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142-556: The text of the Torah is also commonly printed and bound in book form for non-ritual functions, called a Chumash (plural Chumashim ; "five-part", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations. The researchers working on the En-Gedi Scroll have concluded that by the fourth century CE, there was no halakhic rule yet prescribing that scrolls used for liturgical purposes must contain

284-599: A BBC broadcast defended a claim that Yûsuf 'As'ar offered villagers the choice between conversion to Judaism or death and then massacred 20,000 Christians. The program's producers stated that, "The production team spoke to many historians over 18 months, among them Nigel Groom , who was our consultant, and Professor Abdul Rahman Al-Ansary [former professor of archaeology at the King Saud University in Riyadh ]." Inscriptions attributed to Yûsuf 'As'ar himself show

426-412: A calf . This is also called full-bound or, simply, leather bound. Library binding refers to the hardcover binding of books intended for the rigors of library use and are largely serials and paperback publications. Though many publishers have started to provide "library binding" editions, many libraries elect to purchase paperbacks and have them rebound in hard covers for longer life. There are

568-490: A codex (pl. codices)—from the Latin word caudex , meaning "the trunk" of a tree, around the first century AD. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentaptych and octoptych, excavated at Herculaneum employed a unique connecting system that presages later sewing on thongs or cords. At the turn of the first century, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin, became commonly used for writing throughout

710-583: A "savage pogrom that the Jewish king of the Arabs launched against the Christians in the city of Najran. The king himself reported in excruciating detail to his Arab and Persian allies about the massacres he had inflicted on all Christians who refused to convert to Judaism." There were also reports of massacres and destruction of places of worship by Christians, too. Francis Edward Peters wrote that while there

852-454: A 16th-century manuscript. Bookbinders may bind several copies of the same text, giving each copy a unique appearance. Hand bookbinders use a variety of specialized hand tools, the most emblematic of which is the bonefolder , a flat, tapered, polished piece of bone used to crease paper and apply pressure. Additional tools common to hand bookbinding include a variety of knives and hammers, as well as brass tools used during finishing (as seen in

994-462: A Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by youth, a Jew was not allowed to fight them. In such situations, he had the option of fleeing or seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby. Ottoman rule ended in 1630, when

1136-642: A Pentateuchal book ever found in a Holy Ark . The deciphered text fragment is identical to what was to become during the Middle Ages the standard text of the Hebrew Bible , the Masoretic Text , which it precedes by several centuries; it thus constitutes the earliest evidence of this authoritative text version. The scroll is badly charred and fragmented and required noninvasive scientific techniques to virtually unwrap and read. Torah reading from

1278-440: A Torah scroll during his lifetime." It is considered a tremendous merit to write (or commission the writing of) a Torah scroll, and a significant honour to have a Torah scroll written in one's honour or memory. In modern times, it is usual for some scholars to become soferim and to be paid to complete a Torah scroll under contract on behalf of a community or by individuals to mark a special occasion or commemoration. Because of

1420-406: A Torah scroll or Sefer Torah is traditionally reserved for Monday and Thursday mornings, as well as for Shabbat , fast days, and Jewish holidays . The presence of a quorum of ten Jewish adults ( minyan ) is required for the reading of the Torah to be held in public during the course of the worship services. As the Torah is sung , following the often dense text is aided by a yad ("hand"),

1562-421: A Torah scroll: gevil and klaf . The ink used is subject to specific rules. The ink has to adhere to a surface that is rolled and unrolled, so special inks were developed. Even so, ink would slowly flake off and if the ink from too many letters is lost, a Torah scroll is no longer used. After the preparation of the parchment sheet, the scribe must mark out the parchment using the sargel ("ruler") ensuring

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1704-445: A beautiful work of art and a useless stack of paper and leather. The sections are then hand-sewn in the style of its period, back into book form, or the original sewing is strengthened with new lining on the text-spine. New hinges must be accounted for in either case both with text-spine lining and some sort of end-sheet restoration. The next step is the restoration of the book cover. This can be as complicated as completely re-creating

1846-422: A book. For instances, these design and cut pages, assemble pages into paper sheets, et cetera. The trade of bookbinding is both a craft done out of creativity and passion and a process happening in a factory. But each type of bookbinding always resolves three problems in making a book: (i) how to bind the paper sheets into a book block; (ii) how to cover and protect the bound pages; and (iii) how to label and decorate

1988-494: A century. Until the mid-20th century, covers of mass-produced books were laid with bookcloth, but from that period onward, most publishers adopted clothette, a kind of textured paper which vaguely resembles cloth but is easily differentiated on close inspection. Most cloth-bound books are now half-and-half covers with cloth covering only the spine. In that case, the cover has a paper overlap. The covers of modern hardback books are made of thick cardboard. Some books that appeared in

2130-679: A course of treatment must be chosen that takes into account the book's value, whether it comes from the binding, the text, the provenance , or some combination of the three. Many people choose to rebind books, from amateurs who restore old paperbacks on internet instructions to many professional book and paper conservators and restorationists, who often in the United States are members of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). Many times, books that need to be restored are hundreds of years old, and

