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Yemen, Aden and Ethiopia: Jewish Emigration and Italian Colonialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2009

BAT-ZION ERAQI KLORMAN
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Abstract

After Aden came under British rule (1839) its Jewish community was reinforced by Jewish immigrants from inland Yemen and also from other Middle Eastern countries. Some of the Adeni Jews, most of them British subjects, entered the Indian-British commercial network and expanded it to East Africa, mainly to Ethiopia, founding commercial strongholds there. From the late nineteenth century, Jews coming from Yemen joined the existing Adeni settlements.

This paper compares the reasons for the emigration to Ethiopia of Adeni Jews and Yemeni Jews, and their economic and social status under Italian colonial regime (established in Eritrea in the 1880s). It discusses relations between these Jews, which it argues, were determined by the position of each group in the colonial hierarchy, and by the necessity of sustaining religious-communal life. Thus, in spite of their shared Yemeni origin and attendance at the same communal institutions, ethnicity and religion proved weaker than social and economic considerations, and the two groups cultivated a separate identity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 415 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2009

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References

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9 About the members of the Messa dynasty and their leadership, see Ahroni, pp. 46–61; Tobi, Jacob, West of Aden – A Survey of the Aden Jewish Community (Netanya, 1994), pp. 59–74Google Scholar; for the financial leadership and its control over the Adeni Jewish community during the 1920s, see Arusi, op. cit. pp. 127–137.

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13 Gabriel Sion, interview with the author, October 2004. Most of the buildings were later sold to the Adeni Shelemay family who immigrated to Addis Ababa from Aden, together with some other Jewish families, soon after the 1947 riots against the Jewish community of Aden, Shelemay, Kay Kaufman, A Song of Longing: An Ethiopian Journey (Urbana and Chicago, 1994), p. 62Google Scholar. Shoshkes, Haim, Bedarkhei tevel (Tel-Aviv, 1954), p. 176Google Scholar, mentions the Shalemay family as “the rich Yemeni family” in Addis Ababa whose son Shlomo he met during his 1952 visit to Ethiopia.

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18 Cavallarin, Juifs, pp. 8–9; for the history of Asmara, see Pankhurst, Towns, pp. 112–115.

19 Sammy Cohen, interview with the author, October, 2004, based on documents found in the Asmara synagogue; Greenfeld, Itzhak, “The History of the Jews of Aden and Yemen in Eritrea in the First Quarter of the Twentieth Century”, Te'uda, 10 (1996), pp. 309, 311, 313 (Hebrew)Google Scholar.

20 About Shoa Menahem Yosef as a successful businessman and his close relations with the authorities, the Italians, the British and the Ethiopian royal house, see Jacob Tobi, p. 94.

21 Anna Shoa-Hay, Shoa Menahem Joseph's granddaughter, interview with the author, January, 2004; Cavallarin, The Jews in Eritrea (In manuscript, 2003), p. 6.

22 For the Adeni's occupations see Itzhak Greenfeld, “The History of the Jews of Aden”, pp. 309, 311, 313 (Hebrew); Cavallarin, Jews in Eritrea, pp. 13–14.

23 For a survey of Jewish life in Yemen, see Shivtiel, Avihai, Lockwood, Wilfred, Serjeant, R. B., “The Jews of Sanˋa”, in Serjeant, R. B. and Lewcock, Ronald (eds.) Sanˋa': An Arabian Islamic City (London, 1983), pp. 391–431Google Scholar; Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi, “Yemen”, in Simon, R., Laskier, M. M. and Reguer, S. (eds.) The Jews of the Middle East And North Africa In Modern Times (New York, 2003), pp. 389–408Google Scholar.

24 Aharon Aharon, interview with the author, August, 2004.

25 Aharon, interview with the author; Suberi, Yishaq, From Sanˋa' to Zion (Qiryat Ono, 1992), p. 121 (Hebrew)Google Scholar. Regarding Jewish silversmiths who sought work in Eritrea, see Ya'akov, Ephraim, Temana: Introduction to the Land of Al-Hugariyya (Nahariya, 1995), p. 17, note 28 (Hebrew)Google Scholar; and on Yehi'el Haiby of Sanˋa' visiting his relatives who settled in Asmara in the 1930s, see Haiby, Y., Sanˋa' and its Surroundings (Photographs) (Bene Beraq: private publication, 1985), p. 5 (Hebrew)Google Scholar; and on Abraham Salem, who in the late 1930s travelled with his family to Djibouti, then to Somali and from there, in the 1940s, to Dire Dawa in Ethiopia, peddling and working as a shohet (ritual slaughterer) and mohel (circumciser), see [Mali Granit], Ima (Ramat-Gan: private publication, 2004), pp. 6, 14 (Hebrew).

