Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi and his Relations with Imam Yahya

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 46; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00263200902868940

1743-7881

Aharon Gaimani,

Islamic Studies and History

Abstract The chief rabbi of Yemen, Rabbi Yihye Yishaq Halewi, had a special relationship with the ruler, the Imam Yahya, after the Turks left Yemen in 1918. I will discuss several aspects of this relationship, including the public needs of his congregation in the capital city San'a, such as problems of ownership of the land of the Jewish quarter and collection of the poll tax, aid to Jewish congregations throughout Yemen in maintaining the public order, and efforts on behalf of community leaders who suffered from saving children from the Orphans' Decree. Notes 1. See the title page of the annual calendar Luah Qeren Beit Halevi 'Al Shem Harav Haga'on Yihye Yitzhak Halevi ZS'L Wuvno Harav Shalom Yitzhak Halevi ZS'L. Regarding his year of birth, there are those who place it one year earlier and those who put it one year later. See Y. Hibshush, Shenei Hame'orot (Tel Aviv: Hibshush Family, 1987–89), Vol.1, p.135 and Vol.2, p.262; M. Zadoc, History and Customs of the Jews in Yemen, (Tel Aviv: Am 'Oved Publishers, 1983), p.129 (Hebrew). 2. The Turks conquered San'a in 1872 and their rule lasted until 1918. The rabbis who served during the Turkish rule were given the title 'Hakham Bashi', which expresses the authority of the chief leader in the rabbinate. Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi was the seventh and last Hakham Bashi. 3. The reference is to the Turkish rule. 4. Y.T. Sémach, Une mission de l'Alliance au Yemen (Paris: Siege de la Societé, 1910), p.44; Hebrew translation in A. Almaliah, 'Masa Yom Tov Semach le-Teman', in Y. Yeshayahu and A. Sadoq (eds.), Shevut Teman (Tel Aviv: Mi-Teman le-Zion, 1945), p.285. 5. The reference is to the year 1905. This will be explained further on in this section. 6. Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman (Jerusalem: Yihye 'Amram Qorah, 1954), p.66. 7. In 1872 the Turks captured the Yemenite capital San'a and assumed control of other places as well in central Yemen. 8. About half of the Muslim, and two thirds of the Jewish population perished in this siege. See 'Abd Al-Wasi' Al-Wasi'i, Tarikh al-Yaman (Cairo: al-Matba'at al-Salafiyya, 1928), p.205; Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.66. 9. For 'Hawz Al-Nafar' see Y. Ratzaby, 'In Siege and Stress (On the Last Famine in 1903–1905)', in Y. Ratzaby (ed.), Bo'i Teman (Come Thou South): Studies and Documents Concerning the Culture of the Yemenite Jews (Tel Aviv: Afikim, 1967), pp.67–102 (Hebrew); Y. Nini, Yemen and Zion: The Jews of Yemen, 1800–1914, A Political and Social Study of Their Emigration to Palestine (Jerusalem: Hassifriya Haziyonit, Publishing House of the World Zionist Organization, 1982), pp.97–9 (Hebrew). 10. Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, pp.65–9; 'Abd Al-Wasi' Al-Wasi'i, Tarikh Al-Yaman, pp.236–9; M.W. Wenner, Modern Yemen: 1918–1966 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967), pp.47–8; R.W. Stookey, Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978), pp.160–66. 11. He was assassinated on 17 February 1948. On this event see A. Gaimani, 'Sanaa's Jewish Leadership and Communal Self-Liquidation of Yemeni Jewry', Miqqedem Umiyyam, Vol.7 (2000), pp.185–6 (Hebrew). 12. Rabbi. A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, pp.72, 79–81; Y. Hibshush, Mishpahat Hibshush (Tel Aviv: Ha-Umanim Offset Press, 1985), Vol.1, pp.432, 466–7; A. Gaimani, 'A Yemenite Rabbi's Blessing for the Imam Yahya – The King of Yemen', Tehuda, Vol.20–21 (2000–2001), pp.80–84 (Hebrew). See also Rabbi Yosef Qorah in Gaimani, 'Sanaa's Jewish Leadership and Communal Self-Liquidation of Yemeni Jewry', p.186 (Hebrew). 13. Y. Ratzaby, 'Conversations of an Arab Traveller with Yemenite Rabbis', Ha'Olam, Vol.29 (1941), pp.535–7 (Hebrew). The conversations were translated from N. al-Mu'ayyad al-'Azm, Rihla fi Bilad al-'Arabiyya al-Sa'ida min Misr ila San'a (Cairo: Matba'at al-Halabi, 1936), pp.140–43. 