Habbani Jews

The Habbani Jews are a Jewish tribal group from the Habban region in eastern Yemen (in modern Shabwah Governorate).

Ancient and medieval history

There are several legends that place Israelite soldiers settling in Arabia forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple. It is said 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 legend that they are the descendants of Judeans who settled in the area before the destruction of the Second Temple. These Judeans supposedly belonged to a brigade dispatched by King Herod to assist the Roman legions fighting in the region. ["Jewish Communities in Exotic Places"," by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson Inc., 2000, pages 32] . 1907: Includes map of route (p. 2) and commentary.
url=http://www.teachittome.com/seforim2/seforim/masaos_binyomin_mitudela_with_english.pdf] ]

A historical journey to visit far-flung Jewish communities was undertaken by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela from 1165 to 1173 that crossed and tracked some of the areas that are today in the geographic area of Yemen. Tudela (twelfth century) found an independent Jewish warrior tribe living in the district of Tehama in Yemen. [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1793&letter=A] [cite web |publisher= Wikipedia map |title= Map . 1907: Includes map of route (p. 2) and commentary.
url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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] Tudela's trek began as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. [cite book |publisher= University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1998 |title= "Jews, Pilgrimage, and the Christian Cult of Saints: Benjamin of Tudela and His Contemporaries." "After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History", p. 338 |author=Shatzmiller, Joseph] He may have hoped to settle there, but there is controversy about the reasons for his travels. It has been suggested he may have had a commercial motive as well as a religious one. On the other hand, he may have intended to catalogue the Jewish communities on the route to the Holy Land so as to provide a guide to where hospitality may have been found for Jews traveling to the Holy Land. [cite book |publisher= University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1998 |title= "Jews, Pilgrimage, and the Christian Cult of Saints: Benjamin of Tudela and His Contemporaries." "After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History", p. 347 |author=Shatzmiller, Joseph] He took the "long road" stopping frequently, meeting people, visiting places, describing occupations and giving a demographic count of Jews in every town and country.

Modern times

In 1912 Zionist emissary Shmuel Yavnieli came into contact with Habbani Jews who ransomed him when he was captured and robbed by eight Bedouin in southern Yemen. Yavnieli wrote about the Jews of Habban describing them in the following way.

:"The Jews in these parts are held in high esteem by everyone in Yemen and Aden. They are said to be courageous, always with their weapons and wild long hair, and the names of their towns are mentioned by the Jews of Yemen with great admiration." ["The Jews of Habban South Yemen", Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson, Inc, Northvale, New Jersey, Jerusalem, 2000, page 32]

Unlike the Jews of northern Yemen the Habbani Jews wore a Jambiyya or curved knife, Matznaph (turban) and Avne`t (sash). It was also common for sultans in Arabia to use Habbani Jews as soldiers in their armies or as personal guards. ["The Jews of Habban South Yemen", Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson, Inc, Northvale, New Jersey, Jerusalem, 2000, page 33] Habbani Jews sometimes served as mercenaries; Abdullah I of Jordan, who preferred Circassian and other non-Arab bodyguards, had a number of Habbani Jewish guardsmen, including Sayeed Sofer and his brothers Salaah and Saadia.

After 1948 bands of Habbani Jews made their way to Aden, sometimes fighting hostile Arab tribes along the way. From there they were airlifted "en masse" to Israel as part of Operation Flying Carpet. Due to the rising fears and suspicions of the Arabs that the Jews were leaving in order to help the Zionists to fight against the Arabs in Palestine, the Jews needed to leave Habban in secret.

Describing the route followed by most Habbanis who participated in the Israeli airlift, Operation Magic Carpet::"The way [to the airfield] was generally in the direction of IHwar. In IHwar they would stay for some time, collecting food, money, and afterwards continue from there to Sheikh `Uthman and `Aden, to the camp Hashid—and from there they would wait their turn for the airplane to the Land [of Israel] . The problem was getting to camp Hashid, for they [the locals] wouldn’t always allow entry, and not to everyone. Therefore the first emigrants remained a relatively long time in Sheikh `Uthman. And when the pogrom in `Aden happened, they were in danger."

:"Eyewitnesses Gamar bath Hassan `Adeni, Sa`id bin Yusuf and Sa`id bin Musa Mif`i, who were present and participated at the time of the uprising, and presently live in Salame [Kfar Shalem] – Tel Aviv, recount the might of those Habbani Jewish individuals who fought with bravery and strength, and that they killed a great number of Arabs. And with what weapons did they fight? Like axes, pickaxes, knives, and iron bars and wooden bats, and the like.” [ [Ma`atuf, Sa`adia bin Yitzkhaq, [translation:] [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 126 to 127.] ] "

According to Rabbi Yoseph Maghori-Kohen::"The Habbanis were mighty heroes. I heard a lot from elders in my youth about the Habbanis, about their wars, how they would fight ‘according to names’. What does it mean ‘according to names’? –the letters: They would make the shape of the [Hebrew] letters with their hands, and by this they would be victorious. Also the Shar`abim–from the city of Shar`ab–were strong, but not to the same degree as the Habbanis. Once in Yemen there was a wild tribe of murderous Arab warriors that conquered town after town, slaughtering whomever they found. Thus they moved forward from settlement to settlement: killing, destroying–may their names by blotted out–until they approached a city of Jews, 13,000 Jews roughly. Everyone felt hopeless-even the Arabs among them put up their hands, searching for a place to escape. Suddenly ten [Jewish] Habbanis arrived and waged war with them–ten against a thousand–and vanquished all of them. Not even one of those warriors was left alive, and not one of the ten fell. ["A Living Memory of the Bravery & Might of the Habbani Warriors Continues among Baladi Yemenite Jews", Words of Rav Yoseph Maghori-Kohen, Recorded by Rabbi Michael Bar-Ron [http://www.torathmoshe.com/2008/07/a-living-memory-of-the-bravery-might-of-the-habbani-warriors-continues-among-baladi-yemenite-jews/] ] "

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