Yemen

The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: al-Jumhriyyah alYamaniyyah), commonly known as Yemen i/jmn/ (Arabic: alYaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the
southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is
bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the
Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, and Oman to the east.
Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over
200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 354 km (220 mi)
to the south of mainland Yemen. It is the only state in the Arabian
Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Yemen
was the first country in the Arabian peninsula to grant women the
right to vote.Yemeni unification took place on 22 May 1990, when
North Yemen was united with South Yemen, forming the Republic of
Yemen.
The majority of Yemen's population is divided into tribal groups,
especially in the northern areas of the country where 85% of local
residents belong to various tribes. There are also small groups of
peoples of Turkish/Ottoman and possibly Veddoid origin in urban
areas. The Majority of the population are Sunni Muslims following
the Shafi'i school with a large minority adhering to the Zaidiyyah
Islamic jurisprudence and small minorites of Jews and Ismali
Muslims.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Geography
4 Politics

4.1 Administrative divisions

5 Foreign relations
6 Economy
7 Demographics
7.1 Religion
7.2 Health
8 Human rights
9 Languages
10 Culture
10.1 Cinema
10.2 Education
11 Sport
12 World Heritage sites
13 Yemen's jews

Etymology
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right
side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another
derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile.
The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to
Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern
Arabia. Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian script as
Yamnat particularly after the unification of the four dynasties of
ancient Yemen by the Himyarite kings and it literally means "the
south-land".

History
Yemen has long existed at the crossroads of cultures. It linked some
of the oldest centres of civilization in the Near East by virtue of its
location in South Arabia.
Between the 12th century BC and the 6th century AD, it was home
of the Minaean, Sabaean (biblical Sheba), Hadhramaut, Qataban,
and Himyarite kingdoms, which controlled the lucrative spice and
incense trade.The Sabaens built the 1894 feet high and 3000 feet
long Marib Dam in the 8th century BC.
The Sabaeans led by the priest-king Karib'il Watar I (Karib - El and
translated as the closest to the god El) launched a campaign in the
7th century BC to unify most of Southern Arabia and established a
confederacy with the Hadramites and Qatabanis.All of the ancient
South Arabian kingdoms were city states consist of various subtribes The lack of water in the Arabian peninsula prevented the
Sabaeans from establishing a centralized government. Instead, they
established various colonies to control the trade routes throughout
the Arabian peninsula bordering the fertile crescentand such
colonies were scattered in northern Ethiopia as well.By the late
second century BC, tribal unrest broke out and the Himyarites
formed a tribal confederation that succeeded in abolishing the four
dynasties transferring the "confederacy" into a centralized rule with
Zafar as their capital instead of Marib.Tribal unrest rose again in the
beginning of the 6th century, the last Himyarite King Joseph Dhu
Nuwas was Jewish and led a military campaign against the
rebellious Christian tribes which provoked the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I to send a flee and provide aid to the Kingdom of Aksum
and the local Christian tribes to fight the Jewish king. Joseph Dhu
Nuwas was killed in battle in 525 AD after massacring more than

22,000 Christians. The western coasts of Yemen briefly became a

puppet state from 525 until 570 AD when Himyarite nobility partly
regained their throne, all of those nobles were Jews. The rest of the
country lost a central government and entered a phase of Feudalism
until the rise of Islam.
By the 7th century, Yemeni tribes converted to Islam and played a
major rule during the Muslim conquest of their surroundings
especially in North Africa and Spain. The Ottomans annexed Sana'a
and Tihama from 1547 until they were expelled in 1630. They came
back again 1872 and were faced with a stiff resistance from the
Zaydi Tribes and were forced to sign a peace treaty and recognize
Yahya Hamid ed-Din as the Imam of Yemen.
The modern history of Yemen began in 1918 when Yemen gained
full independence from the Ottoman Empire. Between 1918 and
1962, Yemen was a monarchy ruled by the Hamidaddin family.
There was a brief revolution in 194748, in which Imam Yahya
Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was killed. A rival sayyid family, the
Alwazirs, seized power for several weeks. Backed by the al-Saud
family of Saudi Arabia for the "constitutional" nature of the coup, the
Hamidaddins restored their rule until 19621970 during the North
Yemen Civil War when a republican Egyptian backed government
overthrew the Imamate. The U.S. recognized the republic in
November 14, 1962. Saudi Arabia, Britain, and Jordan provided
financial and military aid to the royalist during the 6 years civil war.
The republicans were eventually victorious in February 1968. The
revolution in the north coincided with Aden Emergency which
hastened the end of British rule on 30 November 1967, and thus the
People's Republic of Yemen was proclaimed. On 22 May 1990, the
two Yemens unified to form the Republic of Yemen.
The 2011 Yemeni revolution followed the initial stages of the
Tunisian revolution and occurred simultaneously with the 20112012
Egyptian revolution and other mass protests in the Arab world in
early 2011. The uprising was initially against unemployment,
economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the
government's proposals to modify the constitution of Yemen. The
protestors' demands then escalated to calls for President Ali
Abdullah Saleh to resign. After an election, power was transferred to
the vice president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi, for a two-year term
starting in February 2012. Al-Hadi will oversee the drafting of a new
constitution, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in
2014.

Geography

Yemen is located in Western Asia, in the southern half of the Arabian

Peninsula, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Red
Sea. It lies south of Saudi Arabia and west of Oman, between
latitudes 12 and 19 N and longitudes 42 and 55 E.
A number of Red Sea islands, including the Hanish Islands,
Kamaran, and Perim, as well as Socotra in the Arabian Sea, belong
to Yemen. Many of the islands are volcanic; for example Jabal alTair had a volcanic eruption in 2007 and before that in 1883.
At 527,970 km2 (203,850 sq mi), Yemen is the world's 50th-largest
country. It is comparable in size to Thailand and larger than the U.S.
state of California. Yemen is situated at 15N 48E.
Until the signing of the Yemen-Saudi Arabia peace treaty in July
2000,Yemen's northern border was undefined; the Arabian Desert
prevented any human habitation there.
The country can be divided geographically into four main regions:
the coastal plains in the west, the western highlands, the eastern
highlands, and the Rub al Khali in the east.
The Tihamah ("hot lands" or "hot earth") form a very arid and flat
coastal plain along Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline. Despite the
aridity, the presence of many lagoons makes this region very
marshy and a suitable breeding ground for malaria mosquitoes.
There are extensive crescent-shaped sand dunes. The evaporation
in the Tihamah is so great that streams from the highlands never
reach the sea, but they do contribute to extensive groundwater
reserves. Today, these are heavily exploited for agricultural use.
Near the village of Madar about 48 km (30 mi) north of Sana'a,
dinosaur footprints were found, indicating that the area was once a
muddy flat.
The Tihamah ends abruptly at the escarpment of the western
highlands. This area, now heavily terraced to meet the demand for
food, receives the highest rainfall in Arabia, rapidly increasing from
100 mm (3.9 in) per year to about 760 mm (29.9 in) in Ta'izz and
over 1,000 mm (39.4 in) in Ibb.
Agriculture here is very diverse, with such crops as sorghum
dominating. Cotton and many fruit trees are also grown, with
mangoes being the most valuable. Temperatures are hot in the day
but fall dramatically at night. There are perennial streams in the
highlands but these never reach the sea because of high
evaporation in the Tihamah.
The central highlands are an extensive high plateau over 2,000
metres (6,562 ft) in elevation. This area is drier than the western

highlands because of rain-shadow influences but still receives

sufficient rain in wet years for extensive cropping. Diurnal
temperature ranges are among the highest in the world: ranges from
30 C (86 F) in the day to 0 C (32 F) at night are normal.[citation
needed] Water storage allows for irrigation and the growing of wheat
and barley. Sana'a is located in this region. The highest point in
Yemen is Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb, at 3,666 metres (12,028 ft).
Yemen's portion of the Rub al Khali desert in the east is much lower,
generally below 1,000 metres (3,281 ft), and receives almost no
rain. It is populated only by Bedouin herders of camels. The growing
scarcity of water is a source of increasing international concern. See
Water supply and sanitation in Yemen.