2272-719: A fair number of the ivory panels have survived, as they were hard to recycle; the divided panels from the Codex Aureus of Lorsch are among the most notable. The 8th century Vienna Coronation Gospels were given a new gold relief cover in about 1500, and the Lindau Gospels (now Morgan Library , New York) have their original cover from around 800. Luxury medieval books for the library had leather covers decorated, often all over, with tooling (incised lines or patterns), blind stamps , and often small metal pieces of furniture. Medieval stamps showed animals and figures as well as

2414-516: A given page, one generally has to unroll and re-roll many other pages. In addition to the scroll, wax tablets were commonly used in Antiquity as a writing surface. Diptychs and later polyptych formats were often hinged together along one edge, analogous to the spine of modern books, as well as a folding concertina format. Such a set of simple wooden boards sewn together was called by the Romans

2556-455: A half years. An error during transcription may render the Torah scroll pasul ("invalid"). According to the Talmud , all scrolls must be written on gevil parchment that is treated with salt, flour and m'afatsim (a residue of wasp enzyme and tree bark) in order to be valid. Scrolls not processed in this way are considered invalid. There are only two types of kosher parchment allowed for

2698-553: A heavy fee. In the early 18th-century, many Jews in Yemen were employed in some of the most degrading and menial tasks, on behalf of the Arab population, such as cleaning the cess pools and latrines. At the beginning of the nineteenth-century, Yemenite Jews lived principally in Sana'a (7,000-plus), with the largest Jewish population and twenty-eight synagogues, followed by Rada'a , with

2840-511: A late-9th-century document, the first Zaydi imam al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya had imposed limitations and a special tax on land held by Jews and Christians of Najran . In the mid-11th century, Jews from several communities in the Yemen highlands, including Sanaʿa, appear to have been attracted to the Sulayhids ' capital of Dhu Jibla . The city was founded by Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Sulaihi in

2982-420: A major disadvantage: in order to read text at the end of the scroll, the entire scroll must be unwound. This is partially overcome in the second method, which is to wrap the scroll around two cores, as in a Torah. With a double scroll, the text can be accessed from both beginning and end, and the portions of the scroll not being read can remain wound. This still leaves the scroll a sequential-access medium: to reach

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3124-510: A metal or wooden hand-shaped pointer that protects the scrolls by avoiding unnecessary contact of the skin with the parchment. All Jewish prayers start with a blessing ( berakhah ), thanking God for revealing the Law to the Jews ( Matan Torah ), before Torah reading and all days during the first blessings of the morning prayer ( Shacharit ). According to halakha (Jewish law), a Torah scroll

3266-591: A military campaign northwards and fought the Jews of Yathrib . When Abu Karib fell ill, two local Jewish scholars named Kaab and Assad took the opportunity to travel to his camp, where they treated him and persuaded him to lift the siege. The scholars also inspired in the king an interest in Judaism, and he converted in 390, persuading his army to do likewise. With this, the Himyarite kingdom, "the dominant power on

3408-529: A new work, modern binders may wish to select a book that has already been printed and create what is known as a 'design binding'. "In a typical design binding, the binder selects an already printed book, disassembles it, and rebinds it in a style of fine binding—rounded and backed spine, laced-in boards, sewn headbands, decorative end sheets, leather cover etc." Conservation and restoration are practices intended to repair damage to an existing book. While they share methods, their goals differ. The goal of conservation

3550-411: A number of methods used to bind hardcover books. Those still in use include: Different types of the punch and bind binding include: Some of the different types of thermally activated binding include: Modern bookbinding by hand can be seen as two closely allied fields: the creation of new bindings, and the repair of existing bindings. Bookbinders are often active in both fields. Bookbinders can learn

3692-793: A peace with Abraha, where Abraha acknowledged the Axumite king's authority and paid tribute. Stuart Munro-Hay opines that by this expedition Axum overextended itself, and this final intervention across the Red Sea , "was Aksum's swan-song as a great power in the region." There are numerous accounts and traditions concerning the arrival of Jews in various regions in Southern Arabia. One tradition suggests that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold and silver with which to adorn his Temple in Jerusalem . In 1881,

3834-424: A period binding to match the original using whatever is appropriate for that time it was originally created. Sometimes this means a new full leather binding with vegetable tanned leather, dyed with natural dyes , and hand-marbled papers may be used for the sides or end-sheets. Finally, the cover is hand-tooled in gold leaf. The design of the book cover involves such hand-tooling, where an extremely thin layer of gold

3976-632: A prominent centre of the German book-trade, in 1739 had 20 bookshops, 15 printing establishments, 22 book-binders and three type-foundries in a population of 28,000 people. In the German book-distribution system of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the end-user buyers of books "generally made separate arrangements with either the publisher or a bookbinder to have printed sheets bound according to their wishes and their budget". The reduced cost of books facilitated cheap lightweight Bibles, made from tissue-thin oxford paper, with floppy covers, that resembled

