The Habbani Jews (, Standard: Ḥabbanim) are a culturally distinct Jewish population group from the Habban region in eastern Yemen (in modern Shabwah Governorate), a subset of the larger ethnic group of Yemenite Jews. The city of Habban had a Jewish community of 450 in 1947, which was considered to possibly be the remains of a larger community which lived independently in the region before its decline in the 6th century. The Jewish community of Habban disappeared from the map of the Hadramaut, in southeast Yemen, with the emigration of all of its members to Israel in the 1950s.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., pages II.
Ancient and medieval history
Several traditions place Israelites in Arabia as early as the era of Solomon's Temple. One such tradition has three divisions of Israelite soldiers being sent by either King David or King Solomon while another places the earliest migration just before the destruction of the First Temple during the 597 BCE Siege of Jerusalem.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., page 8. Another tradition, shared with northern Yemenite Jews, states that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Israelites, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen.A Journey to Yemen and Its Jews," by Shalom Seri and Naftali Ben-David, Eeleh BeTamar publishing, 1991, page 43 The Jews of southern Yemen have a tradition that they are the descendants of Judeans who settled in the area before the destruction of the Second Temple during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. According to tradition, those Judeans belonged to a brigade dispatched by Herod the Great to assist the Roman legions fighting in the region (see Aelius Gallus).Jewish Communities in Exotic Places," by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson Inc., 2000, pages 32
Khaybar and Yathrib were two Jewish communities in Arabia that initially maintained a measure of independence. The Jews shared Yathrib with two Arab clans that who were sometimes friendly and other times quite hostile. According to tradition, the Jews of Khaybar were descended from the Rechabites who, under clan founder Yonadab ben Rechav, led a nomadic existence. Following the destruction of First Temple, they wandered as far as the region of Khaybar, drawn to it by its oasis of palm trees and grain fields. The oasis was strategically located on the Arabian route up to Israel and Syria, north of Medina. The Rechabite warriors of Khaybar built a line of forts and castles with the strongest of them being Kamus, built atop an inaccessible cliff.Wars of the Jews," by Monroe Rosenthal and Isaac Mozeson, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1990, pages 166 to 167
Between 1065 and 1117 Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela traveled through Arabia arriving as far south as Aden. According to Tudela's travel log he found an independent Jewish warrior tribe living in several mountainous areas near the district of Tihamah in Yemen. He noted that this group of Jews were at times in armed combat with various north African tribes and also had contact with Jewish communities in Persia and Egypt. A Compendium of Jewish Travels - Book: Travels of Rabbi Benyamin from Tudela, by Yehudah David Eisenstien, published by Or Hadash, Jerusalem, 1926, page 40
Local Yemenite accounts place the establishment of a substantial Jewish presence in Southern Yemen after the Himyar tribe accepted Judaism, approximately 100 C.E. According to Habbani Jewish sources Jewish migrants, traveling south from Saudi Arabia, first settled in an area known as "Ilmarkh" (אלמרך) near a mountain known as Ishav (אשב) which is 10 km east from the city of Habban. The area, once known as Mount "Da'ah" (הר דעה), was said to have once been the seat of a Jewish rulership that may have also been connected to the Himyar tribe.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., pages 8 to 9.
Silverwork Habbani was home to "renowned" Yemenite Jewish silversmiths, whose distinctive work was valued across the Hadramaut.
Habbani communal structure
The major clans of the Habbani were the al Adani, Doh, Hillel, Maifa'i, Ma'tuf, Shamakh, Bah'quer and D'gurkash.Towne, 1990 p. 87Ahroni, 1994 p. 201 All but the last two exist in Israel today. They did not have Kohen or Levites among them. Their traditional occupations included silversmiths, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and making household utensils, and the men particularly engaged in long-distance trading.Ahroni, 1994, p. 204
In the 16th century, thanks to the advice of a Habbani Jew, Suleman the Wise, the Jews received a special quarter of Habban.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., pages I. And in the late 17th century, a severe drought hit Habban, resulting in considerable demographic changes. Habbani families came under intense pressure to reproduce to help repopulate the community, despite an acute shortage of women.Goldberg, 1996 p. 268 But the most significant impact of the drought was a large-scale exodus of Habbani Jews across Yemen and far beyond.