Politics
As a result of the Yemeni revolution, the constitution of Yemen is
expected to be rewritten, and then new elections held in 2014. The
national government administers the capital and largest cities, but
some other regions are outside of its grasp, governed by armed
militant groups which expanded their control during the chaos of the
201112 uprising. The two major groups are Ansar al-Sharia (a
branch or affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), which has
declared several "Islamic emirates" in the southern provinces of
Abyan and Shabwah, and the Houthis, a Shiite rebel group centered
in Sa'dah province.
Yemen is a presidential republic with a bicameral legislature. Under
the 1991 constitution, an elected President, an elected 301-seat
Assembly of Representatives, and an appointed 111-member Shura
Council share power. The President is the head of state, and the
Prime Minister is the head of government.
The 1991 constitution provides that the president be elected by
popular vote from at least two candidates endorsed by at least
fifteen members of the Parliament. The prime minister, in turn, is
appointed by the president and must be approved by two thirds of
the Parliament. The presidential term of office is seven years, and
the parliamentary term of elected office is six years. Suffrage is
universal for people age 18 and older, but only Muslims may hold
elected office.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh became the first elected President in
reunified Yemen in 1999 (though he had been President of unified
Yemen since 1990 and President of North Yemen since 1978). He
was re-elected to office in September 2006. Saleh's victory was
marked by an election that international observers judged to be

"partly free", though the election was accompanied by violence,

violations of press freedoms, and allegations of fraud. Parliamentary
elections were held in April 2003, and the General People's
Congress (GPC) maintained an absolute majority.
The constitution calls for an independent judiciary. The former
northern and southern legal codes have been unified. The legal
system includes separate commercial courts and a Supreme Court
based in Sana'a. Sharia is the main source of laws, with many court
cases being debated according to the religious basis of law and
many judges being religious scholars as well as legal authorities.
Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of Yemen
As of February 2004, Yemen is divided into twenty governorates
(muhafazat) and one municipality called "Amanat Al-Asemah" (the
latter containing the capital, Sana'a)[33]

Population
'Aden Aden 589,419 634,710 1
'Amran 'Amran 877,786 909,992 2
Abyan Zinjibar 433,819 454,535 3
Ad-Dali' Ad Dali' 470,564 504,533 4
Al Bayda' Al Bayda' 577,369 605,303 5
Al Hudaydah Al-Hudaydah 2,157,552 2,300,179 6
Al Jawf Al-Jawf 443,797 465,737 7
Al-Mahrah Al-Ghaydah 88,594 96,768 8
Al-Mahwit Al-Mahweet 494,557 523,236 9
Amanat Al-Asemah Sana'a 1,747,834 1,947,139 10
Dhamar Dhamar 1,330,108 1,412,142 11
Hadhramaut Al-Mukalla 1,028,556 1,092,967 12
Hajjah Hajjah 1,479,568 1,570,872 13
Ibb Ibb 2,131,861 2,238,537 14
Lahij Lahij 722,694 761,160 15
Ma'rib Ma'rib 238,522 251,668 16
Raymah Kosmah 394,448 418,659 17
Sa'dah Sa`dah 695,033 746,957 18
Sana'a Sana'a 919,215 957,798 19
Shabwah Ataq 470,440 494,638 20
Taiz Taiz 1,121,000 2,513,003 21

The Governorates are subdivided into 333 districts (muderiah),

which are subdivided into 2,210 sub-districts, and then into 38,284
villages (as of 2001).

Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Yemen
The geography and ruling Imams of North Yemen kept the country
isolated from foreign influence before 1962. The country's relations
with Saudi Arabia were defined by the Taif Agreement of 1934,
which delineated the northernmost part of the border between the
two kingdoms and set the framework for commercial and other
intercourse. The Taif Agreement has been renewed periodically in
20-year increments, and its validity was reaffirmed in 1995.
Relations with the British colonial authorities in Aden and the south
were usually tense.
The Soviet and Chinese Aid Missions established in 1958 and 1959
were the first important non-Muslim presence in North Yemen.
Following the September 1962 revolution, the Yemen Arab Republic
became closely allied with and heavily dependent upon Egypt. Saudi
Arabia aided the royalists in their attempt to defeat the Republicans
and did not recognize the Yemen Arab Republic until 1970. At the
same time, Saudi Arabia maintained direct contact with Yemeni
tribes, which sometimes strained its official relations with the Yemeni
Government. Saudi Arabia remained hostile to any form of political
and social reform in Yemen and continued to provide financial
support for tribal elites.
In February 1989, North Yemen joined Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt in
forming the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC), an organization
created partly in response to the founding of the Gulf Cooperation
Council and intended to foster closer economic cooperation and
integration among its members. After unification, the Republic of
Yemen was accepted as a member of the ACC in place of its YAR
predecessor. In the wake of the Persian Gulf crisis, the ACC has
remained inactive. Yemen is not a member of the Gulf Cooperation
Council mainly for its republican government.
Yemen is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, and the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and also participates in the
nonaligned movement. The Republic of Yemen accepted
responsibility for all treaties and debts of its predecessors, the YAR
and the PDRY. Yemen has acceded to the nuclear nonproliferation
treaty.

The invasion of Kuwait crisis in 1990 dramatically affected Yemen's

foreign relations. Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh opposed
military intervention from non-Arab states. As a member of the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 1990 and 1991, Yemen
continued to abstain on a number of UNSC resolutions concerning
Iraq and Kuwait[40] and voted against the "use of force resolution.".
The vote outraged the U.S.
Saleh at the Pentagon, 8 June 2004
Subsequent to the liberation of Kuwait, former president Saleh
continued to maintain high-level contacts with Iraq. This hampered
its efforts to rejoin the Arab mainstream and to mend fences with its
immediate neighbors. Saudi Arabia actively aided the south during
the 1994 civil war. Since the end of that conflict, tangible progress
has been made on the diplomatic front in restoring normal relations
with Yemen's neighbors. In the summer of 2000, Yemen and Saudi
Arabia signed an International Border Treaty settling a 50 year old
dispute over the location of the border between the two countries.
Yemen settled its dispute with Eritrea over the Hanish Islands in
1998.
Since 2004, a civil war has been fought in Northern Yemen between
Yemeni forces and Zaydi Houthi rebels. In 2009, the war spilled over
into the neighboring border region of Saudi Arabia after accusations
by the Shiite rebels of providing support to salafi groups to suppress
Zaydism in Yemen. Saleh's government used Al-Qaeda in its wars
against Hothis, and UNDP Yemen report a growing problem of
civilians fleeing from the region.
Some news reports have suggested that, on orders from United
States President Barack Obama, US warplanes fired cruise missiles
at what officials in Washington claimed were Al Qaeda training
camps in the provinces of Sanaa and Abyan on 17 December 2009.
Instead of hitting Al-Qaeda operatives, it hit a village killing 55
civilians. Officials in Yemen said that the attacks claimed the lives of
more than 60 civilians, 28 of them children. Another airstrike was
carried out on 24 December.

On 3 January 2010, the U.S. and British embassies in Yemen closed

for security reasons after the failed plot to bomb a plane in Detroit
and after reports of eight individuals planning an attack on the

embassy itself. One was arrested with a suicide vest, while three
others were killed. Four remained at large as of 4 January 2010.
Despite these tensions between the US and Yemen, as well as
increasing worries about terrorism in Yemen, President Obama has
stated that he has no plans to introduce US military forces into the
country, a sentiment that was echoed by US General David
Petraeus the US government increased military aid to $140 million in
2010.By 2012, however, under the Obama administration, there has
been an increase in drone strikes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen, as well as a "small contingent of U.S.
special-operations troops" in addition to CIA and "unofficially
acknowledged" U.S. military presence in response to increasing
terror attacks by AQAP on Yemeni citizens. The Americans found
that former president Saleh had been draining them. By 2006, when
the U.S. decided that Yemen was no longer a threat to national
security and cut foreign aid for Saleh's corruption and lack of reform,
the former Yemeni leader was not pleased. A week after the U.S's
decision, 23 al Qaeda suspects tunneled out of a maximum-security
prison.The U.S. knew that the prisoners had had inside help.
Nevertheless, al Qaeda was once again a substantial threat and
over the coming months the United States was forced to redirect its
attention and aid dollars to Yemen. Many analysts have pointed out
the former Yemeni government role in cultivating terrorist activity in
the country. in 2012 Abyan offensive, The new president Abd
Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Yemeni military was able to recapture
the governorate. Yet, former president Saleh continue to hinder the
new government effort as his sons are still running security sectors
in the country
The geopolitical significance of Yemen (primarily its straits and oil
fields) keeps this country in the sphere of U.S. strategic interests.
Control over the Aden port the "gate to Asia" brings huge
benefits to the USA and opens infinite possibilities for maneuvering
in front of them. However, America is not the only nation to be
interested in Yemen. China is trying hard to expand its influence in
the Indian Ocean by associating with countries across the region
including Yemen.