4118-641: A result of this local tradition, which cannot be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are used. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a poor people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of some Yemenites, as Yemen is extremely poor. However, some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story as myth, if not outright blasphemy. Because of Yemenite Jewry's cultural affiliation with Babylon , historian Yehuda Ratzaby opines that

4260-405: A series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers along an edge with a thick needle and strong thread. One can also use loose-leaf rings, binding posts, twin-loop spine coils, plastic spiral coils, and plastic spine combs, but they last for a shorter time. Next, one encloses the bound stack of paper in a cover. Finally, one places an attractive cover onto the boards, and features

4402-404: A village near Sana'a were shut down. 'Iraqi was released two weeks before his arrival. Jewish sources attribute this to a regime change. The Imam Al-Mahdi Abbas was extremely religious and his ideological affinity with the clerics created an atmosphere of extreme repression. He however resisted their pressure on him to expel the Jews. The synagogues were reopened by Ali al-Mansur after payment of

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4544-511: A wide range of trades normally avoided by Zaydi Muslims. Trades such as silver-smithing, blacksmiths, repairing weapons and tools, weaving, pottery, masonry, carpentry, shoemaking, and tailoring were occupations that were exclusively taken by Jews. The division of labor created a sort of covenant, based on mutual economic and social dependency, between the Zaydi Muslim population and the Jews of Yemen. The Muslims produced and supplied food, and

4686-558: Is a copy of the Hebrew text of the Torah handwritten on special types of parchment by using a quill or another permitted writing utensil, dipped in ink. Producing a Torah scroll fulfills one of the 613 commandments . Written entirely in Biblical Hebrew , a Torah scroll contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained scribe, or sofer , an effort which may take as long as approximately one and

4828-579: Is applied to the cover. Such designs can be lettering, symbols, or floral designs, depending on the nature of any particular project. Sometimes the restoration of the cover is a matter of surgically strengthening the original cover by lifting the original materials and applying new materials for strength. This is perhaps a more common method for covers made with book-cloth although leather books can be approached this way as well. Materials such as Japanese tissues of various weights may be used. Colors may be matched using acrylic paints or simple colored pencils. It

4970-570: Is done in a ceremony known as hachnosas sefer Torah , or "ushering in a Torah scroll"; this is accompanied by celebratory dancing, singing, and a festive meal. This practice has its source in the escorting of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem , led by King David . As described in the Books of Samuel , this event was marked by dancing and the playing of musical instruments ( 2 Samuel 6:14–15 ). Both

5112-698: Is found in the colophon of a Jewish manuscript from Yemen in 1505, when the last Tahirid Sultan took Sana'a from the Zaydis. The document describes one kingdom as exploitive and the other as repressive. The Jewish communities experienced a messianic episode with the rise of another Messiah claimant in Bayhan District , mentioned by Hayim bin Yahya Habhush in History of the Jews in Yemen written in 1893 and Ba'faqia al-Shihri's Chronicle written in

5254-518: Is generally credited with having introduced cotton-based book cloth to wholesale bookbinding, which was of great importance to the economy and global expansion of book sales in the 19th century. The new material was much longer lasting than paper "boards" and significantly cheaper than the more elegant leather bindings. As the century progressed, fine quality mass produced covers emerged, often with bright colours and textures, introduced by Archibald Winterbottom & Sons , which dominated bookbinding for

5396-548: Is murky. Greek and Ethiopian accounts, portray him as a Jewish zealot. Some scholars suggest that he was a converted Jew. Church of the East accounts claim that his mother was a Jew taken captive from Nisibis and bought by a king in Yemen, whose ancestors had formerly converted to Judaism. Syriac and Byzantine sources maintain that Yûsuf 'As'ar sought to convert other Yemeni Christians, but they refused to renounce Christianity. The actual picture, however, remains unclear. In 2009

5538-440: Is no doubt that this was a religious persecution, it is equally clear that a political struggle was going on as well. According to 'Irfan Shahid's Martyrs of Najran – New Documents , Dhu-Nuwas sent an army of some 120,000 soldiers to lay siege to the city of Najran , which lasted for six months, with the city finally taken and burnt on the 15th day of the seventh month (i.e. the lunar month Tishri ). The city had revolted against

5680-536: Is often a major possession of a Jewish community. A chumash contains the Torah and other writings, usually organised for liturgical use, and sometimes accompanied by some of the main classic commentaries. While not in use, a Torah scroll ( Sefer Torah ) is housed in the Torah ark ( Aron Kodesh or Hekhal ), which in its turn is usually veiled by an embroidered parochet (curtain), as it should be according to Exodus 26:31–34 . The gold and silver ornaments belonging to

5822-472: Is reported that by the month Dhu-Madra'an (between July and September) there were "1000 killed, 1500 prisoners [taken] and 10,000 head of cattle." There are two dates mentioned in the "letter of Simeon of Beit Aršam." One date indicates the letter was written in Tammuz in the year 830 of Alexander (518/519 CE), from the camp of GBALA (Jebala), king of the 'SNYA (Ghassanids or the Ġassān clan). In it, he tells of