26 For example, upholsterer Salem Ibn Salem of Dhahra used to travel to Asmara via Aden in the 1930s. He worked there and came back to Yemen in the month of Elul for the High Holidays. He would then leave again, return for the festival of Purim and stay until the end of Shavuot (Pentecost). The same routine was taken by Sa'ida Yahya's father, who worked in Asmara as a silversmith a shohet, Sa'ida Yahya, interview with Nehama Mahyut, April, 2003.

27 For example, in 1919, Sulayman ben David Hazi of al-Mahwit fled punishment by the legal authorities in Yemen and reached Massawa, his son Ovadia Hazi, in an interview with the author, August 2004; in the 1930s Yosef Halevi from the ‘Amar district in Yemen fell in love with a Muslim girl. The couple ran away, the girl converted to Judaism and they married. Halevi and his wife were caught, judged and imprisoned. The man later escaped from prison and fled to Asmara where he stayed until he travelled to Palestine, Gamlieli, N. B., Ahavat teman (Tel-Aviv, 1996), pp. 226–227Google Scholar; Hayyim Shar'abi was arrested by the British authorities in Aden for violating immigration regulations and was deported in 1931 with his family to Asmara. See Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi, “Illegal Immigration and the Jews of Yemen”, Miqqedem Umiyyam, 7 (2000), p. 126 (Hebrew)Google Scholar.

28 See Hubara, Yosef, Bitlaot teman vi-yerushalayim (Jerusalem: private publication, 1970), pp. 110–111Google Scholar; also Yehuda Zdoc arrived in Asmara in 1927 and stayed until 1930 with his brother Hayyim, who worked there as a silversmith, and continued to Palestine, interview by the author, with his son Rafi Zadoc, May, 2004.

29 Data was registered by Carlo Alberto Viterbo during his 1936 visit to Ethiopia, see Viterbo, Carlo Alberto, Ebrei di Ethiopia – due diari (1936–1976), (Firenze, 1993), p. 66Google Scholar; Cavallarin, Juifs, p. 10; Greenfeld, The History, p. 309. Between 1934 and 1939, about thirty per cent of the Jewish population of Asmara consisted of newcomers, mostly Italians, who came following the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.

30 Cavallarin, Juifs, p. 11. It seems that these figures do not include Yemeni Jews who stayed there temporarily en route to Palestine.

31 Aschheim, Steven E., Brothers and Strangers: The East European Jew in German Jewish Consciousness, 1800–1923 (Madison, 1982), pp. 3–31Google Scholar; Gartner, Arie, “The Mass Migration of European Jews 1881–1914”, in Shinan, Avigdor (ed.) Migration and Settlement among Jews and Gentiles, (Jerusalem, 1982), p. 354 (Hebrew)Google Scholar.

32 See for example, Barkai, Avraham, “Jewish Immigration waves from Germany 1830–1910”, in Gertner, Arie and Sarna, Jonathan D. (eds.) The Jews of the United States (Jerusalem, 1992), pp. 78–79 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar; Arie Gartner, “The Mass Migration”, pp. 367–368.

33 Pankhurst, Richard, “Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Fascist Occupation (1936–1941)”, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 5, No 3 (1972), pp. 362, 384CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Miran, Jonathan, “Missionaries, Education and the State in the Italian Colony of Eritrea”, in Hansen, Holger Bernt and Twaddle, Michel (eds.) Christian Missionaries & the State in the Third World (Athens, Ohio, 2002), pp. 124–125Google Scholar.

34 Greenfeld, History, pp. 301, 306, 312–313.

35 See Barrera, Giulia, “Patrilinearity, Race, and Identity: The Upbringing of Italo-Eritreans during Italian Colonialis”, in Ben-Ghiat, Ruth and Fuller, Mia (eds.), Italian Colonialism (Houndmills, 2005), pp. 97–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Barrera, Guilia, “Mussolini's colonial race Laws and State-Settler Relations in Africa Orientale (1935—41)”, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 8 (3), pp. 425–443CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Greenfeld, History, p. 312–314.

37 Sammy Cohen, interview with the author; and cf. Cavallarin, Jews in Eritrea, p. 6.

38 They studied in the mission schools run by Catholic Capuchins, see Miran, “Missionaries” pp. 128–129; Anna Shoa-Hay, interview with the author, January, 2004; Zecharia Qesar, interview with the author, May, 2004; Ovadia Hazi, interview with the author, August, 2004; Sammy Cohen, interview with the author, maintains that both the Italian school and the English school were operated by Combiani, a Catholic organisation supported by the Vatican.

39 Hubara, Bitlaot, p. 114.

40 Shlomo Tiv'oni, Kerem Haya li-Yedidi (Tel Aviv, 1978), pp. 44–46; Hubara, Bitlaot, pp. 114, 116; Suberi, From Sanˋaʾ p. 114, 119; Hazi, interview with the author.