Economy
Further information: Telecommunications in Yemen, Transportation
in Yemen, and Internet usage in Yemen

Yemen is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the

Arab World, with a formal 35% employment rate, dwindling natural
resources, a young population and increasing population growth.
Yemen's economy is weak compared to most countries in the
Middle-East, mainly because Yemen has very small oil reserves.
Yemen's economy depends heavily on the oil it produces, and its
government receives the vast majority of its revenue from oil taxes.
But Yemen's oil reserves are expected to be depleted by 2017,
possibly bringing on economic collapse.Yemen does have large
proven reserves of natural gas. Yemen's first liquified natural gas
(LNG) plant began production in October 2009.
Rampant corruption is a prime obstacle to development in the
country, limiting local reinvestments and driving away regional and
international capital. Foreign investments remain largely
concentrated around the nation's hydrocarbon industry.
Beginning in the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union and China provided
large-scale assistance. For example, China and the United States
are involved with the expansion of the Sana'a International Airport.
In the south, pre-independence economic activity was
overwhelmingly concentrated in the port city of Aden. The seaborne
transit trade, which the port relied upon, collapsed with the closure
of the Suez Canal and Britain's withdrawal from Aden in 1967.
Since unification in 1990, the government has worked to integrate
two relatively disparate economic systems. However, severe shocks,
including the return in 1990 of approximately 850,000 Yemenis from
the Persian Gulf states, a subsequent major reduction of aid flows,
and internal political disputes culminating in the 1994 civil war
hampered economic growth.
In the late 20th century Sana'as population grew rapidly, from
roughly 55,000 in 1978 to more than 1 million in the early 21st
century.Sana'a may be the first capital city in the world to run out of
water.
Since the conclusion of the war, the government made an
agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement
a structural adjustment program. Phase one of the program included
major financial and monetary reforms, including floating the
currency, reducing the budget deficit, and cutting subsidies. Phase
two will address structural issues such as civil service reform.
In early 1995, the government of Yemen launched an economic,
financial, and administrative reform program (EFARP) with the
support of the World Bank and the IMF, as well as international

donors. The First Five-Year Plan (FFYP) for the years 1996 to 2000
was introduced in 1996. The World Bank has focused on public
sector management, including civil service reform, budget reform,
and privatization. Additional priorities for the programs have become
attracting diversified private investment, water management, and
poverty-oriented social sector improvements. These programs had a
positive impact on Yemens economy and led to the reduction of the
budget deficit to less than 3% of gross domestic product (GDP)
during the period 19951999 and the correction of macro-financial
imbalances.
Graphical depiction of Yemen's product exports in 28 color coded
categories.
In 1997, IMF and the Yemeni government began medium-term
economic reform programs under the Enhanced Structural
Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF). This
program aimed to reduce dependence on the oil sector and to
establish a market environment for real non-oil GDP growth and
investment in the non-oil sector. Increasing the growth rate in the
non-oil sector was one of the government's most important
objectives. Programs also focused on reducing unemployment,
strengthening the social safety net, and increasing financial stability.
To achieve these reforms, the government and IMF implemented
containment of government wages, improvements in revenue
collection with the introduction of reforms in tax administration, and a
sharp reduction in subsidies bills through increased prices on
subsidized goods. As a result, the fiscal cash deficit was reduced
from 16% of GDP in 1994 to 0.9% in 1997. This was supported by
aid from oil-exporting countries, despite the wide-ranging
fluctuations in world oil prices. The real growth rate in the non-oil
sector rose by 5.6% from 1995 to 1997.

Demographics

Yemeni Children in Jibla

The population of Yemen was about 24 million according to June
2011 estimates, with 46% of the population being under 15 years old

and 2.7% above 65 years. In 1950, it was 4.3 million. By 2050, the
population is estimated to increase to about 60 million.
Yemen has a high total fertility rate, at 4.45 children per woman, it is
the 30th highest in the world.Although this is lower than the rate in
Somalia to the south, it is roughly twice as high as that of Saudi
Arabia and nearly three times as high as those in the more
modernized Persian Gulf states. Yemen's population is increasing by
700,000 every year.[citation needed]
Yemenis are mainly of Arab origin.Arabic is the official language,
although English is increasingly understood by citizens in major
cities. In the Mahra area (the extreme east) and the island Soqotra,
several ancient south-Arabic Semitic languages are spoken. When
the former states of north and south Yemen were established, most
resident minority groups departed. Yemen is still a largely tribal
society. In the northern mountainous parts of the country live some
400 Zaydi tribes. There are also hereditary caste groups in urban
areas such as Al-Akhdam tribe.
Yemen officially abolished slavery in 1962.Turks arrived in the region
during the Ottoman colonization process; today, there is between
10,00030,000 people of Turkish origin still living in the country. In
addition, Yemenite Jews once formed a sizable Jewish minority in
Yemen with a distinct culture. They also occupied key industries
including silversmiths, and their influence on Yemeni culture is still
discussed within the souks. However, most of them emigrated to
Israel in the mid 20th century, following the Jewish exodus from Arab
lands and Operation Magic Carpet.In the early 20th century, they
had numbered about 50,000; they currently number only a few
hundred individuals and reside largely in Sana'a. The original Jewish
village, popularly called Bait-baws, has since been left abandoned.
Arab traders have long operated in Southeast Asia, trading in
spices, timber, and textiles. Most of the prominent Indonesians,
Malaysians, and Singaporeans of Arab descent are Hadhrami
people with origins in southern Yemen in the Hadramawt coastal
region. As many as 4 million Indonesians are of Hadrami descent.
[citation needed] and today there are almost 10,000 Hadramis in
Singapore. The Hadramis emigrated not only to Southeast Asia but
also to East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Maqil were a
collection of Arab Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin who migrated
westwards via Egypt. Several groups of Yemeni Arabs turned south
to Mauritania, and by the end of the 17th century, they dominated
the entire country. They can also be found throughout Morocco and
in Algeria as well as in other North African Countries.

According to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants,

Yemen hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers
numbering approximately 124,600 in 2007. Refugees and asylum
seekers living in Yemen were predominantly from Somalia
(110,600), Iraq (11,000), and Ethiopia (2,000). There are also about
70,000 Iraqis presently living in Yemen.United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that in 2008 more
than 50,000 Somalis reached Yemen. Yemen's civil war has forced
at least 175,000 Yemenis to flee their homes.
The Yemeni diaspora is largely concentrated in the United Kingdom,
where between 70,000 and 80,000 Yemenis reside; just over 15,000
to 20,000 Yemenis reside in the United States, and 2,000 live in
France.[83] Saudi Arabia expelled 800,000 Yemenis in 1990 and
1991 to punish Yemen for its opposition to the Gulf War against Iraq.
Religion
Minaret in Jibla
Religion in Yemen consists primarily of two principal Islamic religious
groups; 53% of the Muslim population is Sunni and 45% is Shiite
according to the UNHCR.Sunnis are primarily Shafi'i but also include
significant groups of Malikis and Hanbalis. Shi'is are primarily Zaidis
and also have significant minorities of Twelver Shias and Musta'ali
Western Isma'ili Shias (see Shia Population of the Middle East).
The Sunnis are predominantly in the south and southeast. The
Zaidis are predominantly in the north and northwest whilst the
Ismailis are in the main centers such as Sana'a and Ma'rib. There
are mixed communities in the larger cities. About 1 percent of
Yemenis are non-Muslim, adhering to Christianity, Judaism,
Hinduism, or atheism.
In the Yemenite city of Aden, there is still a significant population of
Hindus.
Health
According to 2009 estimates, life expectancy in Yemen is 63.27
years.Despite the significant progress Yemen has made to expand
and improve its health care system over the past decade, the
system remains severely underdeveloped. Total expenditures on
health care in 2004 constituted 5% of gross domestic product. In
that same year, the per capita expenditure for health care was very
low compared with other Middle Eastern countriesUS$34 per
capita according to the World Health Organization. According to the
World Bank, the number of doctors in Yemen rose by an average of
more than 7% between 1995 and 2000, but as of 2004 there were

still only three doctors per 10,000 people. In 2005 Yemen had only
6.1 hospital beds available per 10,000 persons. Health care services
are particularly scarce in rural areas; only 25% of rural areas are
covered by health services, compared with 80% of urban areas.
Most childhood deaths are caused by illnesses for which vaccines
exist or that are otherwise preventable.

Human rights in Yemen

Yemen's human rights record is seriously marred by substantial
inconsistencies between its obligations under International human
rights instruments (ratified by Yemen) and legal practice under the
tribal law/habits.
Yemen's national human rights record was presented for the first
time in the Human Rights Council in Geneva under the so-called
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) between May and September
2009. Yemen accepted over one hundred recommendations by
Council Members. While it promised to achieve progress on the
establishment of a national Human Rights Commission and on
legislation setting a minimum age for marriages (still highly
controversial within the Yemeni tribal society), it squarely rejected
the abolition of the death penalty.
The government and its security forces, often considered to suffer
from rampant corruption, have been responsible for torture,
inhumane treatment, and extrajudicial executions. There are
arbitrary arrests of citizens, especially in the south, as well as
arbitrary searches of homes. Prolonged pretrial detention is a
serious problem, and judicial corruption, inefficiency, and executive
interference undermine due process. Freedom of speech, the press,
and religion are all restricted.
Human Rights Watch reported on discrimination and violence
against women as well as on the abolition of the minimum marriage
age of fifteen for women. The onset of puberty (interpreted by some
to be as low as the age of nine) was set as a requirement for
marriage instead.Publicity about the case of ten-year old Yemeni
divorcee Nujood Ali brought the child marriage issue to the fore not
only in Yemen but worldwide.
Forms of hostile prejudice directed towards disabled people and
religious minorities have also been reported. Censorship is actively
practiced, and in 2005 legislation was passed requiring journalists to
reveal their sources under certain circumstances. The government
has raised the start-up costs for newspapers and websites
significantly. In violation of the Yemeni constitution, the security

forces often monitor telephone, postal, and Internet

communications. Journalists who tend to be critical of the
government are often harassed and threatened by the police.
Since the start of the Sa'dah insurgency many people accused of
supporting Al-Houthi have been arrested and held without charge or
trial. According to the U.S. State Department International Religious
Freedom Report 2007, "Some Zaydis reported harassment and
discrimination by the Government because they were suspected of
sympathizing with the al-Houthis. However, it appears the
Government's actions against the group were probably politically,
not religiously, motivated".
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported several
violations of refugee and asylum seekers' rights in the organization's
2008 World Refugee Survey. Yemeni authorities reportedly deported
numerous foreigners without giving them access to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, despite the UNs
repeated requests. Refugees further reported violence directed
against them by Yemeni authorities while living in refugee camps.
Yemeni officials reportedly raped and beat camp-based refugees
with impunity in 2007.