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5964-464: Is stitched in the spine. Looking from the top of the spine, the book can be seen to consist of a number of signatures bound together. When the book is opened in the middle of a signature, the binding threads are visible. Signatures of hardcover books are typically octavo (a single sheet folded three times), though they may also be folio, quarto, or 16mo (see Book size ). Unusually large and heavy books are sometimes bound with wire. Archibald Leighton

6106-422: Is to slow the book's decay and restore it to a usable state while altering its physical properties as little as possible. Conservation methods have been developed in the course of taking care of large collections of books. The term archival comes from taking care of the institution's archive of books. The goal of restoration is to return the book to a previous state as envisioned by the restorer, often imagined as

6248-408: Is usually harder to restore leather books because of the fragility of the materials. In U.S. publishing the terms are: Regardless of whether a book is bound with a hardcover or bound with a paperback cover, the binding of the signatures determines the durability of the book-as-artefact. In the case of perfect binding , the pages are aligned, cut, and glued with a strong and flexible layer that holds

6390-476: The zakat which must be paid by Muslims once their residual wealth reaches a certain threshold. Active persecution of Jews did not gain full force until a Zaydi clan seized power from the more tolerant Sunni Muslims , early in the 10th century. The legal status of Jews in Yemen started to deteriorate around the time the Tahirids took Sana'a from Zaidis, mainly because of new discrimination established by

6532-642: The 1948 Palestine War and it was planned by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee . The plan was for the Jews from all over Yemen to make their way to the Aden area. Specifically, the Jews were to arrive in Hashed Camp and live there until they could be airlifted to Israel. Hashed was an old British military camp in the desert, about a mile away from the city of Sheikh Othman . The operation took longer than

6674-476: The Hebrew language the best". Yemenite Jews are considered Mizrahi or "Eastern" Jews, though they differ from other Mizrahis, who have undergone a process of total or partial assimilation to Sephardic law and customs . While the Shami sub-group of Yemenite Jews did adopt a Sephardic-influenced rite, this was mostly due to it being forced upon them, and did not reflect a demographic or general cultural shift among

6816-650: The Roman Empire . This term was used by the Roman poet Martial . Martial used the term with reference to gifts of literature exchanged by Romans during the festival of Saturnalia . According to T. C. Skeat, "in at least three cases and probably in all, in the form of codices" and he theorized that this form of notebook was invented in Rome and then "must have spread rapidly to the Near East". In his discussion of one of

6958-679: The Spanish and Portuguese Jews (with the exception of the Hamburg tradition), and the Judaeo-Spanish communities of the Ottoman Empire — also use tikim, though this is not always the case. The installation of a new Torah scroll into a synagogue, or into the sanctuary or study hall ( beth midrash ) of a religious school ( yeshiva ), rabbinical college, university campus, nursing home, military base, or other institution,

7100-555: The Western Han period (202 BC – 9 AD), the Eastern-Han Chinese court eunuch Cai Lun ( c.  50 – 121 AD) introduced the first significant improvement and standardization of papermaking by adding essential new materials into its composition. Bookbinding in medieval China replaced traditional Chinese writing supports such as bamboo and wooden slips , as well as silk and paper scrolls. The evolution of

7242-440: The library binding fine binding, edition binding and publisher's bindings. Bookbinding is a skilled trade that requires measuring, cutting, and gluing. A finished book requires many steps to complete. This is usually determined by the materials needed and the layout of the book. Bookbinding combines skills from the trades of paper making , textile and leather-working crafts, model making, and graphic design in order to create

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7384-541: The 16th century. The messiah was acknowledged as a political figure and gathered many people around him into what seemed to be an organized military force. The Tahirid Sultan Amir ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab attacked the messiah, killing many Jews and crushing the movement. He saw it as a violation of the protection agreement and liquidated the Jewish settlement in Hadhramaut as collective punishment. Presumably some of them were killed, many converted to Islam or migrated to Aden and

7526-500: The 613 commandments, one – the 82nd as enumerated by Rashi , and the final as it occurs in the text the Book of Deuteronomy ( Deuteronomy 31:19 ) – is that every Jewish male should write a Torah scroll in his lifetime. This is law number 613 of 613 in the list of Laws of the Torah as recorded by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin in his book "Biblical Literacy", 1st edition, New York: Morrow 1997, p. 592: "The commandment that each Jew should write

7668-600: The Arabian peninsula", was converted to Judaism. In Yemen, several inscriptions dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries CE have been found in Hebrew and Sabaean praising the ruling house in Jewish terms for "helping and empowering the People of Israel ". By 516 AD, tribal unrest broke out, and several tribal elites fought for power. One of those elites was Joseph Dhu Nuwas or "Yûsuf 'As'ar Yaṯ'ar" as mentioned in ancient south Arabian inscriptions. The actual story of Joseph

7810-614: The Asir of Saudi Arabia (Bi'r Ḥimâ), photographed by J. Ryckmans in Ry 507, 8 ~ 9, and by A. Jamme in Ja 1028, which give the old Sabaean year 633 for these operations (said to correspond with 523 CE). Procopius, John of Ephesus , and other contemporary historians recount Kaleb's invasion of Yemen around 520, against the Himyarite king Yūsuf As'ar Yath'ar, known as Dhu Nuwas , a Jewish convert who

