Shalom Alsheikh

Born into a silversmith’s family in Sana’a, Yemen, Shalom (ben Yosef ha-Levi) Alsheikh pursued traditional Jewish learning and served the Jewish community as a shohet and mohel while also working as a skilled craftsman producing silver-coated silk clothing for the royal court, among other clients. In 1888, he left with his family with the aim of settling in Jerusalem. Soon after his arrival in 1891, Alsheikh played a central role, along with fellow Yemenite Jewish leader Avraham al-Naddaf, in organizing social and religious institutions for the city’s Yemenite Jewish community, including a fund for the sick, a yeshiva, and a Talmud Torah. In 1893, Alsheikh was elected a leader of the Yemeni community: he advocated for rights and representation of Yemenis in the New Yishuv and helped build Jerusalem’s first Yemeni synagogue. In Jerusalem, Alsheikh became a noted kabbalist and writer of piyyutim (Hebrew liturgical poems).