to put his historian-researcher skills to good use to get the show up and running. “The exhibition was mostly put together from the archives of photographers,” he says. “I couldn’t rely on getting stuff from the photograph albums of the members of the Yemenite community. They didn’t have anything from the early years here. Most of the archives started after the creation of Israel, so if a family didn’t keep their early photographs, they were lost.” That meant that Raz had to put in a lot of spadework but, he says, there is some potential substantial added value in the cards. “People from the Yemenite community might come to the museum and find pictures of family members they never knew existed. That will be very exciting and moving if it happens. That’s the power of photography,” he says. So what will we learn from the exhibition that we didn’t know before? “Each photographer had his own approach, and documented different things and in different ways,” says Raz. “There were photographers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Hadera, each of whom used different techniques. And there are studio pictures and photos taken in situ.” There are also social and political issues that come to the fore in some of the photographs. “The exhibition includes a series of 12 photos, nine of which are of the Kinneret Yemenites,” he elaborates. The latter refer to the infamous episode in the early 1930s when Yemenites who had been living on the shores of the Kinneret for 20 years were forced to relocate by members of the Kinneret group of kibbutzim, despite the fact that the Yemenites had arrived in the area one year before the kibbutzniks. “You can clearly see how poor those Yemenites were,” adds Raz, “dressed in rags and with shabby houses.” The curator admits to having something of an ulterior motive about the project besides offering us a glimpse of how Yemenites lived here 100 or so years ago. “Any artist, including photographers – and I am a photographer myself – addresses political-social issues in their work. That’s part and parcel of what we do. So I felt it was the right thing to do, to have a photographic exhibition that examines those aspects, too.” In addition to the 100 or so stills, a couple of short documentary films are screened at the exhibition as well. One dates from 1913 and shows Bezalel Art School students painting and sculpting a Yemenite model with the school’s founder, Boris Schatz, in full view. The other, made by Israeli film industry founding father Natan Axelrod in 1940, documents the lives of Yemenite Jews in Palestine. Raz believes there may be many more priceless visual documents of the Yemenite community out there. “The history of photography has only really been evolving in the last 10 years, and photographs were generally used by historians as an illustration for their text. I think we might have quite a few more photographic exhibitions of Yemenite Jews in the years to come as things are unearthed.” For more information on “A Yemenite Portrait: Photography and Memory 1881- 1948” exhibition: www.eretzmuseum.org.il and (03) 641-5244 Read MoreJanuary 12, 2012 لا تعليقات

Jerusalem Post By BARRY DAVIS 01/06/2012 A new photography exhibition chronicles the life of the Jews of Yemen in pre-state Israel. Photographs of Yemenite Jews have provided some of the most iconic images of pre-state Palestine. Monochrome shots of striking-looking people of all ages, generally with peyot and in traditional dress, can be found in […]

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Yemeni immigrant fined for Torah scroll