7952-577: The European printing press that replaced traditional Chinese printing methods ). The initial phase of this evolution, the accordion-folded palm-leaf-style book, most likely came from India and was introduced to China via Buddhist missionaries and scriptures . With the arrival (from the East) of rag paper manufacturing in Europe in the late Middle Ages and the use of the printing press beginning in

8094-745: The French vice consulate in Yemen wrote to the leaders of the Alliance (the Alliance Israelite Universelle ) in France, that he read in a book by the Arab historian Abu-Alfada that the Jews of Yemen settled in the area in 1451 BCE. Another legend says that Yemeni tribes converted to Judaism after the Queen of Sheba 's visit to King Solomon. The Sanaite Jews have a tradition that their ancestors settled in Yemen 42 years before

8236-520: The Hebrew text of the Tanakh , and the Torah in particular, is considered paramount, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon for formal service use, and transcribing is done with painstaking care. Some errors are inevitable in the course of production. If the error involves a word other than the names of God the mistaken letter may be obliterated from the scroll by scraping

8378-413: The Himyarite monotheism was influenced by Judaism or Christianity. Jews became especially numerous and powerful in the southern part of Arabia, a rich and fertile land of incense and spices and a way station on the incense trade route and the trade routes to Africa, India, and East Asia. The Yemeni tribes did not oppose the Jewish presence in their country. In 390 CE, the Himyarite king Abu Karib led

8520-574: The Islamic world. They also developed ties with and funded Jewish centers in Iraq , Palestine , and Egypt . Due to the trade, Jews also emigrated to Aden for mercantile and personal reasons. Yemenite Jews experienced violent persecution at times. In the late 1160s, the Yemenite ruler 'Abd-al-Nabī ibn Mahdi gave Jews a choice of conversion to Islam or martyrdom . Mahdi also imposed his beliefs upon

8662-560: The Jews of Yemen dissented with Maimonides' rulings in more than 50 places, ten of which places are named explicitly by Yosef Qafih . The Zaydi enforced a statute known as the Orphan's Decree , anchored in their own 18th-century legal interpretations and enforced at the end of that century. It obligated the Zaydi state to take under its protection and to educate in Islamic ways any dhimmi (i.e. non-Muslim) child whose parents had died when he

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8804-509: The Jews of Yemen migrated to Yemen from places in Babylonia. According to local legends, the kingdom's aristocracy converted to Judaism in the 6th century CE. As People of the Book , Jews were assured freedom of religion in exchange for payment of the jizya or poll tax, which was imposed on non-Muslim monotheists. Feudal overlords imposed this annual tax upon Jews, which, under Islamic law,

8946-457: The Jews of Yemen with great admiration. During this period messianic expectations were very intense among the Jews of Yemen (and among many Arabs as well). The three pseudo-messiahs of this period, and their years of activity, are: According to the Jewish traveler Jacob Saphir , the majority of Yemenite Jews during his visit of 1862 entertained a belief in the messianic proclamations of Shukr Kuhayl I . Earlier Yemenite messiah claimants included

9088-580: The Jews supplied all manufactured products and services that the Yemeni farmers needed. The Jewish community headed by Shalom 'Iraqi recovered from this affair and the position of 'Iraqi strengthened under Imam Al-Mansur . The community flourished under him because of the part it played in trade with India through Mocha . The German researcher Carsten Niebuhr who visited Yemen in 1763, reports that two years before he arrived, Shalom 'Iraqi had been imprisoned and fined while twelve out of fourteen synagogues in

9230-503: The Muslim rulers. Such laws were not included in Zaidi legal writings till comparatively late with Kitab al-Azhar of al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya in the first half of the 15th century. This also led to deterioration of the economic and social situation of Jews. Jewish intellectuals wrote in both Hebrew and Arabic and engaged in the same literary endeavours as the Muslim majority. According to

9372-521: The Muslims besides the Jews. This led to a revival of Jewish messianism, but also led to mass-conversion. While a popular local Yemenite Jewish preacher called on Jews to choose martyrdom, Maimonides sent what is known as the Epistle to Yemen requesting that they remain faithful to their religion, but if at all possible, not to cast affronts before their antagonists. The persecution ended in 1173 with

9514-450: The San'a area, and coffee merchants in the south central highland areas. In 1912, Zionist emissary Shmuel Yavne'eli came into contact with Habbani Jews , 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

9656-404: The Torah scroll is a cause for great celebration, and honoured guests of the individual who commissioned the Torah are invited to a celebration wherein each of the honored guests is given the opportunity to write one of the final letters. It is a great honour to be chosen for this. It is a religious duty or mitzvah for every Jewish male to either write or have written for him a Torah scroll. Of

9798-655: The Yemenite community would pay the prescribed tax to the public coffers; yet, they were not being allotted an equal share or subsidy as had been given to the Sephardic Jews. By 1910, the Yemenites had broken away from the Sephardic seminaries. Before World War I , there was another wave that began in 1906 and continued until 1914. Hundreds of Yemenite Jews made their way to the Holy Land, and chose to settle in