Languages
The official language is Modern Standard Arabic. Yemeni Arabic is
spoken in several regional dialects.
Yemen is one of the main homelands of the South Semitic family of
languages, which includes the non-Arabic language of the ancient
Hemiari. Its modern Yemeni descendants speak modern standard
Arabic like many other Arab countries.
Foreign language in public schools is taught from grade seven
onwards, though the quality of public school instruction is low.
Private schools using a British or American system teach English
and produce proficient speakers, but Arabic is the dominant
language of communication. The number of English speakers in
Yemen is small compared to other Arab countries such as Egypt,
Lebanon, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
There is a significant number of Russian speakers, originating from
Yemeni-Russian cross-marriages occurring mainly in the 1970s and
1980s. A small Vietnamese-speaking community is found in the
capital city of Sana'a, originating from Yemeni immigrants
expatriated from Vietnam after the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
A small yet rising number of ethnic Chinese in Sana'a brought the
Chinese language to the country, a byproduct of historic Chinese

immigration. Also there are South Asian Languages spoken by the

small but present South Asian community, most notably Hindi, Urdu,
Malayalam and Marathi languages.
Culture
The National Museum in Sana'a
Yemen is a culturally rich country with influence from many
civilizations, such as the early civilization of Sheba.
Cinema
The Yemeni film industry is in its early stages; only two Yemeni films
have been released as of 2008. In 2005, A New Day in Old Sana'a
deals with a young man struggling between whether to go ahead
with a traditional marriage or go with the woman he loves.
Dance in Sa'dah, northwestern Yemen.
In August 2008, Yemens Interior Minister Mutahar al-Masri
supported the launch of a new feature film to educate the public
about the consequences of Islamist extremism. The Losing Bet was
produced by Fadl al-Olfi. The plot follows two Yemeni jihadis, who
return from years living abroad.

Education
Main article: Education in Yemen
In the strategic vision for the next 25 years since 2000, the
government has committed to bring significant changes in the
education system, thereby reducing illiteracy to less than 10% by
2025. Although Yemens government provides for universal,
compulsory, free education for children ages six through 15, the U.S.
Department of State reports that compulsory attendance is not
enforced. The government developed the National Basic Education
Development Strategy in 2003 that aimed at providing education to
95% of Yemeni children between the ages of six and 14 years and
also at decreasing the gap between males and females in urban and
rural areas.
A seven year project to improve gender equity and the quality and
efficiency of secondary education, focusing on girls in rural areas,
was approved by the World Bank in March 2008. Following this,
Yemen has increased its education spending from 4.5% of GDP in
1995 to 9.6% in 2005.

SPORTS
Football is the most popular sport in Yemen. The Yemen national
football team competes in the FIFA and the AFC leagues. The
country also hosts many football clubs that compete in the national
or international leagues.
Yemen's mountains provide many opportunities for outdoor sports,
such as biking, rock climbing, hill climbing, skiing, hiking, mountain
jumping, and more challenging mountain climbing. Mountain
climbing and hiking tours to the Sarawat Mountains and the Jabal an
Nabi Shu'ayb, including the 5,000 m peaks in the region, are
seasonally organized by local and international alpine agencies.
The coast of Yemen and Socotra island also provide many
opportunities for water sports, such as surfing, bodyboarding,
sailing, swimming, and scuba diving. Socotra island is home to one
of the best surfing destinations in the world.
Camel jumping is popular among the Zaraniq tribe on the west coast
of Yemen on the desert plain by the Red Sea. Camels are rounded
up and placed side to side. Athletes jump from a running start to
achieve height and length in the air. The jumpers train year round for
competitions. Tribesmen tuck their robes around their waists to
reduce impediment while running and leaping.
Yemen's biggest sports event was hosting the 2010 Gulf Cup of
Nations in Aden and Abyan in the southern part of the country on 22
November 2010. Yemen was thought to be the strongest competitor,
but was defeated in the first three matches of the tournament.
The Yemeni national team has never won a championship, though it
includes many renowned Arab players.
Among Yemens natural and cultural attractions are four World
Heritage sites.
The Old Walled City of Shibam in Wadi Hadhramaut, inscribed by
UNESCO in 1982, two years after Yemen joined the World Heritage
Committee, is nicknamed "Manhattan of the Desert" because of its
"skyscrapers." Surrounded by a fortified wall made of mud and
straw, the 16th-century city is one of the oldest examples of urban
planning based on the principle of vertical construction.
The ancient Old City of Sanaa, at an altitude of more than 7,000
feet (2,100 m), has been inhabited for over two and a half millennia
and was inscribed in 1986. Sanaa became a major Islamic centre in

the 7th century, and the 103 mosques, 14 hammams (traditional

bath houses), and more than 6,000 houses that survive all date from
before the 11th century.
Close to the Red Sea Coast, the Historic Town of Zabid, inscribed in
1993, was Yemens capital from the 13th to the 15th century, and is
an archaeological and historical site. It played an important role for
many centuries because of its university, which was a center of
learning for the whole Arab and Islamic world. Algebra is said to
have been invented there in the early 9th century by the little-known
scholar Al-Jazari.
The latest addition to Yemens list of World Heritage Sites is the
Socotra Archipelago. Mentioned by Marco Polo in the 13th century,
this remote and isolated archipelago consists of four islands and two
rocky islets delineating the southern limit of the Gulf of Aden. The
site has a rich biodiversity. Nowhere else in the world do 37% of
Socotras 825 plants, 90% of its reptiles and 95% of its snails occur.
It is home to 192 bird species, 253 species of coral, 730 species of
coastal fish, and 300 species of crab and lobster, as well as a range
of Aloes and the Dragons Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari). The
cultural heritage of Socotra includes the unique Soqotri language.

Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews

Yisrael Yeshayahu Boaz Mauda Shahar

Tzuberi Amnon Yitzhak Ofra
Haza Achinoam Nini
Total population
c.350,000[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Yemen c. 500
Israel c. 300.000
USA c. 30.000
Britania c. 500
Languages
Hebrew, Arabic
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Mizrahi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Knanaya
Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism

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WikiProject

Yemenite
Jews(Hebrew:
,
Standard Temanim Tiberian Tmnm;
singular ,,
,
Standard Temani Tiberian Tmn) are
thoseJews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (
,,
,
Standard Teman Tiberian Tmn; "far south"). Between June
1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's
Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic
Carpet. Most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, with some others in
the United States, and fewer elsewhere. Only a handful remain in
Yemen, mostly elderly.
Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that marks them out
as separate from Ashkenazi, Sephardi and other Jewish groups. It is
debatable[by whom?] whether they should be described as "Mizrahi
Jews", as most other Mizrahi groups have over the last few
centuries undergone a process of total or partial assimilation
to Sephardic culture and liturgy. (While the Shami sub-group of
Yemenite Jews did adopt a Sephardic-influenced rite, this was for

theological reasons and did not reflect a demographic or cultural

shift).
1

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o
o
o

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o

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o
o

Contents

1 Early history
2 Jewish - Muslim relationship in Yemen through time
2.1 Yemenite Jews and Maimonides
2.2 19th-century Yemenite messianic movements
3 Religious traditions
3.1 Weddings and marriage traditions
4 Religious groups
4.1 Dor Daim and Iqshim dispute
5 Form of Hebrew
6 Writings
7 DNA testing
8 Emigration of communities to Israel
8.1 First wave of emigration: 1881 to 1914
8.2 The second wave of emigration: 1920 to 1950

8.2.1 Missing Yemenite children in Israel

9 Present situation
9.1 Participation in Israeli Culture
9.2 Prayer books
9.3 Other works
10 See also
11 External links
12 References
12.1 Endnotes
[edit]Early history