Posted on Ynewnews By: Itamar Eichner Published: 08.31.11 A Yemeni Jew arrived in Israel recently with a Torah scroll rescued from the enemy country. While Yemen's authorities let him leave with the scroll, as did Egypt when he passed through, the Israeli authorities were the only ones to cause problems. The man, Yosef Hamadi, left the city of Rida along with 22 other Jews. All of them, apart from him, decided to immigrate to London. Before leaving Yemen, he decided to take with him a Torah scroll written in the local synagogue about 10 years ago. Due to the recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Yemen, he was afraid that the scroll would be burned or looted in riots and so decided to bring it to Israel. He faced no problems at the Yemeni border control. "A Torah scroll? It's the word of God. Bon voyage," they told him, letting him take the holy item out of the country without causing any trouble. The Egyptians let him transport the item easily as well. Where did the problems start? In the State of Israel. Last Monday, after landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, Hamadi innocently walked through the Green Channel, as who would have thought that in order to bring a Torah scroll into Israel one would have to pay NIS 7,200 (about $2,050)? The Customs officers confiscated the Torah scroll and told the shocked immigrants that he would need a permit from the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry to bring it into the country. "Please let me bring the Torah scroll in," the man begged. "I want to pray with it on Tisha B'Av." But his pleads were ignored. Customs Office: We acted with great sensitivity Hamadi somehow managed to reach Gilad Mizrahi, an advisor to Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, and ask for his help. Following a series of talks, the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry provided the longed-for permit, and the Customs Office agreed to release the book for NIS 7,200 in value added tax. Last Thursday, Mizrahi paid the money out of his own pocket, received the book and handed it over to the Yemeni immigrant. "There are three more Torah scrolls we want to rescue from Yemen, but with such an attitude it might be better to leave them there," Hamadi said angrily. "The Muslims treated this item as the word of God, and in Israel of all places it was confiscated. Israelis shouldn't be surprised that Yemen's Jews prefer not to immigrate to Israel." In any event, he said, the Torah scroll he saved would be transferred to a Yemeni immigrants' synagogue in the city of Shaaraim. The Customs Office said in response that although the immigrant failed to declare the Torah scroll, no action was taken to confiscate it and no fines were imposed. "We acted with great sensitivity. We tried to help him get the required permits from the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry to bring the Torah scroll into the country, and immediately after the tax issue was settled it was released. These are the Israeli procedures. You can't bring in a Torah scroll without taxes and permits." Mizrahi turned to Knesset Member Carmel Shama-Hacohen, chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee, who promised to look into the matter. December 27, 2011 لا تعليقات

Ynewnews By: Itamar Eichner Published: 08.31.11 A Yemeni Jew arrived in Israel recently with a Torah scroll rescued from the enemy country. While Yemen’s authorities let him leave with the scroll, as did Egypt when he passed through, the Israeli authorities were the only ones to cause problems. The man, Yosef Hamadi, left the city […]

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Fear for Yemen Jews as Conflict Continues

Posted on Jewish Chronicle 8/15/2011 By Jennifer Lippman Groups of Yemeni Jews are reportedly fleeing their homes as the conflict between the government and rebels, including those backed by Al-Qaida, shows no sign of subsiding. According to an article in the Yemen Post, seven Jews from the Amran province have already left and another eight are planning to go as soon as possible. It is unclear where they plan to go. Yemen's long-time president Ali Abdullah Salah has refused to relinquish power, despite six months of uprisings and protests in the already lawless state. Yemen was once home to a thriving Jewish population, but after Israel gained independence many of its 60,000 Jews fled or were airlifted to Israel on Operation Magic Carpet. The community has now declined to less than 300 people spread across the country. Many have been attempting to leave and start new lives in the UK, US or Israel for some time. Despite campaigns in recent years by MPs Diane Abbot and Mike Freer, the government has not granted Yemeni Jews, with links to British families, permission to settle in Britain. Read more hereAugust 25, 2011 لا تعليقات

Jewish Chronicle 8/15/2011 By Jennifer Lippman Groups of Yemeni Jews are reportedly fleeing their homes as the conflict between the government and rebels, including those backed by Al-Qaida, shows no sign of subsiding. According to an article in the Yemen Post, seven Jews from the Amran province have already left and another eight are planning […]

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Help Jews in Yemen asks MP

Posted on Jewish Chronicle May 19th, 2011 By Marcus Dysch The government has been asked to look at what steps can be taken to help Yemeni Jews escape the Middle East and settle in Britain. Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, raised the plight of around 70 Jews in the Arabian peninsula during Home Office questions in the Commons. They have links to families already living in Britain, and are among around 200 Jewish families left in Yemen. The MP asked what could be done to facilitate visa applications for those living in the town of Raydah, around 50 miles north of the capital, Sana'a. He said political unrest, and the growing threat of Islamist extremists, meant many Jewish families feared for their lives and had been waiting "months" for visas. A number have had to go to the British embassy in Cairo to have their applications processed. Immigration Minister Damian Green said he was aware of the issue. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell this week announced new British aid for Yemen's humanitarian crisis. Funds will go towards tackling child malnutrition, dehydration of under-fives and vaccinations for children. Mr Freer said: "History has taught us that when Jewish families are in danger, the very worst outcome is possible." Read more hereMay 19, 2011 لا تعليقات