9940-712: The Zaydis took over Yemen. Jews were once again persecuted. In 1679, under the rule of Al-Mahdi Ahmad , Jews were expelled en masse from all parts of Yemen to the distant province of Mawza , in what was known as the Mawza Exile , when many Jews died of starvation and disease as a consequence. As many as two-thirds of the exiled Jews did not survive. Their houses and property were seized, and many synagogues were destroyed or converted into mosques. The Jewish community recovered partly because of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi , also called "Sahib al-Mawahib", who protected them and allowed them to return to their previous status. He rejected

10082-404: The adjacent mainland of Yemen. It seems, however, that the liquidation was not immediate. Jews of the place are recorded by 1527, but not by the 1660s. After the 15th century, Jewish communities only existed in the Hadhramaut 's western periphery. The oppression at the hands of pious Muslim rulers and endangerment of the community because of the plots of a few Jewish messianists are common themes in

10224-443: The age of 12 were orphaned, they were to be forcibly converted to Islam , their connections to their families and communities were to be severed, and they had to be handed over to Muslim foster families. The rule was based on the law that the prophet Muhammad is "the father of the orphans", and on the fact that the Jews in Yemen were considered "under protection", and the ruler was obligated to care for them. The Jews tried to prevent

10366-539: The agricultural settlements. It was after these movements that the World Zionist Organization sent Shmuel Yavne'eli to Yemen to encourage Jews to emigrate to Palestine. Yavne'eli reached Yemen at the beginning of 1911, and returned in April 1912. Due to Yavne'eli's efforts, about 1,000 Jews left central and southern Yemen, with several hundred more arriving before 1914. The purpose of this immigration

10508-451: The anonymous 12th-century messiah who was the subject of Maimonides's famous Iggeret Teman , or Epistle to Yemen , the messiah of Bayhan (c. 1495), and Suleiman Jamal (c. 1667), in what Lenowitz regards as a unified messiah history spanning 600 years. In 1922, the government of Yemen, under Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din , re-introduced an ancient Islamic law entitled the "orphans decree". The law dictated that if Jewish boys or girls under

10650-470: The beechwood on which early written works were recorded. The book was not needed in ancient times, as many early Greek texts—scrolls—were 30 pages long, which were customarily folded accordion-fashion to fit into the hand. Roman works were often longer, running to hundreds of pages. The Ancient Greek word for book was tome , meaning "to cut". The Egyptian Book of the Dead was a massive 200 pages long and

10792-550: The book covers that protect the pages. Writers in the Hellenistic-Roman culture wrote longer texts as scrolls ; these were stored in boxes or shelving with small cubbyholes, similar to a modern wine rack. Court records and notes were written on wax tablets , while important documents were written on papyrus or parchment . The modern English word "book" comes from the Proto-Germanic *bokiz , referring to

10934-422: The book together. In a paperback book, the visible portion of the spine is part of the flexible layer. In China (only areas using Traditional Chinese), Japan, and Taiwan, literary books are written top-to-bottom, right-to-left, and thus are bound on the right, while textbooks are written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and thus are bound on the left. In mainland China the direction of writing and binding for all books

11076-479: The books were mostly written on papyrus , and while many are single- quire , a few are multi-quire. Codices were a significant improvement over papyrus or vellum scrolls in that they were easier to handle. However, despite allowing writing on both sides of the leaves, they were still foliated—numbered on the leaves, like the Indian books. The idea spread quickly through the early churches, and the word "Bible" comes from

11218-621: The codex in China began with folded-leaf pamphlets in the 9th century AD, during the late Tang dynasty (618–907), improved by the 'butterfly' bindings of the Song dynasty (960–1279), the wrapped back binding of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the stitched binding of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1644–1912), and finally the adoption of Western-style bookbinding in the 20th century (coupled with

11360-589: The conversion of orphans in two main ways, which were by marrying them so the authorities would consider them as adults, or by smuggling them out of the country. A prominent example is Abdul Rahman al-Iryani , the former president of the Yemen Arab Republic , who was alleged to be of Jewish descent by Dorit Mizrahi, a writer in the Israeli ultra-Orthodox weekly Mishpaha , who claimed he was her maternal uncle. According to her recollection of events, he

11502-705: The country's Jewish population emigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet . After several waves of persecution , the vast majority of Yemenite Jews now live in Israel , while smaller communities live in the United States and elsewhere. As of 2024, only five Jews remained in Yemen, with one of them being Levi Marhabi . Yemenite Jews observe a unique religious tradition that distinguishes them from Ashkenazi Jews , Sephardic Jews , and other Jewish groups . They have been described as "the most Jewish of all Jews" and "the ones who have preserved

11644-410: The covers and, if necessary, the stitching removed. This is done as delicately as possible. All page restoration is done at this point, be it the removal of foxing , ink stains, page tears, etc. Various techniques are employed to repair the various types of page damage that might have occurred during the life of the book. The preparation of the "foundations" of the book could mean the difference between