Portrait of Joseph Dhu Nuwas

The Jewish presence in Yemen is old and it is subject to many
conflicting stories. One legend suggests that King Solomon sent
Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold and silver
with which to adorn the Temple in Jerusalem [1] In 1881, the French
vice consulate in Yemen wrote to the leaders of the Alliance in
France, that he read a book of the Arab historian Abu-Alfada, that
the Jews of Yemen settled in the area in 1451 BC [2] Another legend
says that Yemeni tribes converted to Judaism after the Queen of
Sheba's visit to king Solomon [3] The Sanaite Jews have a legend
that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the
destruction of the First Temple. It is said that under the
prophetJeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites,
traveled to Yemen.[4] Another legend states that
when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they
disobeyed, whereupon he pronounced a ban upon them. According
to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action Ezra was
denied burial in Israel. As a result of this local tradition, which can
not be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the
name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are
used. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a poor
people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the
eyes of some Yemenites, as Yemen is extremely poor. However,

some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story

as myth, if not outright blasphemy.[5]
These are merely legends with minimal archaeological evidence to
support. Archaeological records referring to Judaism in Yemen
started to appear during the rule of Himyarite Kingdom [6] Various
inscription in Musnad script in the second century AD referring to
constructions of synagogues approved by Himyarite Kings [7] The
Jews became especially numerous and powerful in the southern
part of Arabia, a rich and fertile land of incense and spices and a
way station on the routes to Africa, India, and the Orient. The tribes
in Yemen did not oppose Jewish presence in their country [8] By 516,
tribal unrest broke out and several tribal elites fought for power, one
of those elites was Joseph Dhu Nuwas or "Yousef Asa'ar" as
mentioned in ancient south Arabian inscriptions. Yousef was
Jewish [9] Syriac and Byzantium sources claim that he fought his way
because Christians in Yemen refused to denounce Christianity which
is unlikely because Judaism in not missionary in nature, and it is
believed that Syriac sources were reflecting a great deal of hatred
toward Jews [10] In any case, inscriptions documented by Yousef
himself shows the great pride he expressed after massacring more
than 22,000 Christian in Zafarand Najran[11] Byzantium
empror Justinian I sent a flee to Yemen and Joseph Dhu Nuwas was
killed in battle in 525 AD [12] western coasts of Yemen became
a puppet state until a himyarite nobility managed to drive out the
occupiers completely and those nobles were Jews as well [13]
3

[edit]Jewish - Muslim relationship in Yemen through time

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant
discussion may be found on the talk page. Please
do not remove this message until the dispute is
resolved. (August 2012)

As Ahl al-Kitab, protected Peoples of the Scriptures, the Jews were

assured freedom of religion only in exchange for the jizya, payment
of a poll tax imposed on certain non-Muslim monotheists (people of
the Book). Active Muslim persecution of the Jews did not gain full
force until the Shiite-Zaydi clan seized power, from the more
tolerant Sunni Muslims, early in the 10th century.[14]

As the only visible "outsiders" (though their presence in Yemen

predated the introduction and mass conversion of the population to
Islam)[citation needed] the Jews of Yemen were treated as pariahs,
second-class citizens who needed to be perennially reminded of
their submission or conversion to the ruling Islamic faith.
The Zaydi enforced a statute known as the Orphan's Decree,
anchored in their own 18th century legal interpretations and
enforced at the end of that century. It obligated the Zaydi state to
take under its protection and to educate in Islamic ways
any dhimmi (i.e. non-Muslim) child whose parents had died when he
or she was a minor. The Orphan's Decree was ignored during
the Ottoman rule (18721918), but was renewed during the period
of Imam Yahya (19181948).[15]
Under the Zaydi rule, the Jews were considered to be impure, and
therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were
obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left
side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than a
Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a
donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter
a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked
with stones or fists by Islamic youth, a Jew was not allowed to
defend himself. In such situations he had the option of fleeing or
seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby.[16]
The Jews of Yemen had expertise in a wide range of trades normally
avoided by Zaydi Muslims. Trades such as silver-smithing,
blacksmiths, repairing weapons and tools, weaving, pottery,
masonry, carpentry, shoe making, and tailoring were occupations
that were exclusively taken by Jews. The division of labor created a
sort of covenant, based on mutual economic and social dependency,
between the Zaydi Muslim population and the Jews of Yemen. The
Muslims produced and supplied food, and the Jews supplied all
manufactured products and services that the Yemeni farmers
needed.[citation needed]
4

[edit]Yemenite Jews and Maimonides

Yemenite Jews have lived principally

in Aden (200), Sana (10,000), Sada (1,000), Dhamar (1,000), and
the desert of Beda (2,000). Other significant Jewish communities in

Yemen were based in the south central highlands in the cities of:
Taiz (the birthplace of one of the most famous of Yemenite Jewish
spiritual leaders, Mori Salem Al-Shabazzi Mashtaw), Ba'dan, and
other cities and towns in the Shar'ab region. Yemenite Jews were
chiefly artisans, including gold-, silver- and blacksmiths in the San'a
area, and coffee merchants in the south central highland areas.
5

[edit]19th-century Yemenite messianic movements

During this period messianic expectations were very intense among

the Jews of Yemen (and among many Arabs as well). The three
pseudo-messiahs of this period, and their years of activity, are:

Shukr Kuhayl I (186165)

Shukr Kuhayl II (186875)
Joseph Abdallah (188893)

According to the Jewish traveler Jacob Saphir, the majority of

Yemenite Jews during his visit of 1862 entertained belief in the
messianic proclamations of Shukr Kuhayl I. Earlier Yemenite
messiah claimants included the anonymous 12th-century messiah
who was the subject of Maimonides' famous Iggeret Teman, the
messiah of Bayhan (c.1495), and Suleiman Jamal (c.1667), in what
Lenowitz[17] regards as a unified messiah history spanning 600
years.
6

[edit]Religious traditions

1914 photograph of a Yemenite Jew in traditional vestments.

Yemenite Jews and the Aramaic speaking Kurdish Jews[18] 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. In the Yemenite tradition each person called to the Torah
scroll for an aliyah reads for himself. Children under the age of Bar
Mitzvah are often given the sixth aliyah. Each verse of the Torah
read in Hebrew is followed by the Aramaic translation, usually
chanted by a child. Both the sixth aliyah and the Targum have a
simplified melody, distinct from the general Torah melody used for
the other aliyot.
Like most other Jewish communities, Yemenite Jews chant different
melodies for Torah, Prophets (Haftara), Megillat Aicha (Book of
Lamentations), Kohelet (Ecclesiastes, read during Sukkot), and
Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther read on Purim). Unlike in
Ashkenazic communities, there are melodies for Mishle (Proverbs)
and Psalms.[19]
Every Yemenite Jew knew how to read from the Torah Scroll with the
correct pronunciation and tune, exactly right in every detail. Each
man who was called up to the Torah read his section by himself. All
this was possible because children right from the start learned to
read without any vowels. 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. In the Yemenite tradition each
person called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah reads for himself.
Children under the age of Bar Mitzvah are often given the sixth
aliyah. Each verse of the Torah read in Hebrew is followed by the
Aramaic translation, usually chanted by a child. Both the sixth aliyah
and the Targum have a simplified melody, distinct from the general
Torah melody used for the other aliyot.
Their diction is much more correct than the Sephardic and
Ashkenazic dialect. The results of their education are
outstanding, for example if someone is speaking with his
neighbor and needs to quote a verse from the Bible, he

speaks it out by heart, without pause or effort, with its melody.

[20]

In larger Jewish communities, such as Sana'a and Sad'a, boys

were sent to the Ma'lamed at the age of three to begin their
religious learning. They attended the Ma'lamed from early dawn
to sunset Sunday through Thursday and until noon on Friday.
Jewish women were required to have a thorough knowledge of
the laws pertaining to Kashrut and Taharat Mishpachah (family
purity) i.e. Niddah. Some women even mastered the laws
of Shechita, thereby acting as ritual slaughterers.
People also sat on the floors of synagogues instead of chairs,
similar to the way many other non-Ashkenazi Jews sat in
synagogues. This is in accordance with what Rambam
(Maimonides) wrote in his Mishneh Torah:
"We are to practise respect in synagogues... and all of the
People of Israel in Spain, and in the West, and in the area of
Iraq, and in the Land of Israel, are accustomed to light lanterns
in the synagogues, and to lay out mats on the ground, in order
to sit upon them. But in the cities of Edom (portions of
Europe), there they sit on chairs."
- Hilchot Tefila 11:5 In larger Jewish communities, such
as Sana'a and Sad'a, boys were sent to the Ma'lamed at the
age of three to begin their religious learning. They attended
the Ma'lamed from early dawn to sunset Sunday through
Thursday and until noon on Friday. Jewish women were
required to have a thorough knowledge of the laws pertaining
to Kashrut and Taharat Mishpachah (family purity) i.e. Niddah.
Some women even mastered the laws
"..and because of this (prostration) all of Israel is accustomed
to lay mats in their synagogues on the stone floors, or types of
straw and hay, to separate between their faces and the
stones."
- Hilchot Avodah Zarah 6:7
The lack of chairs may also have been to provide
more space for prostration, another ancient Jewish
observance that the Jews of Yemen continued to
practise until very recent times.[21] There are still a

few Yemenite Jews who prostrate themselves during

the part of every-day Jewish prayer
called Tachanun (Supplication), though such
individuals usually do so in privacy. In the small
Jewish community that exists today in Bet Harash
Prostration is still done during the tachnun prayer.
Jews of European origin generally prostrate only
during certain portions of special prayers
during Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom
Kippur (Day of Atonement). Prostration was a
common practise amongst all Jews until some point
during the late Middle Ages or Renaissance period.
Like Yemenite Jewish homes, the synagogues in
Yemen had to be lower in height than the lowest
mosque in the area. In order to accommodate this,
synagogues were built into the ground to give them
more space without looking large from the outside. In
some parts of Yemen, minyanim would often just
meet in homes of Jews instead of the community
having a separate building for a synagogue. Beauty
and artwork were saved for the ritual objects in
the synagogue and in the home.
Yemenite Jews also wore a distinctive tallit often
found to this day. The Yemenite tallit features a wide
atara and large corner patches, embellished with
silver or gold thread, and the fringes along the sides
of the tallit are netted. According to the Baladi
custom, the tzitzits are tied with chulyot, based on
the Rambam.
7 [edit]Weddings and marriage traditions