14. G. Agronsky, 'The Jews of Yemen and Aden in the Days of the Imam Yahya', in Y. Tobi (ed.), The Jews of Yemen in Modern Times: Studies and Essays (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for the Furtherance of the Study of Jewish History, The Historical Society of Israel, 1984), p.171 (Hebrew) 15. Due to objections by members of the San'a community to his leadership, elections were held in 1920. The Imam's emissaries took a poll in the synagogues on the Sabbath during the morning prayer between him and Rabbi Yihye Qafeh, and Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi was re-elected to the office. See Zadoc, History and Customs of the Jews in Yemen, p.129. In the first half of the twentieth century the Jewish population in Yemen numbered some 50,000 inhabitants, and a tenth of them lived in San'a. Others have estimated the Jewish community in San'a at 4,000 members. See Y.S. Hubara, Be-Tela'ot Teman Wi-Yerushalayim (Jerusalem: Author, 1970), p.214. 16. In this article I will not deal in detail with the ties between Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak and the Imam concerning the differences with the Darda'im over the Kabbala in Yemen. In 1914 a controversy erupted in San'a over the relationship towards the Kabbala and Kabbalistic customs. This led to a split of the San'a congregation into two camps. Rabbi Yihye Qafeh led the opponents to the Kabbala, who were called Darda'im and preferred study of the Mishna, Talmud and Halacha, while the chief rabbi, Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi headed the side which adhered to the prevalent custom of studying Midrash and Zohar, and his followers were called 'Iqeshim. In this controversy the Imam leaned towards the position of Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi against that of Rabbi Yihye Qafeh and his colleagues. In one of his legal rulings in this controversy the Imam Yahya wrote: 'And in a matter over which they differ – the decision shall be according to the opinion of Yihye Yitzhak together with two of their leaders whom the sides shall choose. And in a legal decision, the matter shall be conducted according to the side to which Yihye Yitzhak belongs. And if this does not suffice for them, they shall submit their claims to the Shar'iic court and the judge shall rule between them according to what the religion of Muhammad shall instruct him'. See Y. Yeshayahu and A. Sadoq, 'Copy of a Legal Decision of the Imam and the Third Judge in a Matter of Dispute', in Yeshayahu and Sadoq (eds.), Shevut Teman, p.226 (Hebrew). This topic requires special attention; see the comprehensive discussion by B.-Z. Eraqi-Klorman, 'Enlightenment, Judaism and Islam and the Kabbala Dispute in Yemen – Social and Cultural Considerations', in M. Litvak and O. Limor, Religious Radicalism (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2007), pp.133–80 (Hebrew). 17. On the Mawza' exile and its consequences see Y. Ratzaby, 'The Exile of Musa': A Chapter of Yemenite Jewish History', Sefunot, Vol.5 (1961), pp.337–95 (Hebrew); Y. Ratzaby, 'An Expulsion of Jews in the Yemen (1679–1680)', Zion, Vol.37 (1972), pp.197–215 (Hebrew); A. Gaimani, Changes in the Heritage of Yemenite Jewry Under the Influence of Shulhan Arukh and the Kabbalah of R. Yitshaq Luria (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2005), pp.145–58 (Hebrew); R. Ahroni, Yemenite Jewry: Origins, Culture, and Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), pp.121–35; Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, pp.12–13. 18. U. Meshulam, 'In the Pincers of the Rule of the Imam Yahya and his Son Ahmad', in Y.D. Halevy (ed.), Afikim Springs: Studies in Literature, Language, Traditional Law and Custom, Education, Society and History (Tel Aviv: Afikim Press, 1995), p.508 (Hebrew). 19. 1337 AH. This was Teveth 5619 (1918). For the Hebrew translation, see Y. Ratzaby, 'A Deed of Purchase of the Land of the Jewish Quarter in San'a', in Ratzaby, Bo'i Teman, p.203. 20. 1337 AH. The date was 13 Nisan 5619 (13 April 1919). See ibid., p.203. 21. Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.71. 22. See the introduction of M. Maswari-Caspi to Rabbi S. Gamliel, The Jizya – Poll Tax in Yemen (Jerusalem: Shalom Research Center, 1982), p.60 (Hebrew). 23. Ibid., p.60 and also p.64. For the controversy with the Darda'im see supra, note 16. Some three years after the Chief Rabbi's passing, the community split over the issue of collecting the poll tax. See ibid., pp.60, 62, 66–8. 