11786-496: The craft through apprenticeship ; by attending specialized trade schools; by taking classes in the course of university studies, or by a combination of those methods. Some European countries offer a Master Bookbinder certification, though no such certification exists in the United States. MFA programs that specialize in the 'Book Arts' (hand papermaking, printmaking and bookbinding) are available through certain colleges and universities. Hand bookbinders create new bindings that run

11928-585: The defeat of ibn Mahdi and conquest of Yemen by Turan-Shah , the brother of Saladin , and they were allowed to return to their faith. According to two Genizah documents, the Ayyubid ruler of Yemen al-Malik al-Mu'izz al-Ismail (reigned 1197–1202) attempted to force the Jews of Aden to convert. The second document details the relief of the Jewish community after his murder and those who had been forced to convert reverted to Judaism. The rule of Shafi'i Rasulids which lasted from 1229 to 1474 brought stability to

12070-515: The destruction of the First Temple . It is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites , traveled to Yemen. Another legend states that when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, whereupon he pronounced a ban upon them. According to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action, Ezra was denied burial in Israel . As

12212-510: The donor's parents or other loved ones, and decorated with gold or silver. In the Mizrachi and Romaniote traditions , the Torah scroll is generally not robed in a mantle, but rather housed in an ornamental wooden case which protects the scroll, called a "tik", plural tikim . Some Sephardic communities — those communities associated with the Spanish diaspora, such as Moroccan Jews ,

12354-519: The earliest pagan parchment codices to survive from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, Eric Turner seems to challenge Skeat's notion when stating "its mere existence is evidence that this book form had a prehistory" and that "early experiments with this book form may well have taken place outside of Egypt". Early intact codices were discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Consisting of primarily Gnostic texts in Coptic,

12496-570: The early Arabic Qurans , enabling missionaries to take portable books with them around the world, and modern wood glues enabled the addition of paperback covers to simple glue bindings. The history of book-binding methods features: For several hundred years, Bernard Middleton reminds us, most newly published books were sold with customised or temporary bindings. There are various commercial techniques in use today. Today, most commercially produced books belong to one of four categories: A hardcover , hardbound or hardback book has rigid covers and

12638-440: The entire Pentateuch. As of 2018, no other statements regarding when this rule came into being could be made with any degree of certainty. It must be noted that, while the physically determined date for the scroll points to the 3rd or 4th centuries, its text has been palaeographically dated by Ada Yardeni to the first century CE or the early second at the latest, a discrepancy not uncommon in this field, which could push back in time

12780-406: The entire discussion. The En-Gedi Scroll is a Hebrew parchment radiocarbon-dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE (88.9% certainty for 210–390 CE), although paleographical considerations suggest that it may date back to the 1st or early 2nd century CE. The charred scroll, found in situ in the synagogue's Torah niche, was discovered to contain a portion of Leviticus , making it the earliest copy of

12922-636: The events that transpired in Najran , while the other date puts the letter's composition in the year 835 of Alexander (523/524 CE). The second letter, however, is actually a Syriac copy of the original, copied in the year 1490 of the Seleucid Era (= 1178/79 CE). Today, it is largely agreed that the latter date is the accurate one, as it is confirmed by the Martyrium Arethae, as well as by epigraphic records, namely Sabaean inscriptions discovered in

13064-410: The fifth century onwards were bound between hard covers, with pages made from parchment folded and sewn onto strong cords or ligaments that were attached to wooden boards and covered with leather. Since early books were exclusively handwritten on handmade materials, sizes and styles varied considerably, and there was no standard of uniformity. Early and medieval codices were bound with flat spines, and it

13206-559: The gamut from historical book structures made with traditional materials to modern structures made with 21st-century materials, and from basic cloth-case bindings to valuable full-leather fine bindings. Repairs to existing books also encompass a broad range of techniques, from minimally invasive conservation of a historic book to the full restoration and rebinding of a text. Though almost any existing book can be repaired to some extent, only books that were originally sewn can be rebound by resewing. Repairs or restorations are often done to emulate

13348-547: The gold-tooled leather binding has remained the conventional choice for high quality bindings for collectors, though cheaper bindings that only used gold for the title on the spine, or not at all, were always more common. Although the arrival of the printed book vastly increased the number of books produced in Europe, it did not in itself change the various styles of binding used, except that vellum became much less used. Although early, coarse hempen paper had existed in China during

13490-609: The great pride he expressed after killing more than 22,000 Christians in Ẓafār and Najran . According to Jamme, Sabaean inscriptions reveal that the combined war booty (excluding deaths) from campaigns waged against the Abyssinians in Ẓafār, the fighters in 'Ašʻarān, Rakbān, Farasān, Muḥwān ( Mocha ), and the fighters and military units in Najran, amounted to 12,500 war trophies, 11,000 captives and 290,000 camels and bovines and sheep. Historian Glen Bowersock described this as