A bride in traditional Yemenite Jewish bridal

vestment, in Israel 1958.
During a Yemenite Jewish wedding, the bride is
bedecked with jewelry and wears the traditional
wedding costume of Yemenite Jews. Her elaborate
headdress is decorated with flowers and rue leaves,
which are believed to ward off evil. Gold threads are
woven into the fabric of her clothing. Songs are sung
as a central part of a seven-day wedding celebration
and their lyrics often tell of friendship and love in
alternating verses of Hebrew and Arabic.[22]
Yemenite and other Eastern Jewish communities
also perform a henna ceremony, an ancient ritual
with Bronze Age origins,[23] a few weeks or days
before the wedding. In the ceremony the bride and
her guests hands and feet are decorated in intricate
designs with a cosmetic paste derived from
the henna plant.[24] After the paste has remained on
the skin for up to two hours it is removed and leaves
behind a deep orange stain that fades after two to
three weeks.
Yemenites, like other Middle Eastern and North
African Jewish communities, had a special affinity for
Henna due to biblical and Talmudic references.

Henna, in the Bible, is Camphire, and is mentioned

in the Song of Solomon, as well as in the Talmud.
"My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of Camphire in the
vineyards of En-Gedi" Song of Solomon, 1:14
Rashi, a Jewish scholar from 11th c France,
interpreted this passage that the clusters of
henna flowers were a metaphor for forgiveness
and absolution, showing that God forgave those
who tested Him (the Beloved) in the desert.
Henna was grown as a hedgerow around
vineyards to hold soil against wind erosion in
Israel as it was in other countries. A henna hedge
with dense thorny branches protected a
vulnerable, valuable crop such as a vineyard from
hungry animals. The hedge, which protected and
defended the vineyard, also had clusters of
fragrant flowers. This would imply a metaphor for
henna of a "beloved", who defends, shelters, and
delights his lover. In the first millennium BCE, in
Canaanite Israel, henna was closely associated
with human sexuality and love, and the divine
coupling of goddess and consort.[25]
A Yemenite Jewish wedding custom specific only
to the community of Aden is the Talbis, revolving
around the groom. A number of special songs are
sung by the men while holding candles, and the
groom is dressed in a golden garment. [26]
8

[edit]Religious groups

Elderly Yemenite Jew, between 1898 and

1914.

Yemenite Jew in Jerusalem, late 19th century.

Yemenite Jew sounding the Shofar in a

photograph from the 1930s.
The three main groups of Yemenite Jews are the
Baladi, Shami, and the Maimonideans or
"Rambamists".
The differences between these groups largely
concern the respective influence of the original
Yemenite tradition, which was largely based on
the works ofMaimonides, and of
the Kabbalistic tradition embodied in
the Zohar and the school of Isaac Luria, which
was increasingly influential from the 17th century
on.

The Baladi Jews (from Arabic balad, country)

generally follow the legal rulings of
the Rambam (Maimonides) as codified in his

work the Mishneh Torah. Their liturgy was

developed by a rabbi known as
the Maharitz (Mori Ha-Rav Yihye Tzalahh), in
an attempt to break the deadlock between the
pre-existing followers of Maimonides and the
new followers of the mystic, Isaac Luria. It
substantially follows the older Yemenite
tradition, with only a few concessions to the
usages of the Ari. A Baladi Jew may or may
not accept the Kabbalah theologically: if he
does, he regards himself as following Luria's
own advice that every Jew should follow his
ancestral tradition.

The Shami Jews (from Arabic ash-Sham, the

north, referring to Palestine or Damascus)
represent those who accepted the Zohar in the
17th century and modified their siddur (prayer
book) to accommodate the usages of the Ari to
the maximum extent. The text of their siddur
largely follows theSephardic tradition, though
the pronunciation, chant and customs are still
Yemenite in flavour. They generally base
their legal rulings both on the Rambam
(Maimonides) and on the Shulchan
Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). In their
interpretation of Jewish law Shami Yemenite
Jews were strongly influenced
by Syrian Sephardi Jews, though on some
issues they rejected the later European codes
of Jewish law, and instead followed the earlier
decisions of Maimonides. Most Yemenite Jews
living today follow the Shami customs. The
Shami rite was always more prevalent, even
50 years ago.[27]

The "Rambamists" are followers of, or to some

extent influenced by, the Dor Daim movement,
and are strict followers of Talmudic law as

compiled byMaimonides, aka "Rambam". They

are regarded as a subdivision of the Baladi
Jews, and claim to preserve the Baladi
tradition in its pure form. They generally reject
the Zohar and Lurianic Kabbalah altogether.
Many of them object to terms like
"Rambamist". In their eyes, they are simply
following the most ancient preservation of
Torah, which (according to their research) was
recorded in the Mishneh Torah.
9 [edit]Dor Daim and Iqshim dispute
Towards the end of the 19th century new ideas
began to reach Yemenite Jews from abroad.
Hebrew newspapers began to arrive, and
relations developed with Sephardic Jews, who
came to Yemen from various Ottoman provinces
to trade with the army and government officials.
Two Jewish travelers, Joseph Halvy, a Frenchtrained Jewish Orientalist, and Edward Glaser, an
Austrian-Jewish astronomer, in particular had a
strong influence on a group of young Yemenite
Jews, the most outstanding of whom was
Rabbi Yihyah Qafih. As a result of his contact with
Halvy and Glaser, Qafih introduced modern
content into the educational system. Qafih
opened a new school and, in addition to
traditional subjects, introduced arithmetic, Hebrew
and Arabic, with the grammar of both languages.
The curriculum also included subjects such as
natural science, history, geography, astronomy,
sports and Turkish.[28]
The Dor Daim and Iqshim dispute about the
Zohar literature broke out in 1913,
inflamed Sana'a's Jewish community, and split
into two rival groups, that maintained separate
communal institutions until the late 1940s. Rabbi
Qafih and his friends were the leaders of a group

of Maimonideans called Dor Daim(the "generation

of knowledge"). Their goal was to bring Yemenite
Jews back to the original Maimonidean method of
understanding Judaism that existed in pre-17th
century Yemen.
Similar to certain Spanish and Portuguese
Jews (Western Sephardi Jews), the Dor
Daim rejected the Zohar, a book of esoteric
mysticism. They felt that the Kabbalah based on
the Zohar was irrational, alien, and inconsistent
with the true reasonable nature of Judaism. In
1913, when it seemed that Rabbi Qafih, then
headmaster of the new Jewish school and
working closely with the Ottoman authorities,
enjoyed sufficient political support, the Dor Daim
made its views public and tried to convince the
entire community to accept them. Many of the
non-Dor Dai elements of the community rejected
the Dor Dai concepts. The opposition, the Iqshim,
headed by Rabbi Yahya Yish aq, the Hakham
Bashi, refused to deviate from the accepted
customs and the study of Zohar. One of the
Iqshim's targets in the fight against Rabbi Qafih
was his modern Turkish-Jewish school.[28] Due to
the Dor Daim and Iqshim dispute, the school
closed 5 years after it was opened, before the
educational system could develop a reserve of
young people who had been exposed to its ideas.
[29]

10 [edit]Form of Hebrew
Main article: Yemenite Hebrew
There are two main pronunciations of Yemenite
Hebrew, considered by many scholars to be the
most accurate modern day form of Biblical
Hebrew, although there are technically a total of
five that relate to the regions of Yemen. In the
Yemenite dialect, all Hebrew letters have a

distinct sound, except for the letters

smekh and n. The Sanaani
Hebrewpronunciation (used by the majority) has
been indirectly critiqued by Saadia Gaon since it
contains the Hebrew letters jimmel and guf, which
he rules is incorrect. There are Yemenite
scholars, such as Rabbi Ratzon Arusi, who say
that such a perspective is a misunderstanding of
Saadia Gaon's words.