24. Maswari-Caspi, in The Jizya – Poll Tax in Yemen, p.80. 25. C. Rathjens and H. von Wissmann, Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Südarabien-Reise, Bd. 3: Landeskundliche Ergebnisse (Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter & Co., 1934), p.133. 26. Ibid., pp.151–2. 27. See, for example, Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.61. 28. On this matter, Rabbi 'Amram Qorah wrote as follows: 'In the year 5680 (1920) an Imamic proclamation and religious law was issued concerning the property of Jews in all districts of Yemen, including real estate according to the following sections. 1) Regarding any Jew who left the boundaries of Yemen during the Turkish rule in order to reside in another kingdom, and left real estate in the hands of his sons or relatives, or appointed a custodian for them, or heirs of all kinds of property, houses, stores etc.; then they shall pass to the government treasury under authority of the Imam, for rent or sale, and no rights to them shall remain for the owners during their lives or for their heirs after their deaths. 2) Therefore, anyone who buys real estate from a Jew only has title to it while the Jew resides in Yemen. But if the Jewish seller leaves the country, the property shall pass immediately to the government treasury, and the buyer is the one who harms his property. 3) Even if a Jew bought such property from the Imam and he was given a deed from the Imam and took hold of it and afterwards sold it and left Yemen, the sale is void and the property shall return to the government treasury as before. And if the buyer claims that his money should be returned, he shall not be answered even though in principle responsibility for the sale was on the Imam. These sections were carried out in practice all the days of his life.' See Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.72. 29. Y. Yeshayahu, 'Radiant Personalities', in Y. Ratzaby and Y. Shivtiel (ed.), Qoves Har'el (Tel Aviv: Ha-'Asor Press, 1962), p.260 (Hebrew); Rabbi. S. Yitzhak Halevi, 'The Saintly Ga'on Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi – Seventy Years Since His Passing', Musaf Yated Ne'eman, 20 Siwan 5762 (31 May 2002), p.14 (Hebrew). 30. Rabbi I. Yitzhak Halevi, 'Rabbi Shalom: Milestones in His Character', in A. Yitzhak Halevi (ed.), Sefer Ha-Zikaron Divrei Shalom Hachamim: Le-Maran Ha-Rav Ha-Ga'on Shalom Yitzhak Halevi (Jerusalem: Ner Avishalom Beit Yitzhak Halevi, 1993), p.540. 31. Rabbi Itamar Hayyim Cohen (personal communication), who heard this from the late Rabbi Shukr Hibshush, one of the pupils of the Chief Rabbi. 32. Luah Qeren Beit Halevi, year 5742. In his letters, which were read in the San'a synagogues, the Chief Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi warns the community members against selling arak to Muslims, due to the possible danger to the community. In one of these letters dealing with the prohibition of selling Muslims wine and the obligation of giving charity to the poor of the Land of Israel, he wrote in the first part as follows: 'Holy congregation, may God watch over you and keep you alive. We let you know last Shabbat especially about selling arak to Muslims. And lately we went up to the wāli [Turkish governor], may his glory be raised, and he warned us to inform them to be careful not to sell arak in San'a, in Bir al-'Azab, in the streets, outside and in the markets. For the government does not want to hurt anyone. And he repeated to us that we should let them know in his word a second and third time, that their protection will be removed from the sellers if they are imprisoned and punished, and the injury to [their] honour is difficult. And if this wāli were not charitable, there would be daily floggings. And each of them may know for himself; they shall not say we did not let them know.' Rabbi Aviran Yitzhak Halevi, Benei Beraq (personal communication). 33. A. Klein-Franke, 'The Orphans, their Flight and their Immigration to Eretz Yisrael – A Study of a Rescue Operation', in Rabbi S. Gamliel, M. Maswari-Caspi and S. Avizemer (eds.), Yemenite Paths (Jerusalem: Shalom Research Center, 1984), pp.85–111 (Hebrew); Y. Hibshush, Ha-Shemad: Gezerat Ha-Shemad 'Al Ha-Yetomim Ha-Yehudim Be-Teman (Tel Aviv: Hibshush Family, 1996); B.