Habbani Jews

[2] Another tradition, shared with northern Yemenite Jews, states that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Israelites, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen.

[3] 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).

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.

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.

[2] [6] Local Yemenite accounts place the establishment of a substantial Jewish presence in Southern Yemen after the Himyar tribe accepted Judaism, approximately 100 C.E.

[8] The major clans of the Habbani were the al Adani, Doh, Hillel, Maifa'i, Ma'tuf, Shamakh, Bah'quer and D'gurkash.

Their traditional occupations included silversmiths, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and making household utensils, and the men particularly engaged in long-distance trading.

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.

[14] 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.

[9] 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.

The woman allegedly seduced and married a non-Jewish neighbor, and the ensuing backlash resulted in the family moving to Dathina, never to return.

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.

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.

On the day of Shavuot after praying Shachrit and Musaf the Jews of Habban had a special tradition to recite "Azharot" liturgical poems, or versifications, of the 613 commandments in the rabbinical enumeration as found in the Siddur of Saadia Gaon.

[22] In 1912 Zionist emissary Shmuel Yavne'eli came into contact with Habbani Jews who ransomed him when he was captured and robbed by eight Bedouin in southern Yemen.

Describing the route followed by most Habbanis who participated in the Israeli airlift, Operation Magic Carpet: In Israel the Habbanim settled in two moshavim: Kefar Shalem, near Tel Aviv and Bereqet, 3 kilometres (2 mi) from Ben Gurion Airport.

The vast majority of Habbani Jews left Yemen in the Spring of 1950, after Operation Magic Carpet and the riots in Aden had concluded.

The largest impetus for them was that the earlier migrants over the past few years had left Habban with considerable outstanding debts, and the remaining community was concerned about being held responsible.

[27] By September 1950, most Habbani Jews were living at the Ein Shemer Immigration Camp in Israel until permanent housing could be arranged for them.

The men did not sport peyot like other Yemeni Jews, and, rather than covering their heads, wore an oiled thong through their characteristically long hair.

They wore a blue prayer shawl over one shoulder, or walked bare chested, smearing their torsos with sesame oil and indigo.