The Dardaim,David Sutton, Aleppo: city of scholars, 2005: "The Foundation of Belief: Through this treatise, R' Yaakob dispelled, in no uncertain terms, the confusion which had been created by the corrupt theories of the Dardaim community."Tudor Parfitt, The road to redemption: the Jews of the Yemen, 1900-1950 (1996), page 47: "Qafih was excommunicated by the Rabbis of Jerusalem, the Dardaim were accused by the traditionalists of heresy". Y. Nini, "From Joseph Halevy to the Ikshim and Dardaim dispute in 1914" (Hebrew) in The Jews of Yemen: Studies and ... or Dor Daim (),Charles D. Levy, The Arian Christian Doctrines: The Origins of Christianity (2010) Institute for Metaphysical Studies, page 151: "A similar situation of differing views is seen in modern times among Dor Daim, students of the Maimonides, segments of Lithuanian Jewry, and portions of the Modern Orthodox world toward Jewish communities that are more thoroughly influenced ..." were adherents of the Dor Deah (, 'generation of knowledge'). Dor Deah is an allusion to the Israelites during the Exodus as recounted by the Hebrew Bible.
The movement was formally formed in Yemen by Yiḥyah Qafiḥ in 1912 and had its own network of synagogues and schools.Shalom 'Uzayri, Galei-Or, Tel-Aviv 1974, p. 15 (Hebrew)Louis Jacobs The Jewish religion: a companion (1995) p 226; "... known that the Haskalah literature in Hebrew influenced the far-flung Jewish community of the Yemen. ... The Dardaim rejected the predominance of the Kabbalah and encouraged secular studies, even establishing a modern ..." The movement may have existed long before its 1912 formalization. According to ethnographer and historian Shelomo Dov Goitein, author and historiographer Hayyim Habshush had been a member of the movement before it had been given the name Dor Deah, writing, "He [i.e., Hayyim Habshush] and his friends, partly under European influence, but driven mainly by developments among the Yemenite Jews themselves, formed a group who ardently opposed all those forces of mysticism, superstition and fatalism which were then so prevalent in the country and strove for exact knowledge and independent thought, and the application of both to life."Travels in Yemen (), Hayyim Habshush (ed. Shelomo Dov Goitein), Jerusalem 1941, p. 7 Years later, Qafih became the headmaster of a new Jewish school in Sanaa established by the Ottoman Turks, introducing a curriculum that included arithmetic and basics of Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. Yihya Yitzhak Halevi named Qafiḥ's movement Darad'ah, derived from an Arabic broken plural and based on the Hebrew Dor De'ah.Shalom 'Uzayri, Galei-Or - Historical Chapters, Tel-Aviv 1974, p. 15 (Hebrew)
Its objectives were: To combat the influence of the Zohar and subsequent developments in modern Kabbalah, which were then pervasive in Yemenite Jewish life and which the Dor Daim believed to be irrational and idolatrous. To restore what they believed to be a rational approach to Judaism rooted in authentic textual sources, including the Talmud, Saadia Gaon, and especially Maimonides (also known as Rambam, ). To safeguard Baladi-rite prayer, which they believed to be based on their approach.
In the 21st century, there is no official Dor Dai movement. Still, the term is applied to individuals and synagogues within the Yemenite Jewish community, mostly in Israel, who share the original movement's perspectives. Some groups within and outside the Yemenite community hold a somewhat similar stance, describing themselves as talmide ha-Rambam (, 'students of the Rambam') rather than Dor Daim.
History
Background: Baladi and Shami rituals
Since the early Middle Ages, the Yemenite Jewish community followed the teachings of Maimonides on almost all legal issues, and their prayer book was substantially identical to the text set out in his "Sefer Ahavah". This is attested by the writings of several well known Rabbis such as Nahmanides, Obadiah of Bertinoro, and Yiḥyah Salaḥ. The Yemenite tradition is therefore separate from both the Sephardi and the Ashkenazi streams in Judaism.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the teachings of Kabbalah, especially in the form advocated by Isaac Luria and his school, became increasingly popular in Yemen as in other countries. This did not always mean a change in the liturgy; Luria himself held that it was essential to keep to the form of prayers inherited from one's ancestors to reach the gate in Heaven appropriate to one's tribe. However, many individuals and communities around the world (principally Mizrahi Jews but also Ḥasidim) discarded their ancestral rites in favour of the modified Sephardic rite used by Luria and his immediate circle, on the reasoning that this form of prayer reached a "thirteenth gate" for those who did not know their tribe.
This division would be reflected among the Yemenite Jews. The Shami sub-group adopted a Sephardic-influenced rite, in no small part due to its essentially being forced upon them.Shalom ben Aharon Ha-Kohen Iraqi would go to a different Yemenite synagogue each Shabbath with printed Sefardic siddurim, requesting that they pray נוסח ספרד and forcing it upon them if necessary (Yosef Kapach, Passover Aggadta, p. 11). See also, Baladi-rite prayer. Others retained the Yemenite ancestral liturgy, whether or not they accepted the Zoharic/Lurianic Kabbalah theologically. In the 18th century, to ensure the continued use of the Yemenites' original text, Yiḥyah Salaḥ promoted compromise and introduced a new edition of the Baladi-rite prayer books he created. It substantially followed the traditional Yemenite itual but made some concessions to the Kabbalists, for example, by incorporating the hymn Lekhah Dodi. This new standard became known as Baladi "of the country" (referring to Yemen), in contrast to the adopted Lurianic Sephardic ritual, which was known as Shami"northern," (meaning Palestinian or Damascene). The distinction also affected questions of Jewish law; the Baladi community continued to follow Maimonides almost exclusively, while the Shami community also accepted the Shulchan Aruch.
