The Yemenite Village in Silwan, Early 20th Century.

The Yemenite Village in Silwan, Early 20th Century.

Another Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem.

What led a group of Jews from Yemen to leave the scorching sun of Sana’a and find themselves on a mountain 700 meters above sea level in Jerusalem, facing a view that, let’s say gently, doesn’t include palm trees or camels?
The answer is clear: longing. Longing for the Temple, to pray in the holy tongue, and for the chance to taste real hummus, not the local version made from legumes that seemed like it was ground in a dark room.

But let’s go back to the beginning.
In 1881, the first Yemenite immigrants arrived in Jerusalem as part of the “Aliyat A’ale Betamar,” precisely at a time when we thought the city had seen it all. Immigrants? We had already seen them. Cultural gaps? Certainly. Yemenites? Well, that was new. They chose Silwan – yes, that tiny neighborhood outside the walls of the Old City on the western slope of the Mount of Olives – as the place where they would build their homes. Why there, of all places? Because if you’re going to leave the center of things, at least pick a view that directly connects you to the Temple Mount.

And what did life there look like? Imagine this: tiny, cramped houses built in three row structures that could barely be called apartments, and a large water cistern dug by the residents. Community life revolved around the fire pit – whether for the tabun, for heating, or for fine social events.

Shabbat was the time when everything came together. The neighborhood filled with Shabbat songs, candles lit on wooden tables, and the scents of hilbeh and schug filled the air, along with hot dough served in various forms.
Five synagogues were built in the neighborhood, as befitting Jews who need one synagogue to go to and another where they would never set foot.

No matter what happened outside the neighborhood – inside was a small, closed world where people lived in simplicity and warmth. Human warmth and the warmth from the tabun, as the immigrants from the hot desert adapted to the Jerusalem winter.

In 1921, the village’s residents and homes were attacked during riots by the Arab mob, and in the 1929 riots, attackers struck the remaining residents, killing and injuring them and looting their property.
A few village residents escaped and were saved thanks to their Arab neighbors who hid them in their homes.

In 1936, as the British ruled the land and the Great Arab Revolt began, the Arabs once again attacked the few remaining village residents. The British authorities refused to protect the residents, and they were expelled from the village, with a written promise from the British governor to allow them to return once peace was restored.

Eventually, peace did return, but the British governor’s written promise melted away, and the Mandate authorities refused to let the residents return to the village.

Following the riots and the expulsion of the Jews, their property was looted by the rioters, and their homes were almost completely destroyed. Shlomo Madmoni, one of the village residents, was even murdered on his way to the village in an attempt to save a Torah scroll. Later, another Torah scroll left at the site was desecrated.

Despite countless appeals to the British Mandate authorities, both from Zionist leadership bodies and from the Yemenites, Sephardim, and the Chief Rabbinate, requesting to be allowed to return or to station a guard at the site, the Mandate authorities refused to keep their promises.

As Jerusalemites know best, history here never ceases to surprise, and the Yemenites, known for their stubbornness, began to return and settle in the area that is now known as the City of David in 1991.
In 2004, 25 families entered the site of the old Yemenite village of Silwan after repurchasing their lands.

Today, about 100 Jewish families live in the area, in the heart of Silwan, where Arab residents have encroached on parts of the Yemenite village’s lands. At the end of August 2021, a shofar-blowing and Selichot (penitential prayers) event took place in the ancient synagogue of the village, which was renovated and redeemed after 83 years since the Yemenite residents were expelled from their homes.

The Yemenite Village is not just a historical story about the return to Zion and the redemption of the land but a symbol of faith, hope, and the connection between people, land, and heritage.

Shabbat Shalom to those near and far from Jerusalem, may the hostages return with peace of mind and body along with all the IDF soldiers and residents evacuated from the north and south back to their homes.