The drought of the 1700s decimated the Habbani. The Bah'quer and D'gurkash clans specifically left the valley to seek sustenance for their families. They traveled all the way to India, but when they returned they found that most of their families had died from starvation. They left Yemen again to travel on the Indian Ocean, settling in India and East Africa along typical Hadhrami settlement routes, finding work as mercenaries for the Nizam, the Mughal emperors and the Al Said. Most of these tribes assimilated into local populations, adopting the surnames of their patrons. Other Habbani Jews during the drought of the 1700s migrated to the west, to Bayda, Bayhan and Aden.Judaeo-Yemenite Studies - Proceedings of the Second International Congress, ed. Ephraim Isaac & Yosef Tobi, article: Jewish-Muslim Socio-Political Relations in Twentieth Century South Yemen, by Laurence D. Loeb, Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton University 1999, p. 74 The remaining Habbani clans in Yemen, viz., al-Adani, Doh, Hillel, Maifa'i, Ma'tuf and Shamakh, were reduced to 1-4 adult males each and their families. The entire Habbani Jewish population was estimated to be no more than 50 people at the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, the population gradually recovered, despite recurrent migrations to the north (al-Ghabiyah in "il-Hadineh") and west (Abyan, Dathinah and Bayda), from less than one-hundred in 1800 to nearly four-hundred and fifty in the mid-1940s.
Synagogues In Habban, there were two synagogues that were divided between the two major Jewish families, Maatuf and Hillel. The older of the two was the building that the Hillel family continued to pray in after the Maatuf family formed a new synagogue. The Hillel family synagogue was also frequented by members of the Shamakh, Mif'ay, and Adani families. The synagogue not only served the purpose of community prayer during Shabbat and the Haggim but also as a Beit Sefer and a Beit Din.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., pages 26 to 28.
Religious traditions The Jews of Habban, though isolated from the majority of Yemenite Jewish communities, were able to maintain various levels of contact with larger Jewish populations in the north and shared in many of their common traits. They possessed religious texts such as the Talmud, Mishneh Torah, Shulkhan Arukh, and Duties of the Heart. Yet, the Jews of Habban also developed their own traditions and customs which made them distinct.
Prayer book - Tiklal "Ateret Zqenim" Upon emigration to Israel, the Jews of Habban did not possess many written texts due to a number of factors such as constant travel of men from their communities as well as the theft of their existing texts. In order to bridge the gap Rabbi Shalom Yitzhaq Maatuf Doh compiled a prayer book based on the traditions from Habban, in addition to the traditions of both Baladi and Shami Yemenite communities as well. He did not live to see the first printing of his siddur, but the work was completed by his sons and his son-in-law Avner Maatuf.Tiklal, Atereth Zqenim - Prayers for the year - Book 1, by Shalom Yitzhaq Maatuf Doh, published by Avner Maatuf, 2007, pp.512, pages 12, 14 and 18
Torah reading and Targum Yemenite Jews and the Aramaic speaking Kurdish Jews 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, yet in Yemenite communities each person called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah reads for himself. In contrast, in Habban, children under the age of Bar Mitzvah were often given either the fifth or the sixth aliyah. Each verse of the Torah read in Hebrew is followed by the Aramaic, and sometimes an additional Arabic translation, usually chanted by a child.Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, Habbani Jewry of Hatzarmavet in the Last Generations, published by the Ma`atuf family under the auspices of the local municipality of Bareqeth and greater municipality of Ben Shemen, 1987, 223pp., pages 37 to 37.
These population shortages could result in marriages outside of traditional family lines. Around the mid-1800s, one Habbani man from the al-Adani clan whose wife had died married a woman from al-Bedhani. The woman allegedly seduced and married a non-Jewish neighbor, and the ensuing backlash resulted in the family moving to Dathina, never to return.Goldberg, 1996 p. 273 Although intermittent persecution did occur, the biggest threat to Habbani Jews during this time was conversion due to assimilation. During the great famine of 1724, 700 Jews voluntarily converted to Islam to receive greater food rations. Despite the lack of forced conversions, Habbani Jews also converted to Islam to improve their social status, to pursue romantic affairs, and when seeking refuge due to internal feuds.Klorman, 2007 p. 94-98
An example of these types of feuds was an inheritance dispute in the 1930s between the daughters of a man with no sons resulted in one line of the lineage migrating to Aden and avoided conversion, and them migrated to the Palestine Mandate.
Passover - Pesach Several weeks before Pesach, Jews in Habban would begin with preparations such as whitewashing the walls of their homes using a stone known in Arabic as a (קטאט) "Qtat" which had been melted in water and would give the color white. Special utensils, such as pots (אלטסות) "Iltsut", kettles (אלדלל) "Ildelal", and serving plates (אלתחון), which were specifically used only on Pesach were brought out and set aside.