-Z. Eraqi-Klorman, 'The Forced Conversion of Orphans in Yemen to Islam – The Jewish Response and Muslim Behavior', Pe'amim, Vol.62 (1995), pp.82–110 (Hebrew); B.-Z. Eraqi-Klorman, 'The Forced Conversion of Jewish Orphans in Yemen', Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.33 (2001), pp.23–47; T. Parfitt, The Road to Redemption: The Jews of Yemen 1900–1950 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), pp.66–76; A. Gaimani, 'The Orphans' Decree in Yemen: Two New Episodes', Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.40 (2004), pp.171–84. 34. L. Gardet, 'Fitrat', in B. Lewis, C. Pellat and J. Schacht (eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1965), Vol.II, pp.931b–932a; S.D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages (New York: Schocken Books, 1974), p.78; S.D. Goitein, 'An Arabic-Hebrew Book on a Tour in Yemen in 1870', in F.I. Baer, F.S. Bodenheimer, J.N. Epstein, M. Fekete, A. Fodor, I.J. Kligler and L.A. Mayer (eds.), Magnes Anniversary Book (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press, 1938), p.91, n.11 (Hebrew); Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.157; Rabbi S. Gamliel, Aliya to Israel from Yemen (Jerusalem: Shalom Research Center, 1988), p.235 (Hebrew). 35. Zadoc, History and Customs of the Jews in Yemen, pp.106–7; see also Rabbi S. Gamliel, Aliya to Israel from Yemen, pp.238–41; Rabbi. A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.157; Y. Sadoq, Ma'avaqim We-Temurot (Tel Aviv: Afikim, 1989), p.248 36. The interview was published in Agronsky, 'The Jews of Yemen and Aden in the Days of the Imam Yahya', p.171. 37. The letter has been printed several times. See Zadoc, History and Customs of the Jews in Yemen, pp.106–9; again by S. Greidi, 'A Hand to the Jews of Dhamar in Yemen', in Halevy (ed.), Afikim Springs, p.447 (Hebrew). 38. Rabbi S. Yitzhak Halevi, 'The Saintly Ga'on Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi', p.14. The following is another episode in which the Chief Rabbi was active. Five orphans from the Thileh community were smuggled to the Shibam community, and the Muslims searched for them. The rabbi ordered one of the members of the community in San'a to go to the Shibam community in order to save them. The Chief Rabbi arranged for donkeys and chests in which to bring the orphans. When the agent arrived in Shibam, he handed over a letter to the head of the community, Rabbi Suleiman 'Amr, and after a brief stay the orphans were loaded, and the agent brought them early in the morning to San'a to the house of Rabbi Yihye Abyad for their continued well-being. See H. Sadoq, Masa Teman (Tel Aviv: E'ele Be-Tamar, 1985), pp.270–71. 39. See A. Gaimani, 'Rabbi Yihye Nahum and his Emigration to Eretz Yisrael', Ha-Ziyonut Me'asef[Zionism: Studies in the History of the Zionist Movement and of the Jewish Community in Palestine], Vol.23 (2001), p.159 (Hebrew). 40. Eraqi-Klorman, 'The Forced Conversion of Orphans in Yemen to Islam', pp.94–5. 41. Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi acted like other leaders who preceded him in expelling outlaws from the San'a community. On the expulsion of two Jewish women from the San'a community who engaged in prostitution, see H. Hibshush, Mas'ot Hibshush: Hizayon Teman – Ruya Al-Yaman[Travels in Yemen: Josef Halevy's Journey to Najran in the Year 1870 as Related by Hayyim Habshush], edited and translated by S.D. Goitein (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1983), pp.49–50. 42. Rabbi Shalom Cohen Ephraim, Benei Beraq (personal communication). Rabbi Shalom emigrated from the San'a community to the Land of Israel in the 'On Eagles' Wings' emigration in 1950. 43. Rabbi Shalom Cohen Ephraim (personal communication). 