Habbani Jews

The Habbani Jews are a Jewish tribal group from the Habban region in eastern Yemen (in modern Shabwah Governorate). The city of Habban had a Jewish community of 450 in 1947, which was considered to possibly be the remains of a larger community which lived in independently in the region before its decline in the 6th century. The Jewish community of Hadramut disappeared from the map of the Hadramut with the immgration of all of its members to Israel in the 1950s.^[1]

There are several legends that place Israelites in Arabia as early as the First Commonwealth of Israel. One such legend has three divisions of Israelite soldiers being sent by either King David or King Solomon while another places the earliest migration just prior to the destruction of the First Temple.^[2] Yet another legend, shared with northern Yemenite Jews, states that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Israelites, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen.^[3] The Jews of southern Yemen have a legend that they are the descendants of Judeans who settled in the area before the destruction of the Second Temple. According to tradtion, those Judeans belonged to a brigade dispatched by King Herod to assist the Roman legions fighting in the region (see Aelius Gallus).^[4]

Between 1165 to 117 Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela traveled through Arabia arriving as far south as Eden. According to Tudela's travel log he found an independent Jewish warrior tribe living in several mountainous areas near the district of Tehama in Yemen. He noted that this group of Jews were at times in armed combat with various north African tribes and also had contact with Jewish communities in Persia and Egypt.[2] ^[5]

Local Yemenite accounts place the establishment of a substantial Jewish presence in Southern Yemen after the Himyar tribe accepted Judaism, approximately 100 C.E. According to Habbani Jewish sources Jewish migrants, traveling south from Saudia Arabia, first settled in an area known as "Ilmarkh" (אלמרך) near a mountain known as Ishav (אשב) which is 10 km east from the city of Habban. The area, once known as Mount "Da'ah" (הר דעה), was said to have once been the seat of a Jewish rulership that may have also been connected to the Himyar tribe.^[6]

The major clans of the Habbani were the al Maatuf, Maatuf-Doh, Hillel, Shamakh, Maifa'i, and Adani. Their traditional occupations included silversmiths, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and making household utensils, and the men particularly engaged in long-distance trading.^[7]

In the 16th century, thanks to the advice of a Habbani Jew Suleman the Wise, the Jews received a special quarter of Habban.^[8] And in the late 17th century, a severe drought hit Habban, resulting in considerable demographic changes. Habbani families came under intense pressure to reproduce to help repopulate the community, despite an acute shortage of women.^[9] But the most significant impact of the drought was an large-scale exodus of Habbani Jews across Yemen and far beyond.

In Habban, there were two synagogues that were divided up amongst the two major Jewish families, Maatuf and Hillel. The oldest of the two was the building that the Hillel family contiuned to pray in after the Maatuf family formed a new synagogue. The Hillel family synagogue was also frequented by members of the Shamakh, Mif'ay, and Adani families. The synagoue not only served the purpose of community prayer during Shabbat and the Haggim but also as a Beit Sefer and a Beit Din.^[10]

The Jews of Habban, though isolated from the majority of Yemenite Jewish communities, were able to maintain various levels of contact with larger Jewish populations in the north and shared in many of their common traits. They possessed religious texts such as the Talmud, Mishnah Torah, Shulkhan Arukh, and Duties of the Heart. Yet, the Jews of Habban also developed their own traditions and customs which made them distinct.

Upon emigration to Israel, the Jews of Habban did not possess many written texts due to a number of factors such as constant travel of men from their communities as well as the theft of their exisitng texts. In order to bridge the gap Rabbi Shalom Yitzhaq Maatuf Doh compiled a prayer book based on the traditions from Habban, in addition to the traditions of both Baladi and Shami Yemenite communities as well. He did not live to see the first printing of his siddur, but the work was completed by his sons and his son-in-law Avner Maatuf.^[11]