Jewish Chronicle May 19th, 2011 By Marcus Dysch The government has been asked to look at what steps can be taken to help Yemeni Jews escape the Middle East and settle in Britain. Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, raised the plight of around 70 Jews in the Arabian peninsula during Home Office […]

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An Eyewitness Account of the Aden Pogrom of 1947: A Component of the Jewish Nakba

Posted on Daphna Anson Blog 5/15/2011 The Jewish Nakba - the Nakba you're unlikely to read about in the leftwing media, and predictably unacknowledged by the Arab foes of Israel - entailed the flight and dispossession of some 800,000 Jews from vengeful Arab countries in the wake of the establishment of the State of Israel.  The Palestinian Arabs who left Israel have of course been used as pawns by rejectionist Arab nations, deliberately leaving  them in refugee camps as a major propaganda weapon against the Jewish State that they've failed to vanquish by force of arms despite repeated attempts.  By contrast, despite huge financial burdens facing the infant nation, Jewish refugees from Arab countries were absorbed into Israeli society. One of the communities included in the Jewish Nakba was that of Aden, a seaport in southern Yemen.  Aden was at that time a British Crown Colony. Its Jewish community of about 8,500 persons was an ancient one, tracing its history back well over 1000 years. Its fate was sealed in early December 1947, when a three-day strike took place in protest at the UN's 30 November Partition Plan for Palestine (see map below). The strike soon degenerated into a pogrom. This prolonged outbreak of disorder and violence left 74 Jews dead (76 and even 78 according to some reports) with - a subsequent Colonial Office inquiry headed by Sir Harry Trusted, formerly Chief Justice of Palestine found - a similar number seriously injured.  Many Jewish homes were burned down, and of 170 Jewish shops, 106 were looted of their entire contents. Much of the violence against the Jews was perpetrated by the Arab militia sent to keep order - the Aden Protectorate Levies.  Sir Harry's inquiry determined conservatively that "Some were sympathetic to looters and fire-raisers and did little to discourage them."  It described many as "trigger-happy" and implicated in the deaths of many of the 31 Jews who were shot either in their homes or through the window shutters, as well as on rooftops and in the street. (Source: Jewish Chronicle, 24 September 1948.) Below, italicised,  is a first-hand account of the events, in a letter to the Jewish Chronicle (published in the issue of 2 January 1948) by a Jew signing himself "An Adenite": The first day of the three-day Arab strike against partition, on December 2, passed off quietly, despite a demonstration outside the Jewish quarter [in Crater].  On the evening of that day, a meeting was addressed by Arab leaders, and at 6 p.m. the crowd, followed by thousands of Arabs, attacked the Jewish quarter.  Those of us who were in the streets had to take shelter in the nearest house.  This lasted up to about 10.30 p.m., when some British sailors surrounded the Jewish quarter and dispersed the mob. Next morning, since Aden Protectorate Levies (Moslem Troops) were stationed in the Jewish quarter, many [Jews]came out on the streets, trusting that peace and order would be maintained.  Suddenly, news reached us that Jewish shops situated in the leading bazaars were being looted. Eyewitnesses saw Arabs fire buildings under the eyes of the Levies.  They also saw Indian merchants openly abstracting bales of textiles from godowns [warehouses] in the Jewish quarter. Following that, many houses were burned, as well as a synagogue.  The reason that very few lives were lost in them was due solely to the fact that the inhabitants had fled.  At least one-third of the Jewish quarter was destroyed, looted, or devastated. In many of the houses, mobs broke in, looting and beating the inhabitants, and in some cases threatened them with death if they did not "accept the Mohammedan religion."  Some were kidnapped by Arabs, and five are still missing. ewish deaths total 74, including men, women, and children.  Many others were wounded.  The only ones killed by the Arabs were one man slaughtered by rioters, and probably a few more by looters, in their homes.  The Levies were reponsible for nearly all the deaths because of their constant shooting at our homes.... An amazing allegation is contained in a cable dispatched by the Governor himself [Sir Reginald Stuart Champion] to the Secretary of State [for the Colonies, Arthur Creech Jones], on December 5.  