44. Rabbi A. Qafeh, Ha-Ga'on Rabbi Yosef B'R Shalom Al-Qareh (Ramat-Gan: Author, 1989), p.30. Rabbi Aharon Qafeh recorded testimony from his father (who was a son-in-law of Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi) that the Imam would get angry at anyone who brought up this claim. Rabbi Qafeh also wrote that Rabbi Yosef Qorah noted facetiously that since promiscuity was widespread among the Arabs, they found the concept of 'musaqef' in order to rely on it (ibid.). Rabbi Yosef Qafeh tells of a similar affair that took place in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Chief Justice of the rabbinical court, Rabbi Yosef Qareh, was called to solve the problem of a husband who returned home after an absence of a year and a half and found his wife pregnant. He filed suit to divorce her because in his opinion she was forbidden to him. However, the wife turned to a Muslim judge, and sued her husband for defaming her, claiming that she was pregnant by him, because this is possible according to the Muslim religion. In the trial before the Muslim judge, the husband replied that it was untrue that she was pregnant by him because such a thing is impossible. The husband's reply was considered an insult to a Muslim principle, so the judge ruled that the husband either be put to death or convert to Islam. The Muslim judges intended to impose decrees on the Jews because of this insult to their religion, but since the public should not have to suffer because of the actions of an individual, they decided to summon Rabbi Yosef Qareh, who served as Chief Justice of the rabbinical court. In his response, he replied that the Islamic belief that a woman can conceive from her husband's seed up to seven years in his absence was current also among the Jews during the period that they were living in their land and the Temple was in existence. However, after the Jews sinned they were sentenced to exile, and this favour as well was taken from them, but it remained with the Muslims because they had not sinned. The judges asked him for proof of what he said. He summoned the wife and after a lengthy interrogation she confessed that she had committed adultery and even revealed with whom she had committed adultery. The adulterer was summoned as well, and he also confessed, and the husband was released. See Rabbi Nethanel Beirav Fayyumi, Sefer Bustan Al-U'qul: Gan Ha-Sekhalim, translated by Rabbi Y. Qafeh (Qiryat Ono: Agudat Halikhot 'Am Yisrael, 1984), Introduction, p.11. 45. A. Gaimani, 'New Documents on the Role of Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi as the Leader of Yemenite Jewry', Pe'amim, Vol.76 (1998), p.119 (Hebrew). 46. A. Gaimani, 'The Authority of Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi in the Al-Dahreh Community', in Rabbi A. Yitzhak Halevi (ed.), Ish Yemin'i: Sefer Hazikaron Le-Morenu Ha-Rav Yihye Yitzhak Halevi (in press) (Hebrew). 47. It is a large central city 99 kilometres away from San'a. See I.A. Al-Maqhafi, Mu'jam Al-Mudun Wa-al-Qaba'il Al-Yamaniyah (San'a: Dar al-Kalimah, 1985), pp.167–8. 48. Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Manuscripts and Archives Department, ARC 40 1487/A. 49. The following is another matter in which a Muslim judge referred to the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yihye. In 1931 the Muslim judge in the Dhaf community ruled in a dispute between worshippers in two synagogues, some of whom were requested to complete a quorum to make it possible to hold public prayer. The Muslim judge referred this matter to the Chief Rabbi in San'a, and the reply was that no man can be coerced into where to pray. The Muslim judge confirmed the ruling, and threatened to imprison anyone who did not comply with it. See Y. Tobi, 'The National Authority of the Beth-Din of San'a in the eyes of the Muslim Authorities', Miqqedem Umiyyam, Vol.2 (1986), pp.56, 65–7 (Hebrew). 50. Y. Ben Zvi, Nidhei Yisrael (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence Press, 1963), pp.209–10. 51. Rabbi A. Qorah, Sa'arat Teman, p.73. 52. Y. Nahshon, Merkazei Torah: San'a (Tel Aviv: Moreshet, 1983), pp.30–31. 53. Rabbi Itamar Hayyim Cohen, Benei Beraq (personal communication). Rabbi Itamar also related that one of the Chief Rabbi's escorts in his meetings with the Imam Yahya was Rabbi Aharon Ephraim Hacohen, who was a childhood friend of the Chief Rabbi and had a pleasant appearance. 54. Yeshayahu, 'Radiant Personalities', pp.258–9 (Hebrew). 55. Ibid., p.259. 56. Agronsky, 'The Jews of Yemen and Aden in the Days of the Imam Yahya', p.171. 57. Hibshush, Shenei Hame'orot, Vol.1, p.58. See also the testimony of Meir Lewi, son of the Chief Rabbi Meir Lewi, 'Crown to its Past', in Y. Ratzaby and Y. Shivtiel (eds.), Qoves Har'el, pp.301–2 (Hebrew). 58. Rabbi S. Yitzhak Halevi, 'The Saintly Ga'on Rabbi Yihye Yitzhak Halevi', p.14. 59. Ibid., p.23.