Yemenite Jews: Encyclopedia II - Yemenite Jews - Religious groups

Yemenite Jews - Religious groups

The three main groups of Yemenite Jews are the Baladi, the Shami and the Maimonideans or "Rambamists" (followers of Maimonides aka "Rambam"), though the Maimonideans are typically considered a type of Baladi Jew. In the early part of the 20th century, a group of Maimonideans called Dor Daim (the generation of Knowledge) became a strong sub-group of the original surviving Maimonideans. Their goal was to bring Yemenite Jews back to the original Maimonidean method of understanding Judaism that existed in pre-1600's Yemen.

The liturgy of most Baladi Jews was developed by a rabbi known as the Maharitz. He attempted to break the deadlock between the followers of Maimonides and the followers of the mystic, Isaac Luria. Before promoters of the Zohar gained influence in Yemen, the Baladi Jews had all been Maimonideans.

Dor Da'im are followers of Maimonides who, for the most part, did not accept the Maharitz's compromise, although most do follow the same basic nusach (prayer text) as codified in their siddur the "Tiklal." They reject the Zohar, a famous book of esoteric Jewish mysticism; in this they are similar to the old-time Spanish Portuguese (Western Sephardi Jews), who are also known to be strict Maimonideans who reject the Zohar.

In terms of liturgy and of interpreting Jewish law Shami Yemenite Jews were strongly influenced by Syrian Sephardi Jews, though on some issues they reject the later European codes of Jewish law, and instead follow the earlier decisions of Maimonides. Unlike the Baladi Jews, they accepted the validity, authenticity and content of the Zohar, and modified the original Yemenite nusach to incorporate changes based on Kabbalah. Kabbalah also influenced their world-view, which, for example, made social progress out of poverty a non-goal.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Religious groups", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki