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Jewish Community, Lahij, Yemen

Description

Background: During the reign of the Himyarite Kingdom, given that Lahij was within the peripheral location of Aden, a heavy Jewish presence was likely living and interacting with the city. Excavations from Beit She’arim in 1937 by archeologist Benjamin Mazar revealed a system of tombs at Beit She’arim belonging to Jews of the ancient kingdom of Himyar in Yemen. This implies early Yemenite Jews were likely affluent merchants/traders (due to southern Arabian spices and incense) which gave them the financial ability to transport their deceased to Eretz Israel for burial[4]. While Himyarites would largely dissociate from Judaism following their invasion from the Ethiopian Aksumites, Jewish centers, especially in southern Yemen, continued to thrive[5].

While no longer a Jewish state, Yemen’s Jews would be a crucial economic sector of the nation throughout the Middle Ages. Jews in southern Yemen, which includes Jewish communities such as Lahij, are attested to in the Cairo Geniza during this period as coordinating with Cochin Jewish populations for trade between Arabian and Indian goods[6]. Lahij’s Jews, like other Yemenite communities, were targeted for expulsion during the Mawza Exile in 1679 following Imam al-Mahdi Ahmad’s edict to expel all Jews inside his kingdom to the barren Mawza region[7].

Modern History: Following Mawza, many Jews would return to their previous communities to find their homes occupied by Arab Muslim tenants. A likely Jewish revival to Lahij occurred when the Sultanate of Lahij arose in 1728 after the Abdali dynasty declared the sultanate independent from the fractured Zaidi Islamic state controlling Yemen (however independence would only be officially granted in 1740)[8]. Lahij would become the capital of the sultanate, creating a steady migration and interaction of Jews in the area from surrounding communities[9].

The British would come to control Lahij following 1839 after the conquest of Aden by Britain's Bombay Province Forces. Following British control, many of Lahij’s Jews would specifically take up posts on behalf of British authorities (alongside being employed in mercantile crafts) as Jews were typically seen as neutral residents in the British Aden Protectorate[10]. One notable family of Lahij, the Hassan family, is specifically noted as being in charge of administration of customs. Regarding living situation of the Jews of Lahij, Italian writer and traveler Renzo Manzoni, who traversed the land and recorded his experience in 1877-1878, claims that Lahij is the only place between Aden and Al Jalila to possess a Jewish presence; furthermore, he claims that Lahij’s Jews were primarily confined to their own “street”[11].

Regarding the 20th century, while the Jewish community is documented as small, it nonetheless had an important role to play in the Zionist movement. Professors from the ANU Museum of Jewish history state that Lahij was utilized as a transit station for Jews attempting to reach Aden to migrate to British Mandatory Palestine. Many Jews were thus detained in Lahij and hence forced to pay a ransom for release. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Al-Hush camp was set up in a courtyard in the Jewish section of the city to house Jews traveling to Aden and many of Lahij’s Jewish residents would likewise eventually make aliyah. Only 60 Jews resided in Lahij by 1944 and, following Israel’s War for Independence, most would make aliyah through Operation Magic Carpet over the next two years[12].

A family story provided by The Jewish Star recounts how Nissim Hassan, the leader of Lahij’s Jewish community and member of the prestigious Hassan family, helped hundreds of Jews flee to the newly formed Israel following increased antisemitic violence and threats of expulsion by the local sultan of Lahij[13].

Lahij, Yemen

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