It reads: "Curfew retained in Crater and situation there generally quieter, but alleged hostile activity of Jews created new dangerous tension, especially after killing of a Levy and an Indian Moslem Government doctor almost certainly by Jewish snipers ...." I can hasten to assure His Excellency and the Governor that this allegation is completely untrue.  The doctor in question is well known to the Jews as a kindly man and as a particular friend of a Jew called Mori Dawood.  The real facts are that one of the sons, named Yehia, was shot on Wednesday, in his own home by the Levies.  His family risked their lives under fire to reach a Jewish house where a telephne was available for the purpose of arranging for an ambulance to take Yehia to hospital and also telephoned the Audit Officer in whose office one of the sons is a clerk.  All the replies were "Busy" and "Wait." It was only the next morning that the doctor came and removed Yehia to the ambulance while he was speaking to his brother Hayeem near the house, the Levies shot them both.  The doctor died instantly and Hayeem is still under treatment for wounds.  Yehia died later in hospital. What is needed is an impartial inquiry.  I declare bluntly that the attack upon us was organised beforehand.  How else can one account for an all-round attack, not only in the Crater, but also in Tawahi, Shaikh Othman, and Maalla?  It was in the Crater that the events already described took place.  But in Tawahi, a port six miles from the Crater, the total number of Jewish steps is five. In Shaikh Othman [just off this map, to the north], about eleven miles from the Crater, 14 Jews were killed, and about 900 have been evacuated by the Government to the Yemenite migration camp at Hashed [i.e. Hashid].  In Maalla, a port, there are no Jewish residents, but premises stored with Jewish goods were looted. It would be useful to know where the millions of lakhs of loot are at present, or whether the Government is taking drastic action to find the looters.  But we hear that Arabs are selling their loot at a fifth to a tenth of its value, and that much of it has already removed from the Colony to the interior,  despite the police "barriers". Aden's stricken Jewry expects more than a mere condolence from world Jewry.  They require funds to reconstruct their livelihood, and legal aid for a full inquiry and defence of their rights under International Law.  They also require the particular attention of the Jewish Agency for migration certificates to Palestine for the whole community as soon as possible .... In the immediate aftermath of the pogrom in Aden, Elie Eliachar, president of the 160,000-strong Sephardi Community of Palestine, who was visiting London, reported that the number of Jewish fatalities might in actuality have been as high as 145.  He noted that Yemeni refugees in the Shaikh  (or Sheikh) Othman camp, awaiting removal to Eretz Yisrael, had also suffered greatly from Arab attacks, and many feared that the the British government would repatriate them to Yemen. "Should this be done," the Jewish Chronicle (13 February 1948) explained,
"their survival is unlikely.  Any children repatriated unaccompanied by their parents would be entrusted to the Moslem priests and converted by force to Islam, in accordance with Yemen law."
The paper added that Eliachar reported that twelve synagogues and most of the Jewish quarter of Aleppo, Syria, had been burned down, and a large number of Jews had been injured, although the exact figure was not known, and that about 3000 Jews had fled Aleppo for Beirut. Tensions were running high in Beirut too, it  said.  A bomb was thrown into the house of a Jew who refused to contribute to a fund for fighting the Jews in Palestine; another was thrown at the Alliance Israelite school, causing a great amount of damage; and all Jewish students at the American college and the French university and schools had been ordered to leave Lebanon.  In Bahrain 35 Jewish families were attacked by a mob and lost all their possessions.  One person was killed in that pogrom and 67 gravely wounded. In Afghanistan, Eliachar went on, conditions for Jews were going from bad to worse.  There were 250 Afghan Jewish families in Calcutta, awaiting entry to Palestine - they would be doomed if the British returned them to Afghanistan.  The plight of Iraqi Jewry was very serious, all 130,000 of them being effectively held hostage, and their movements restricted.  Meanwhile, in Egypt, too, Jews were living in a state of fear... Read more here May 15, 2011
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Daphna Anson Blog 5/15/2011 The Jewish Nakba – the Nakba you’re unlikely to read about in the leftwing media, and predictably unacknowledged by the Arab foes of Israel – entailed the flight and dispossession of some 800,000 Jews from vengeful Arab countries in the wake of the establishment of the State of Israel.  The Palestinian Arabs who left Israel […]

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Yemeni Jew’s killer escapes jail

Posted on Ynetnews 4/14/2011 Abdul-Aziz al-Abdi, a Yemeni citizen convicted of murdering a Jewish man more than two years ago, has escaped from the prison to which he was confined, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported Friday. An eyewitness told the court al-Abdi, a former air force pilot, met Nahari in the market and called out a racial slur before firing at him with a Kalashnikov rifle. The report says Moshe Yaish-Nahari's killer succeeded in bribing prison guards and escaping with ten additional prisoners. A local security source said several of the escaped prisoners have since been caught, but that al-Adbi remains at large. The 40-year old man was sentenced to death last summer after his conviction. Al-Abdi killed Yaish-Nahari on December 11 2009, in the city of Raida in Omran, north of the capital Sana'a. Nahari was a brother of one of the Yemeni Jewish community's top rabbis. Meanwhile, anti-government protesters continue to demonstrate in ongoing protests that began in January. The BBC reported clashes between protesters and security forces in the city of Taiz. Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is refusing to step down, held a rally in the capital in which he condemned protesters and clarified that he would not relinquish power. Read more here
April 15, 2011
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Ynetnews 4/14/2011 Abdul-Aziz al-Abdi, a Yemeni citizen convicted of murdering a Jewish man more than two years ago, has escaped from the prison to which he was confined, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported Friday. An eyewitness told the court al-Abdi, a former air force pilot, met Nahari in the market and called out a […]

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Yemenite Jews Refuse to Leave

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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons"][/caption] Arutz Sheva 3/31/2011 by Chana Ya'ar The tiny Jewish community of Yemen is not afraid and does not feel compelled to flee the political upheaval wracking their country. Despite calls from concerned relatives and friends living abroad, Yemeni Jews say there is no threat to their lives. Jewish organizations in Israel and the United States have also reached out to the community, which is comprised of some 250 people. Most of the Jews live today in the capital, San'a, although a few -- who receive financial aid from the Satmar Chassidic group -- still live in Amran and Raida. Nevertheless, “they absolutely will not budge,” said the head of a Jewish group trying to persuade the Jews to leave, who requested anonymity. “Even calls from Yemenite rabbis who once lived there and have left have been unsuccessful.” Despite this, a small number of Jews in Yemen do appear to be making contingency plans to leave, according to the source. As in Tunisia, the Yemeni border is “completely open,” the Jews say, and they are “free to leave” anytime they want – at least for now. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has long enjoyed a warm relationship with the country's Jews and has in the past protected them when necessary. At the start of 2009, Yemeni Jewish leader Rabbi Moshe bin Yahya bin Ya'aish al-Nahari was murdered in the grand market in Amran. The killing, which drew widespread international condemnation, prompted the president to order the Jews evacuated from the city. Saleh arranged for the 50 families to each receive a plot of land in an area east of the capital, San'a. He also allocated to each a grant of $10,000 with which to rebuild their households. He arranged a similar transfer for the Jews of the Bani Salem district in Sa'ada governorate after they were harassed by Houthi followers earlier in the year. However, Saleh's 32-year reign is nearly done; protesters have been calling for his ouster since the end of January. Earlier this week, he met with Islamist opposition forces to work out a compromise that will allow him to hang on to his seat at least until elections are held. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143259March 31, 2011
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Arutz Sheva 3/31/2011 by Chana Ya’ar The tiny Jewish community of Yemen is not afraid and does not feel compelled to flee the political upheaval wracking their country. Despite calls from concerned relatives and friends living abroad, Yemeni Jews say there is no threat to their lives. Jewish organizations in Israel and the United States […]

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