Have You Visited the 'Yemenite Village' in Yerushalayim? Silwan

Have You Visited the 'Yemenite Village' in Yerushalayim? Silwan

Exactly 130 years ago, with the prominent Yemenite aliyah, the Yemenite Village on the  Mount of Olives was founded. Seven years ago the ancient settlement was revived in Maaleh Hazeitim. Avishai Bar Osher draws an amazing profile on the Yemeni village of then and now.

A'aleh B'T'Ma'R

On the southern slope of the Mount of Olives, near the Arab village of Silwan, facing the Shiloah Pool – the village of Silwan was founded. A graduated path leads from Ayn Rogel, on a steep slope. A slot for a mezuzah on one of the doorposts indicates that Jews lived in the house.

The last settlement was started 130 years ago, following the important aliyah from Yemen, known as A'aleh B'T'MaR. The first group of immigrants consisted of 15 families, who came from Yemen on donkeys and camels. Due to hardships and dangerous ways, some of the immigrants turned to India and Egypt and the rest came to Jerusalem, the place of their dreams. The economic situation of the immigrants on the one hand, and the difficulty of finding homes for them in the city on the other hand, resulted in the immigrants living in tents during the summer, and during the winter they dwelled in the caves and ravines in Silwan, in the Kidron Valley. Most of the immigrants made a living by engaging in agriculture.

The Yemenite immigrants did the building work by themselves, and the dedication of the first three houses took place on the fifteenth of Kislev , 5646 (1885) took place, amidst great celebration. That same year another nine houses were built and in 5642 (1881) there sixty-five houses in Silwan. Over time, they continued to build their own houses and built a synagogue, study rooms and a Talmud Torah. In 5668 the village had five synagogues: four of them were according to the Yemeni nusach, and one in Nusach Sfarad.


The Arabs Attack

Life in Silwan was difficult, both because of its distance from the city and because of their Arab neighbors. Residents of Silwan were often attacked on their way to and from the city.

The water was pumped from the spring nearby. The Arabs did everything to prevent them from access to the spring, but they overcame that by digging wells near their homes. The difficult situation was described by Eliezer Ben Yehuda in "Chavatzelet": "Anyone who has not seen the meager brothers and miserable human ones hugging rubbish in the Holy City, had never seen poor and sick, dead crawling on all fours because of their powerlessness and inability to stand on their status."

However, slowly the residents overcame the difficulties. Some learned from the Arabs the quarrying and lime professions, and many of them were employed in silver crafting, embroidery, jewelry and weaving, and women as maids. Over the years, their economic conditions improved, they improved their homes and adorned them with gardens and fruit trees.

Community life in Siloam village was organized under the leadership of Rabbi Yosef Said Madmoni followed by Rabbi Aaron Maleeach. The village fostered a unique atmosphere and community life, but during the First World War, for lack of livelihood and because many men were taken to work the Turkish military camp, some of the settlers left. Despite the abandonment, 153 Jewish residents remained in the village (according to the census in 1922). After conquest by the British, the situation improved and many went back to the village. Then, with the escalation of attacks in Nablus and Chevron by Arabs, relations with their Arab neighbors deteriorated. The Jewish village suffered greatly during this period, but even when rioters surrounded them, and the approach to town was hard after the closing of the Dung Gate, the Jewish villagers refused to completely abandon their village.


Expulsion of the Yemenite Village

The bloody riots of 5689 (1928) forced the residents, who were in great danger, to temporarily abandon their homes and flee to Yerushalayim. One of the notables of the neighboring village of Silwan, gave patronage to the Jews, and nothing bad happened to them. At the conclusion of the pogroms most of the settlers returned to the village, especially the property owners.

The British commanded them to evacuate the village during the 5698 (1937) (pogroms.  They were loaded on to trucks and allotted rooms in the Old City. Thus, with much heartache, on the 15th of Menachem Av, 5698, the olim from Yemen were forcibly evacuated by the British Mandate, thereby ending 53 years of Jewish life in the village of Shiloach.

The Vaad Leumi and Yerushalayim Community protested the evacuation, and informed the governing body that it was temporary.  They were promised that after the riots clam down the settlers will be returned home.

The homes were ransacked, their possessions stolen.  Anything removable was taken from the homes, including doors, windows, flooring, roofing and marble slabs. They were not only out for the loot, but also to destroy anything in sight and wreak havoc and devastation. The iron rafters and arcs above the windows were yanked off. The homes looked as if they were bombed from the air, a visitor in (1942) 5703 (Jewish Calendar) reported.


Renewing our past glory

The refugees waited for the fulfillment of the promise to return them home, but it was not kept. After World War II, community representatives, led by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Chairman of the National Committee, tried to restore the village, but since the outbreak of the War of Independence, Silwan remained Jordanian-controlled territory, and the neighborhood was given to the custodian of the enemy properties. After the Six Day War, the neighborhood was granted to the Administrator General under the rule of law and order management.
In the year 5765 (2004), 67 years after the village was evacuated, the Jewish settlement of Kfar Teimanim on the slopes of Har Hazeitim was reestablished.