Yemenite Jews and the Aramaic speaking Kurdish Jews^[12] are the only communities who maintain the tradition of reading the Torah in the synagogue in both Hebrew and the Aramaic Targum ("translation"). Some non-Yemenite synagogues have a specified person called a Baal Koreh, who reads from the Torah scroll when congregants are called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah, yet in Yemenite communities each person called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah reads for himself. In contrast, in Habban, children under the age of Bar Mitzvah were often given either the fifth or the sixth aliyah. Each verse of the Torah read in Hebrew is followed by the Aramaic, and sometimes an additional Arabic translation, usually chanted by a child.^[13]

File:A Yemenite Habani family celebrating Passover.jpg

Several weeks before Pesah Jews in Habban would begin with preparations such as whitewashing the walls of their homes using a stone known in Arabic as a (קטאט) "Qtat" which had been melted in water and would give the color white. Special utinsils, such as pots(אלטסות) "Iltsut", kettles (אלדלל) "Ildelal", and serving plates (אלתחון), which were specifically used only on Pesah were brought out and set aside.

The special flour for matzah was ground and prepared by women in their community while the baking was performed by the men. The matzah was made the day before Pesah, after mid-day, with various recitations of the Hallel being sung in groups. The first group would sing the lines of the Hallel while the second group would answer with the statement (הללויה) "Halleluyah" or (כי לעלום חסדו) "Because his mercy is forever." Some even had the tradition to answer the Hallel with the Arabic translation (קד לדהר פצלו) "Qid liddhar fassluw."^[14]

Similar to other holy days, the Jews of Habban would prepare the day before Shavuot by giving to the poor and preparing the food that would be eaten. Members of the community would wash thems and would don their best cloths before going to the synagogue to pray Minhah and then Arvit. On the day of Shavuot after praying Shachrit and Musaf the Jews of Habban had a special tradition to recite "Azharot" liturgical poems, or versifications, of the 613 commandments in the rabbinical enumeration as found in the Siddur of Saadia Gaon.

A special breakfast meal was prepared on Shavout with a type of pastry known as (מעצובה) "Mi'tzubah" served with honey and fried butter which symolized the Torah being like honey and milk. This was based on the section of Psalms 19:11 which states: "and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb."

After breakfast they had a tradition of pouring water on each other as symbol of the people of Israel receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai with the water being symbolic of the Torah, based on Isaiah 55:1 which states, "all who are thirsty come for water." The first to start this tradition was Mori Yitzhaq ben Salem who would pour drops of water into his hands from a can say, "I threw pure water on you and it purifies you from all of your impurities," from Ezikiel 36:25. ^[15]

In 1912 Zionist emissary Shmuel Yavne'eli came into contact with Habbani Jews who ransomed him when he was captured and robbed by eight Bedouin in southern Yemen. Yavnieli wrote about the Jews of Habban describing them in the following way.

The Jews in these parts are held in high esteem by everyone in Yemen and Aden. They are said to be courageous, always with their weapons and wild long hair, and the names of their towns are mentioned by the Jews of Yemen with great admiration.^[16]

Yavne'eli further described the community structure by stating that the Zecharyah clan were the first of the Habbani Jewish clans and that they were local merchants of silver, leather pelts, and cobbling. He further noted that meat was only eaten on the Shabbat and even coffee was considered a luxery.^[17]

According to Rabbi Yoseph Maghori-Kohen:

The Habbanis were mighty heroes. I heard a lot from elders in my youth about the Habbanis, about their wars, how they would fight ‘according to names’. What does it mean ‘according to names’? –the letters: They would make the shape of the [Hebrew] letters with their hands, and by this they would be victorious. Also the Shar`abim–from the city of Shar`ab–were strong, but not to the same degree as the Habbanis. Once in Yemen there was a wild tribe of murderous Arab warriors that conquered town after town, slaughtering whomever they found. Thus they moved forward from settlement to settlement: killing, destroying–may their names by blotted out–until they approached a city of Jews, 13,000 Jews roughly. Everyone felt hopeless-even the Arabs among them put up their hands, searching for a place to escape. Suddenly ten [Jewish] Habbanis arrived and waged war with them–ten against a thousand–and vanquished all of them. Not even one of those warriors was left alive, and not one of the ten fell.^[18]