In the 18th century, Yemen produced an influential Kabbalist in Shalom Sharabi, who headed the Beit El Synagogue in Jerusalem, the elite seclusion centre for developing and praying in the Lurianic system. Over time, Kabbalistic practices became popular among the Yemenite Jews to the point that the Baladi community became localized as a significant population only around the area of Yemen's capital city, Sana'a. Today, as the majority of Yemenite Jewry are outside of Yemen and in closer contact with Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, it could be perceived that the proportion with which the Dor Daim perspective is spreading (though in a different form than the original) is not much different from the rate at which Yemenite Jews as a whole are giving up their unique traditions and assimilating into mainstream Judaism.
Formation of movement
Dor Daim emerged as a recognizable force in the 19th century. The Dor Daim movement was formed by individuals displeased by the influence of Kabbalah, which had been introduced to Yemen in the 17th century. They believed that the core beliefs of Judaism were rapidly diminishing in favor of the mysticism of the Kabbalah. Displeased by the direction that education and the social development of Yemen were taking, they opened their educational system in Yemen. They were also unhappy with the influence that Kabbalists had on various customs and rituals (e.g. the text of the prayer book), in addition to a strong superstitious influence, which they saw as contrary to Maimonides. For example, Yosef Qafeh relates one of many Yemenite customs, "", whereby they would bake plain bread without salt and prepare "the table of appeasement."Judeo-Yemeni Arabic: מידת אלנייה. (Hebrew: שולחן הריצוי.) Compare Isaiah 65:11. Inviting more than 10 children aged seven or eight who waited outside, they set the table, scattering thin-ash upon it; crumbled the plain bread into bits, placing them upon the table holding the ashes; and exited the kitchen stating, to the shedim, "this is your portion."Yemenite-Arabic: הד'א קסמכם. (Hebrew: זה חלקכם.) Shortly thereafter, they would abruptly open their doors, whereupon the children burst in, grabbing the saltless pieces and eating them. Yiḥyah Qafiḥ sharply opposed these minhagim, thinking that, in addition to the stupidity of the matter,Hebrew original: שלדעתו נוסף לטיפשות שבדבר they are Biblically forbidden because they are superstitons ("customs of the Amorites").Halikhoth Teiman (1963), p. 202. See also Guide for the Perplexed, Part III, Chapter 46, footnote 22 in Kapach's edition.
The Dor Daim considered the Kabbalists irrational and felt that they were thereby contributing to a decline in the social and economic status of the Yemenite Jews. These issues led Yiḥyah Qafiḥ to spearhead the Dor Daim movement. Among its goals was the revival and protection of what it saw as the original form of Judaism as codified by the Sanhedrin during the 1st through 3rd centuries.
Some scholars in Yemen and Israel did not receive the movement well. Especially controversial were the views of the Dor Daim on the most popularized book of Kabbalah known as the Zohar. These views are put forth in a book called Milhamoth HaShem (Wars of the Lord).yahadut.org.il which was written by Yiḥyah Qafiḥ A group of Jerusalem rabbis published an attack on Qafiḥ under the title of Emunat Hashem (Faith of the Lord), taking measures to ostracize members of the movement;See עמל ורעות רוח וחרמות ותשובתם by Yiḥyeh Qafeh. notwithstanding, not even the Yemenite rabbis who opposed the dardaim heeded this ostracism. Instead, they intermarried, sat together in batei midrash, and continued to sit with Yiḥyeh Qafeh in beth din.Responsa of Ratzon Arusi (Hebrew): דרדעים
From this time Yemenite Jews may be classified as Shami, mainstream Baladi and Dor Dai or "Rambamist". A term frequently used by Dor Daim for Yemenites who accept the Zohar is Iqq'shim (Hebrew: עקשים), i.e., "obscurantists".
An important later Yemenite authority was Yiḥyah Qafiḥ's grandson, Yosef Qafiḥ, who edited many important works by Maimonides and Saadia Gaon (see his published works) as well as issuing two new editions of the Baladi prayer book.Shivat Tziyon (1950s, 3 vols.); Siah Yerushalayim (1993, 4 vols.). Unlike his grandfather, he avoided expressing any opinion on the Zohar beyond saying that it was preferable to draw one's spiritual sustenance from the works of Maimonides. Therefore, there is some doubt about whether Qafiḥ junior should be regarded as a Dor Dai or a mainstream Baladi. His intention was probably to reconcile the two groups, in the same way as tried to reconcile traditionalists and Kabbalists.
Dor Daim today There is no official Dor Dai organization; thus, they are hard to identify. Many individuals are reluctant to identify themselves by that name for fear of persecution. Some of the original Dor Dai synagogues in Israel survive but have moved nearer to the mainstream Baladi tradition in the same way as Yosef Qafiḥ. Similarly, there is no universally recognized leader for the movement. The successor of Yosef Qafiḥ as leader of the Yemenite community as a whole is generally considered to be Ratzon Arusi of Qiryat Ono.
Today's adherents have great respect for the Yemenite tradition in general. They are not exclusively Yemenite in origin and may describe themselves as "talmide ha-Rambam" (disciples of Maimonides) rather than as "Dor Daim." In 2005, there was a widely publicized gathering of hilltop settlers of Yemenite descent describing themselves as "Dor Daim", but it is unclear how far these represent the historic Dor Dai movement.
Beliefs
Theology