Yemenite Jews: Encyclopedia II - Yemenite Jews - Religious traditions

Yemenite Jews - Religious traditions

The Yemenite Jews are the only Jewish community who maintain the tradition of reading the Torah in the synagogue in both Hebrew and the Aramaic Targum (translation). Most synagogoues have a hired or specified person called a Baal Koreh, who reads from the Torah scroll when congregants are called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah. In the Yemenite tradition each person called to the Torah scroll for an aliyah reads for himself. Children under the age of Bar Mitzvah are often given the sixth aliyah. Each line of the Torah read in Hebrew is followed by the Aramaic translation.

The Yemenite Jews practice a special chant when reading from the Torah, a different chant when reading from the Prophets (Haftara), and yet another melody or chant when reading from the Psalms. Likewise is there a special chant for readings from Megillath Aicha (Lamentations), and yet still a different chant for readings from Mishle (Proverbs), and another melody for Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), which latter is read during the Sukkoth holidays. So too, there is a totally different chant taken up by them when reading from the Zohar. Megillath Esther (the Scroll of Esther) which is read on Purim also differs in its reading from all the rest. Only by repetitive hearing of these different melodies, year in and year out, can one become accustomed to their sounds, and automatically associate oneself with the book which is being read. For the mood of the book is characterized by its chant. This tradition finds its source in the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 32.a), which says: "Anyone who reads without a melody, or who recites without a chant, the scripture says of him, 'I have also given unto thee precepts which are not good.' " – cf. Ezek. 20:25

In larger Jewish communities, such as Sana'a and Sad'a, boys were sent to the Ma'lameh at the age of three to begin their religious learning. They attended the Ma'lameh from early dawn to to sunset Sunday through Thursday and until noon on Friday. Women were often illiterate in Yemen, but Jewish women were required to have a thorough knowledge of the laws pertaining to Kashrut and Taharat Mishpachah (family purity) i.e. Niddah. Some women even mastered the laws of Shechita, thereby acting as ritual slaughterers.

What is remarkable about the Yemenite Jewish community is that they made their own ritual objects. In most other Jewish communities the raw materials were usually supplied by others and often other people made objects. In Yemen the Jews did everything from mining materials to carving the finished product.

Like Yemenite Jewish homes, the synagogues in Yemen had to be lower in height then the lowest mosque in the area. The Jews took an extra precaution not to make their synagogues fancy to avoid jealously among the Muslims. In order to accommodate this, synagogues were built into the ground to give them more space without looking large from the outside. People also sat on the floor instead of chairs. They did this so that they could maximize the small space and also because Muslims pray on the floor. Often, minyanim would just meet in homes of Jews instead of the community having a separate building for a synagogue. Beauty and artwork were saved for the ritual objects in the synagogue and in the home.

The most common ritual object for Yemenite Jews, were Shabbat lamps. However Shabbat lamps were not always called this. Before electricity was widely available these lamps were used by all people in Yemen for the purpose of seeing, not for any ritual. Once electricity came into use, Jews still used these lamps on Shabbat. The Shabbat lamps were round shallow cups made of stone with ridges on the side. The cup was filled with oil, and wicks were put in the ridges. They then had a metal handle in the center of the cup for carrying the candle, and it also might have been used to hanging the candle. There is some evidence that these candles might have been used instead of the traditional Shabbat candle sticks that most Jews are used to.

Stone Hanukkah lamps were used during the eight-day festival of Hanukkah. The Hanukkeot (the nine-branched menorah) were the plainest of all Yemenite ritual objects, but they have the greatest historical significance. The Hanukkeot, were made of different types of stone and were usually not decorated. As with all Hanukkeot there were eight holes for the wicks and a hole in a separate place for the shammash. They would then put the menorah on the window sill to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah. The Hanukkeot were probably plain so that the Yemenite Jews could avoid displaying wealth to their Muslim neighbors. Some historians think that the design of the Yemenite Hanukkeot might be the same as the original Hanukkeot used by Jews in ancient Judea.[2]

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