Yavne'eli indicated that in 1911 there were only 60 Jewish families left in Habban. Bin Ibrahim Habbani, who was born in Habban and emigrated to Israel in 1945, indicated there were 700 Jews in Hadhramaut, 450 of which were in Habban.^[19]

The vanguard of the Habbani Jews was led by Zecharyah Habbani who kept after the officials in charge of immagration to accelerate the transfer of the Jews from the Hadramaut to the Land of Israel. They are in dere distress," he reported. "They are suffering from hunger and from the edicts of Hussein Abdallah of Habban and his sons. They are also in debt to the Moslems, who charge them exorbiant rates of interest." The Jewish Agency took action, and few families left the Hadramaut.^[20] After 1948, small numbers of Habbani Jews made their way to Aden, sometimes fighting hostile Arab tribes along the way. From there they were airlifted en masse to Israel as part of Operation Flying Carpet.

Describing the route followed by most Habbanis who participated in the Israeli airlift, Operation Magic Carpet:

The way [to the airfield] was generally in the direction of Ihwar. In Ihwar they would stay for some time, collecting food, money, and afterwards continue from there to Sheikh `Uthman and `Aden, to the camp Hashid—and from there they would wait their turn for the airplane to the Land [of Israel]. The problem was getting to camp Hashid, for they [the locals] wouldn’t always allow entry, and not to everyone. Therefore the first emigrants remained a relatively long time in Sheikh `Uthman. And when the pogrom in `Aden happened, they were in danger.

Eyewitnesses Gamar bath Hassan `Adeni, Sa`id bin Yusuf and Sa`id bin Musa Mif`i, who were present and participated at the time of the uprising, and presently live in Salame [Kfar Shalem] – Tel Aviv, recount the might of those Habbani Jewish individuals who fought with bravery and strength, and that they killed a great number of Arabs. And with what weapons did they fight? Like axes, pickaxes, knives, and iron bars and wooden bats, and the like.”^[21]

In Israel the Habbanim settled in two moshavim: Kefar Shalem, near Tel Aviv and Bereqet, two miles from Ben Gurion Airport.

The Jews of Habban, for most of their history, were separated from the main centers of Yemenite Jewry, and isolated geographically. Despite their isolation they succeeded in developing their own resources, religious as well as economic, and created an environment of their own.^[8]

There were a number of characteristics that made the Jews of Habban in modern times distinct from the Jews of Northern Yemen.^[22]

• Their outer appearance and clothing.
• Their food and its preparation.
• Their distinct profession (they were silversmiths).
• There were no Cohanim or Levites among them.
• Their unique traditions on holidays and happy occasions.
• Their version of the prayers and piyutim

Though isolated, the Jews of Habban did maintain some level of contact with other Yemenite Jewish communities though said contact was infrequent and usually resulted from some quarrel over some point of Jewish law.^[23]

Habbani Jews were described as taller, more muscular, and darker than their Muslim neighbors. The men did not sport peyot like other Yemeni Jews, but wore an oiled thong through their characteristically long hair. They plucked their mustaches, distinct from other Jews, but similar to neighboring Muslims as well. They wore a blue prayer shawl over one shoulder, or walked bare chested, smearing their torso sesame oil and indigo. A corse calido loincloth died indigo covered their bottom, and they typically walked barefoot or with sandals. The women wore their hair in tiny braids, and wore loose-fitting embroidered dresses.^[24]

Unlike the Jews of northern Yemen, the Habbani Jews wore a Jambiyya or curved knife, Matznaph (turban) and Avne`t (sash).^[25] Sultans in Arabia to use Habbani Jews as soldiers in their armies or as personal guards.^[26] Habbani Jews sometimes served as mercenaries; Abdullah I of Jordan, who preferred Circassian and other non-Arab bodyguards, had a number of Habbani Jewish guardsmen, including Sayeed Sofer and his brothers Salaah and Saadia.

• Yemenite Jews
• Abrahamic religion
• Arab Jews
• Demographics of Yemen
• History of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula
• History of the Jews under Muslim rule
• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)
• Judaism and Islam
• List of Jews from the Arab World
• Mizrahi Jews
• Yehoshua Sofer