41 Menahem Yosef, interview with the author, September 2004; Yosef, Yishaq Suberi's brother, first worked as a silversmith. When he realised that he could not make a decent living he opened a small grocery shop. Subeiri himself (p. 119) learnt the trade of shoemaking and Hubara (p. 118) pursued his profession as a silversmith; Aharon, who was a blacksmith in Yemen, became a carpenter in Ethiopia.

42 Menahem Yosef, interview with the author.

43 Sammy Cohen, interview with the author.

44 Suberi, From Sanˋa' pp. 116, 119; Hazi, interview with the author.

45 Hazi, interview with the author.

46 Hazi, interview with the author; Aharon, interview with the author.

47 Hubara, pp. 120–121.

48 Goldsmid, Dani, “The Establishment of a Jewish School for Boys in Aden, 1912”, Pe'amim, 64 (1995), pp. 111–112 (Hebrew)Google Scholar.

49 For example, Hazi's father took his first steps in Asmara in 1920 as a mori for children, Hazi, interview with the author; Hayyim Suberi who arrived, penniless, in Asmara in 1928 became a mori and taught children until 1933 when his family left for Aden and from there to Palestine, Suberi, p. 116; Qesar's family stayed in Asmara for a year and a half during which Zecharia and his brother Shalom attended the Italian school and in the evenings studied Torah with mori Jamal, a Yemeni silversmith, Qesar, interview with the author. During the 1940s, “Mr. Sholem”, an Adeni Jew, arrived in Asmara and worked as a religious teacher for Adeni children, Menahem Yosef, interview with the author; Meir Shoa, interview with the author, April 2005. During the 1950s a Talmud tora for children's religious education was established next to the synagogue.

50 Suberi, From Sanˋaʾ pp. 120–121.

51 Hubara, Bitlaot pp. 114–115, 120; Hazi, interview with the author.

52 Cavallarin, Jews in Eritrea, p. 12; Anna Shoa-Hay, interview with the author.

53 Suberi, From Sanˋaʾ p. 120.

54 Aharon, interview with the author.

55 Suberi, From Sanˋaʾ p. 120; Hazi, interview with the author; Qesar, interview with the author; Cavallarin, Jews in Eritrea 2003, pp. 11–12.

56 For marriage preferences in the Jewish community of Aden, see Amdur, Michal, The Jewish Community in Aden 1900–1967 (Tel-Aviv: private publication, 1990), pp. 24–32 (Hebrew)Google Scholar; in Asmara, Shoa-Hay, interview with the author; Hazi, interview with the author; Yosef, interview with the author.

57 For example, during the early 1940s, Sa'ida Yahya's husband left her and travelled to Ethiopia. Her efforts to find him failed and she remained deserted and unable to remarry, Sa'ida Yahya, interview with Nehama Mahyut, April, 2003.

58 See Kaplan, Steven, The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia: From Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century, (New York, 1992)Google Scholar; Salamon, Hagar, The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia, (Berkeley, 1999)Google Scholar

59 Aharon, interview with the author.

60 Among them were the Jirafi and Sulayman families, Hazi, interview with the author.

61 Haim Shoshkes Bedarkhei, pp. 193–194.

62 Aharon was later united with his first wife and child and is living in Rishon Le-Zion. He has no contact with his son Sintayo who was born in Ethiopia after he left, Aharon, interview with the author.

63 After a few years in Ethiopia, rabbinic messengers made contact with Yishaq and he released his first wife from her marriage. Ofra Alyagon, “The Captive Rabbi Married the Daughter of the Chief of the Tribe”, Ma'ariv (21 September 1973); Efraim Isaac, Yishaq Yishaq's son, interview with the author, December, 2003.

64 Miran, “Missionaries”, p. 128; and cf. above note 37.

65 Hubara, Bitlaot, p. 120.

66 Bhabha, Homi K., “The White Stuff (Political Aspect of Whiteness)”, Artforum, 36, 9 (1998), pp. 21–24Google Scholar.

67 Fanon, Franz, Peau Noire, Masques Blancs (Paris, 1952), Chapter 1Google Scholar.

68 In the early 1950s, one third of the Jews of Asmara, mostly Yemenis, emigrated to Israel.

69 In 1979 only about twenty Jewish families remained in Asmara while in Addis Ababa their number increased to about one hundred and twenty families, most Adenis and a few Yemenis, “Shomrei ha-gahelt”, Hedim, 4, no. 36 (Kislev, 1979), p. 17.

70 In 1986, six English-speaking Adeni Jewish families (numbering twenty five individuals) lived in Addis Ababa. Almost all of their property was nationalised by the Mengistu regime, Amnon Kapelyuk, ‘Why do you harass the Falashas? – Asked the Jews of Addis Ababa’, Yedioth Ahronot (21 February 1986), p. 7 (Hebrew).

71 In 1991 Ethiopia became a federal republic and Eritrea, which returned to Ethiopian sovereignty in 1952, became an independent country. But the foreign Jewish community was never revived.