Pronunciation Chart 1[30]

Pronunciation Chart 2[31]

Rabbi Mazuz postulates this hypothesis through

the Jerban (Tunisia) Jewish dialect's use
of gimmel and quf, switching
to jimmel and guf when talking with Gentiles in
the Arabic dialect of Jerba. Some feel that the
Shar'abi pronunciation of Yemen is more accurate
and similar to the Babylonian dialect since they
both use a gimmel and quf instead of
thejimmel and guf.[32] While Jewish boys learned
Hebrew since the age of 3, it was used primarily
as a liturgical and scholarly language. In daily life,
Yemenite Jews spoke in regional Judeo-Arabic.
11 [edit]Writings

Manuscript page from Yemenite Midrash haGadol on Genesis.

The oldest Yemenite manuscripts are those of
the Hebrew Bible, which the Yemenite Jews call

"Taj" ("crown"). The oldest texts dating from the

9th century, and each of them has a short
Masoretic introduction, while many contain Arabic
commentaries.[33]
Yemenite Jews were acquainted with the works
of Saadia Gaon, Rashi,
Kimhi, Nahmanides, Yehudah ha Levy and Isaac
Arama, besides producing a number of exegetes
from among themselves. In the 14th century
Nathanael ben Isaiah wrote an Arabic
commentary on the Bible; in the second half of
the 15th century Saadia ben David al-Adani was
the author of a commentary
on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Abraham ben Solomon wrote on the Prophets.
Among the midrash collections from Yemen
mention should be made of the Midrash haGadol of David bar Amram al-'Adani. Between
1413 and 1430 the physician Yahya Zechariah b.
Solomon wrote a compilation entitled "Midrash
ha-Hefez," which included
the Pentateuch, Lamentations, Book of Esther,
and other sections of the Hebrew Bible. Between
1484 and 1493 David al-Lawani composed his
"Midrash al-Wajiz al-Mughni."[34]
Among the Yemenite poets who wrote Hebrew
and Arabic hymns modeled after the Spanish
school, mention may be made of Yahya al-Dhahri
and the members of the Al-Shabbezi family. A
single non-religious work, inspired by Hariri, was
written in 1573 by Zechariah ben Saadia
(identical with the Yahya al-Dhahri mentioned
above), under the title "Sefer ha-Musar." The
philosophical writers include: Saadia b. Jabez
and Saadia b. Mas'ud, both at the beginning of
the 14th century; Ibn al-Hawas, the author of a
treatise in the form of a dialogue written in rimed

prose, and termed by its author the "Flower of

Yemen"; Hasan al-Dhamari; and Joseph ha-Levi
b. Jefes, who wrote the philosophical treatises
"Ner Yisrael" (1420) and "Kitab al-Masahah."[35]
12 [edit]DNA testing
DNA testing between Yemenite Jews and various
other of the world's Jewish communities shows a
common link, with most communities sharing
similar paternal genetic profiles. Furthermore,
the Y-chromosome signatures of the Yemenite
Jews are also similar to those of other Middle
Eastern populations.[36]
Despite their long-term residence in different countries and
isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not
significantly different from one another at the genetic level.
The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene
pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa and
the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern
ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish
communities have remained relatively isolated from
neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the
Diaspora.[37]
It can be said that the Jewish communities of
southern Arabia in terms of their origin are not
homogeneous. Locals, that Jewish Yemenis, .
Immigrants came from the same areasLand of
Israel, Babylon, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Spain a
nd North Africa. They completed the
community manager and the Jewish customs
in the country. Information on the
circumstances and the context of time let the
settlements of Jews in the South Arabian
space not is dependent on the interpretation of
oral traditions.Yemenite Jews descend from
Israelites. North African Jewish and Kurdish
Jewish paternal lineages come from Israelites.
Jewish Y-DNA tends to come from the Middle

East, and that studies that take into account

mtDNA show that many Jewish populations
are related to neighboring non-Jewish groups
maternally. All existing studies fail to compare
modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient
Judean DNA and medieval Khazarian DNA,
but in the absence of old DNA, comparisons
with living populations appear to be adequate
to trace geographic roots [38]
13
[edit]Emigration of communities to
Israel
There were two major centers of population for
Jews in southern Arabia besides the Jews of
Northern Yemen, one in Aden and the other
in Hadramaut. The Jews of Aden lived in and
around the city, and flourished during the
British protectorate. The Jews of
Hadramaut lived a much more isolated life,
and the community was not known to the
outside world until the early 20th century. In
the early 20th century they had numbered
about 50,000; they currently number only a
few hundred individuals and reside largely
in Sa'dah and Rada'a.
14
[edit]First wave of emigration: 1881 to
1914
Emigration from Yemen to Palestine began in
1881 and continued almost without interruption
until 1914. It was during this time that about
10% of the Yemenite Jews left. Due to the
changes in the Ottoman Empire citizens could
move more freely and in 1869 travel was
improved with the opening of the Suez Canal,
which reduced the travel time from Yemen to
Palestine. Certain Yemenite Jews interpreted
these changes and the new developments in
the "Holy Land" as heavenly signs that the

time of redemption was near. By settling in

Israel they would be a part in what they
believed could precipitate the anticipated
messianic era.
From 1881 to 1882 a few hundred Jews left
Sanaa and several nearby settlements. This
wave was followed by other Jews from central
Yemen who continued to move into Palestine
until 1914. The majority of these groups
moved into Jerusalem and Jaffa. Before World
War I there was another wave that began in
1906 and continued until 1914. Hundreds of
Yemenite Jews made their way to Palestine
and chose to settle in the agricultural
settlements. It was after these movements that
the World Zionist Organization sent Shmuel
Yavne'eli to Yemen to encourage Jews to
emigrate to Palestine. Yavne'eli reached
Yemen at the beginning of 1911 and returned
to Palestine in April 1912. Due to Yavne'eli's
efforts about 1,000 Jews left central and
southern Yemen with several hundred more
arriving before 1914.[39]
15
[edit]The second wave of emigration:
1920 to 1950

Yemenite Jews en route from Aden to Israel.

In 1922, the government of Yemen,
under Imam Yahya reintroduced an ancient
Islamic law entitled the "orphans decree". The

law dictated that, if a Jewish boy or girl under

the age of twelve was orphaned, they were to
be forcibly converted to Islam, their connection
to their family and community was to be
severed and they had to be handed over to a
Muslim foster family. The rule was based on
the law that the prophet Mohammed is "the
father of the orphans," and on the fact that the
Jews in Yemen were considered "under
protection" and the ruler was obligated to care
for them.[40]
A prominent example is Abdul Rahman alIryani, the President of the Yemen Arab
Republic who was alleged to be of Jewish
descent by Dorit Mizrahi, a writer in the Israeli
ultra-Orthodox weekly Mishpaha. She claimed
to be his niece due to his being her mother's
brother. According to her recollection of
events, he was born Zekharia Hadad in 1910
to a Yemenite Jewish family in Ibb. He lost his
parents in a major disease epidemic at the age
of eight and together with his 5-year-old sister,
was forcibly converted to Islam and put under
the care of separate foster families. He was
raised in the powerful al-Iryani family and
adopted an Islamic name. al-Iryani would later
serve as minister of religious endowments
under northern Yemen's first national
government and became the only civilian to
have led northern Yemen.[40][41]
However, yemenionline, an online newspaper
claimed to have conducted several interviews
with several members of the al-Iryani family
and residents of Iryan, and allege that this
claim of Jewish descent is merely a "fantasy"
started in 1967 by Haolam Hazeh, an Israeli
tabloid. It states that Zekharia Haddad is in
fact, Abdul Raheem al-Haddad, Al-Iryani's

foster brother and bodyguard who died in

1980.Abdul Raheem is survived by tens of
sons and grandsons.[42]
The most part of both communities emigrated
to Israel after the declaration of the state.
The State of Israel in beginning of 1948
initiated Operation Magic Carpet and airlifted
most of Yemen's Jews to Israel.
In 1947, after the partition vote of the British
Mandate of Palestine, Arab Muslim rioters,
assisted by the local police force, engaged in a
bloody pogrom in Aden that killed 82 Jews and
destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes. Aden's
Jewish community was economically
paralyzed, as most of the Jewish stores and
businesses were destroyed. Early in 1948, the
unfounded rumour of the ritual murder of two
girls led to looting.[43]
This increasingly perilous situation led to the
emigration of virtually the entire Yemenite
Jewish community between June 1949 and
September 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet.
During this period, over 50,000 Jews
emigrated to Israel.
Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen) began in
June 1949 and ended in September 1950.
[44]
Part of the operation happened during
the Israeli war of independence (30 November
1947 20 July 1949) and the 1948 ArabIsraeli War (15 May 1948 10 March 1949).
The operation was planned by the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The plan
was for the Jews from all over Yemen to make
their way to the Aden area. Specifically, the
Jews were to arrive in Hashed Camp and live
there until they could be airlifted to Israel.
Hashed was an old British military camp in the

