Yemenite Aliyah to the Land of Israel

I, Shalom, the humble son of the honorable R. Joseph Alsheikh, God keep him and save him, wish to elucidate here the beginning of Yemenite settlement in Jerusalem, may it be built and established speedily in our days, amen. In the year 5641 [1882], the Lord our God brought about an awakening in the hearts of some people from the capital, Sana’a, may the High One keep it—two men and their families. The one was Immanuel ben R. Shalom al-Nakaash, God keep him and save him, and the second was Joseph ben Solomon al-Nadaaf, God keep him and save him—God-fearing men and scholars with distinguished lineages. And they traveled to Jerusalem, may it be built and established speedily, after Shavuot. And they left Sana’a for the town of [al-]Matena, and from there to the town of al-Hamis. From there to the town of Manaakhah, the town of Haraaz. From there to the town of Haghileh and from there to the city of al-Bahyah, from there to the town [al-]Baghil, and from there to Qahwat abu-Ali, and from there to the great city on the shore of the Red Sea al-Hudaydah, the merchant city, from which goes forth all the goods of Yemen to states across the sea, such as Suez, Egypt, and its cities. [ . . . ] And in all the cities between this mountain [Atarah] and the city of al-Hudaydah, there are no Jews; all the residents are dark-skinned gentiles living in tents of straw, wood, and reeds. And the land between al-Haghileh and al-Hudaydah is extremely hot. There are no mountains, just planes and streams. And between [al-]Baghil and al-Hudaydah is a wilderness with sand and no water, neither grain nor fruit grows there. And there are two paths from Suez: one goes to Egypt [i.e., Cairo], the other to the city of Ismailia, a half-day’s journey by train on land. From there a day’s journey by boat to Port Said, and a night journey from there to Jaffa via the Mediterranean Sea. And from there [to] the holy city of Jerusalem, may it be built and established. [ . . . ]

And after the year 5642, the Jews of Yemen were quiet for about a year. Afterwards, some families repeated the journey to the Land of Israel, and they arrived there successfully, and sent letters to Sana’a singing the praises of the Land. And then some families began to sell everything that was theirs in order to travel there. And when the gentiles of Sana’a saw that the Jews had not ceased to travel to the Land of Israel, they complained to the government officials that Yemen could not exist without its Jews. And if the government were to allow the Jews to [leave and] travel to their Land, then all of Yemen would surely become desolate, for the Jews are of great necessity for life there, as they possess all kinds of trades and are experts in all forms of commerce. The [gentiles] also gave many bribes to this effect. Then the government officials heeded them and prevented the Jews from emigrating. They blocked the sea and did not want to give the travelers permission to embark. And after some months, a new governor (mushir) arrived from Constantinople—sent by His Excellency. And then the Jews complained to the new governor, and he permitted them to travel in accordance with the king’s laws, and he paid no heed whatsoever to the words of those gentiles. And so long as this governor ruled in Yemen, many Jews traveled to Jerusalem, may it be built and established. [ . . . ] From 5641 until our present year, 5668 [1908], the Yemenites in Jerusalem have numbered about 2,500 souls and in Jaffa about 200 souls.

And now I will begin to recount how my brethren, the Yemenites, settled in the Holy Land—in Jerusalem and Jaffa. When the Yemenites began to settle in Jerusalem, no one in the world could have borne what they bore in Jerusalem, may it be built and established. At the beginning, in the summer they lived under the open sky, parched by day and frozen by night (Genesis 31:40). They lived under olive trees, fig trees, and barren trees. The heavens would rain dew upon them, they were abandoned and deserted in the field, faint from hunger, old and young alike, [even] babies and infants. And though they would ask for bread, nobody gave them even a stale crust, and they were left without even a penny in their pockets. And no one from the communities of Jerusalem recognized them as Jews, nor they did believe that they were the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even though their facial features and all their Jewish signs proved that they were blessed offspring of the Lord (Isaiah 61:9). For the Jews of Yemen were weighed down by their long sidelocks and not one of them shaved his beard. And their clothes as well are not at all similar to the clothes of gentiles and none of them wear modern dress; all their garments were like the clothes of Jews from ancient times. Not one of them walked upright, and they had no resemblance whatsoever to the gentiles, be it in their bodies, attire, or anything else, such that a Yemenite Jew could be picked out of a crowd of a thousand by one who did not know him from before, and the fear of the Lord was constantly on their faces. Nevertheless, [the Jerusalemites] would not count them towards a minyan for Kaddish and Kedushah, and their great poverty and want made them unsightly. [ . . . ] Some [of the Yemenites] who had some means left would sustain themselves with scant bread until their money ran out, and some would beg at people’s doors to sustain themselves and their families [ . . . ] others were forced to ask for housework by their brethren, eating meager bread in exchange for their labor, a dry morsel to keep themselves alive. And some were humble and could not serve in houses, be it because of the heavy work, or because they were old and feeble. [ . . . ] And in the winter, they would rent themselves some small houses, basements, or cook sheds and exert themselves to save [rent], coin by coin—all of this so that maybe they could rent these houses and find shelter from the weather. And sometimes one who had leftover money from Yemen would use this for rent. And these were the worst of houses; they were not fit for habitation, and most dripped water from all four sides or from the ceiling, and the cold was ever-present. These houses were made out of wood and tiles, or tin containers and tiles, so that their lives were cursed, and their lives were not lives. . . .