desert, about a mile away from the city

of Sheikh Othman. The operation took longer
than was originally planned. Over the course
of the operation, hundreds of migrants died in
Hashed Camp, as well as on the plane rides to
Israel. By September 1950, almost 50,000
Jews had been successfully airlifted to newly
formed state of Israel.[47]
A smaller, continuous migration was allowed to
continue into 1962, when a civil war put an
abrupt halt to any further Jewish exodus.
According to an official statement by Alaska
Airlines:
When Alaska Airlines sent them on "Operation Magic Carpet"
50 years ago, Warren and Marian Metzger didn't realize they
were embarking on an adventure of a lifetime. Warren
Metzger, a DC-4 captain, and Marian Metzger, a flight
attendant, were part of what turned out to be one of the
greatest feats in Alaska Airlines 67-year history: airlifting
thousands of Yemenite Jews to the newly created nation of
Israel. The logistics of it all made the task daunting. Fuel was
hard to come by. Flight and maintenance crews had to be
positioned through the Middle East. And the desert sand
wreaked havoc on engines.
It took a whole lot of resourcefulness the better part of 1949 to
do it. But in the end, despite being shot at and even bombed
upon, the mission was accomplished and without a single
loss of life. "One of the things that really got to me was when
we were unloading a plane at Tel Aviv," said Marian, who
assisted Israeli nurses on a number of flights. "A little old lady
came up to me and took the hem of my jacket and kissed it.
She was giving me a blessing for getting them home. We were
the wings of eagles."
For both Marian and Warren, the assignment came on the
heels of flying the airlines other great adventure of the late
1940s: the Berlin Airlift. "I had no idea what I was getting into,
absolutely none," remembered Warren, who retired in 1979 as

Alaskas chief pilot and vice president of flight operations. "It

was pretty much seat-of-the-pants flying in those days.
Navigation was by dead reckoning and eyesight. Planes were
getting shot at. The airport in Tel Aviv was getting bombed all
the time. We had to put extra fuel tanks in the planes so we
had the range to avoid landing in Arab territory." [48]

There was a story that, between

194951, up to 1,033 children of
Yemenite immigrant families may
have disappeared from the immigrant
camps. It was said that the parents
were told their children were ill and
required hospitalization. Upon later
visiting the hospital, it is claimed that
the parents were told that their
children had died though no bodies
were presented or graves which have
later proven to be empty in many
cases were shown to the parents.
Those who believed the theory
contended that the Israeli
government as well as other
organizations in Israel kidnapped the
children and gave them for adoption
to other, non-Yemenite, families.[49]
In 2001 a seven-year public inquiry
commission concluded that the
accusations that Yemenite children
were kidnapped are not true. The
commission has unequivocally
rejected claims of a plot to take
children away from Yemenite
immigrants. The report determined
that documentation exists for 972 of
the 1,033 missing children. Five

additional missing babies were found

to be alive. The commission was
unable to discover what happened in
another 56 cases. With regard to
these unresolved 56 cases, the
commission deemed it "possible" that
the children were handed over for
adoption following decisions made by
individual local social workers, but
not as part of an official policy.[49]
16 [edit]Present situation

The Kerem HaTeimanim district

of Tel Aviv, home to the
largest Yemenite
Jewishcommunity in the world.
Today the overwhelming majority of
Yemenite Jews lives in Israel.
In Yemen itself, there exists today a
small Jewish community in the town
of Bayt Harash (2 km away
from Raydah). They have a rabbi, a
functioning synagogue and a mikvah.
They also have a boys yeshiva and a
girls seminary, funded by
a Satmarer affiliated Hasidicorganizat
ion of Monsey, New York, USA.
A small Jewish enclave also exists in
the town of Raydah, which lies
approximately 45 mile north of

Sana'a. The town hosts a yeshiva,

also funded by a Satmar affiliated
organization.
Yemeni security forces have gone to
great lengths to try to convince the
Jews to stay in their towns. These
attempts, however, failed and the
authorities were forced to provide
financial aid for the Jews so they
would be able to rent accommodation
in safer areas.
In December 2008, 30 year old
Rabbi Moshe Ya'ish alNahari of Raydah was shot and killed
by Abed el-Aziz el-Abadi, a
former MiG-29pilot in the Yemeni Air
Force. Abadi confronted Nahari in the
Raydah market and shouted out
"Jew, accept the message of Islam",
and opened fire with an AK-47.
Nahari was shot five times, and died.
During interrogation, he proudly
confessed his crime, and stated that
"these Jews must convert to Islam".
Abadi had murdered his wife two
years before, but had avoided prison
by paying her family compensation.
The court found Abadi mentally
unstable and ordered him to pay only
a fine, but an appeals court
sentenced him to death. Following
al-Nahari's murder, the Jewish
community expressed their feelings
of insecurity, claiming to have receive
hate mail and threats by phone from
extremists. Dozens of Jews reported
receiving death threats and claimed
they had been subjected to violent

"these Jews must convert to Islam".

Abadi had murdered his wife two
years before, but had avoided prison
by paying her family compensation.
The court found Abadi mentally
unstable and ordered him to pay only
a fine, but an appeals court
sentenced him to death. Following
al-Nahari's murder, the Jewish
community expressed their feelings
of insecurity, claiming to have receive
hate mail and threats by phone from
extremists. Dozens of Jews reported
receiving death threats and claimed
they had been subjected to violent
harassment. Nahari's killing and
continual antisemitic harassment
prompted approximately 20 other
Jewish residents of Raydah to
emigrate to Israel. In 2009, five of
Nahari's children moved to Israel,
and in 2012, his wife and four other
children followed, having initially
stayed in Yemen so she could serve
as a witness for Abadi's trial.
In February 2009, 10 Yemeni Jews
immigrated to Israel, and in July
2009, three families, or 16 people
total, followed suit. On November 1,
2009 the Wall Street
Journal[57]reported that in June 2009,
an estimated 350 Jews were left in
Yemen, and by October 2009, 60 had
immigrated to the United States and
100 were considering following suit.
BBC estimated the community at 370
and dwindling. In 2010, it was
reported that 200 Yemeni Jews would

be allowed to immigrate to the United

Kingdom.
17 [edit]Participation in Israeli Culture

Gila Gamliel, member of the

Knesset for the Likud
Party and Minister in the Prime
Minister's Office

At the Eurovision Song Contest,

1998, 1979 and 1978 winners Dana
International, Gali Atari and Izhar
Cohen, 1983 runner-up Ofra Haza,
and 2008 top 10 finalist Boaz Mauda,
are Yemenite Jews. Harel Skaat, who
competed at Oslo in 2010, is of a
Yemenite Jewish father. Other
Yemenite Jewish figures
include Zohar Argov, Daklon, Gali
Atari, Inbar Bakal, Mosh BenAri, Yosefa Dahari, Gila Gamliel, Eyal
Golan, Becky Griffin, Meir Yitzhak
Halevi (the Mayor of Eilat), Saadia
Kobashi, Sandy Bar, Yishai

Levi, Sara Levi-Tanai, Bo'az

Ma'uda,Avihu Medina, Achinoam
Nini, Avraham Taviv, Shimi
Tavori, Margalit Tzan'ani, Tomer
Yosef of Balkan Beat
Box and Shahar Tzuberi.
18 [edit]Prayer books
Siah Yerushalayim, Baladi prayer
book in 4 vols, ed. Yosef Qafih
Tefillat Avot, Baladi prayer book (6
vols.)
Torat Avot, Baladi prayer book (7
vols.)
Tiklal Ha-Mefoar (Maharitz)
Nusah Baladi, Meyusad Al Pi HaTiklal Im Etz Hayim Ha-Shalem
Arukh Ke-Minhag Yahaduth
Teiman: Bene Berak: Or Neriyah
ben Mosheh Ozeri: 2001 or 2002
Siddur Tefillat HaH odesh Beit
Yaakov (Nusah Shami), Nusah
Sepharadim, Teiman, and the
Edoth Mizrah
Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, Siddur
Kavanot HaRashash: Yeshivat
HaChaim Ve'Hashalom
19 [edit]Other works

Halikhot Teiman The Life of

Jews of Sana'a, by Rabbi Yosef
Qafahh, Machon Ben-Tzi
Publishing
The Jews of the Middle East and
North Africa In Modern Times, by
Reeva Simon, Michael Laskier,
and Sara Reguer (Editors),
Columbia University Press, 2002,
Chapters 8 and 21

Lenowitz, Harris (1998). The

Jewish Messiahs: From the
Galilee to Crown Heights. New
York: Oxford University Press
Parfitt, Tudor (1996) The Road to
Redemption: The Jews of the
Yemen 1900-1950. Brill's Series in
Jewish Studies vol. XVII. Leiden:
Brill