13632-409: The guidelines are straight. Only the top guide is done and the letters suspended from it. Most modern Torah scrolls are written with forty-two (42) lines of text per column ( Yemenite Jews use fifty-one (51)). Very strict rules about the position and appearance of the Hebrew alphabet are observed. Any of several Hebrew scripts may be used, most of which are fairly ornate and exacting. The fidelity of

13774-426: The handling of the pages and binding has to be undertaken with great care and a delicate hand. The archival process of restoration and conservation can extend a book's life for many decades and is necessary to preserve books that sometimes are limited to a small handful of remaining copies worldwide. Typically, the first step in saving and preserving a book is its deconstruction. The text pages need to be separated from

13916-484: The history of Yemenite Jews. Maimonides (1138–1204), the 12th-century philosopher, scholar and codifier of halakha , was adulated by the Jews of Yemen for his interventions on their behalf during times of religious persecution , heresy, and heavy taxation. When the writings of Maimonides reached the heads of the community, they continued to address their questions unto him and sent emissaries to purchase several copies of his books, just as he acknowledged. In all

14058-497: The king and they refused to deliver it up unto the king. About three hundred of the city's inhabitants surrendered to the king's forces, under the assurances of an oath that no harm would come to them, and these were later bound, while those remaining in the city were burnt alive within their church. The death toll in this account is said to have reached about two thousand. However, in the Sabaean inscriptions describing these events, it

14200-548: The lead photograph for this article). When creating new work, modern hand binders often work on commission, creating bindings for specific books or collections. Books can be bound in many different materials. Some of the more common materials for covers are leather , decorative paper , and cloth (see also: buckram ). Those bindings that are made with exceptionally high craftsmanship, and that are made of particularly high-quality materials (especially full leather bindings), are known as fine or extra bindings. Also, when creating

14342-424: The letter off the scroll with a sharp object. If the name of God is written in error, the entire page must be cut from the scroll and a new page added, and the page written anew from the beginning. The new page is sewn into the scroll to maintain continuity of the document. The old page is treated with appropriate respect, and is buried with respect rather than being otherwise destroyed or discarded. The completion of

14484-633: The long trek by foot and by sea to Jerusalem, where most had settled in Silwan . This wave was followed by other Jews from central Yemen, who continued to move into Palestine until 1914. The majority of these groups would later move into Jerusalem proper and Jaffa . Rabbi Avraham Al-Naddaf , who migrated to Jerusalem in 1891, described in his autobiography the hardships the Yemenite Jewish community faced in their new country, where there were no hostelries to accommodate wayfarers and new immigrants. On

14626-591: The mid-11th century, and according to Tarikh al-Yamman of the famed Yemenite author Umara al-Yamani (1121–74), was named after a Jewish pottery merchant. During the 12th century, Aden was first ruled by the Fatimid Caliphate and then the Ayyubids . The city formed a great emporium on the sea route to India . Documents of the Cairo Geniza about Aden reflect a thriving Jewish community led by

14768-432: The mid-15th century, bookbinding began to standardize somewhat, but page sizes still varied considerably. . Paper leaves also meant that heavy wooden boards and metal furniture were no longer necessary to keep books closed, allowing for much lighter pasteboard covers. The practice of rounding and backing the spines of books to create a solid, smooth surface and "shoulders" supporting the textblock against its covers facilitated

14910-399: The mid-20th century signature-bound appear in reprinted editions in glued-together editions. Copies of such books stitched together in their original format are often difficult to find and are much sought after for both aesthetic and practical reasons. A variation of the hardcover which is more durable is the calf-binding, where the cover is either half or fully clad in leather , usually from

15052-504: The only civilian to have led northern Yemen. The three major population centers for Jews in southern Arabia were Aden , Habban , and the Hadhramaut . The Jews of Aden lived in and around the city, and flourished during the British Aden Protectorate . The vast majority of Yemenite immigrants counted by the authorities of Mandate Palestine in 1939 had settled in the country prior to that date. Throughout

15194-410: The original state of the book. The methods of restoration have been developed by bookbinders with private clients mostly interested in improving their collections. In either case, one of the modern standards for conservation and restoration is "reversibility". That is, any repair should be done in such a way that it can be undone if and when a better technique is developed in the future. Bookbinders echo

15336-634: The other hand, he writes that the Sephardi kollelim (seminaries) had taken under their auspices the Yemenite Jews from the moment they set foot in Jerusalem. Later, however, the Yemenites would come to feel discriminated against by the Sephardic community, who compelled them to no longer make use of their own soft, pliable matzah , but to buy from them only the hard cracker-like matzah made weeks in advance prior to Passover. He also mentions that

15478-460: The periods of Ottoman Palestine and Mandatory Palestine, Jews from Yemen had settled primarily in agricultural settlements in the country, namely: Petach Tikvah (Machaneh Yehuda), Rishon Lezion (Shivat Zion), Rehovot (Sha'arayim and Marmorek), Wadi Chanin (later called Ness Ziona ), Be'er Ya'akov , Hadera (Nachliel), Zichron Yaakov , Yavne'el , Gedera , Ben Shemen , Kinneret , Degania and Milhamia . Others chose to live in

15620-455: The physician's creed, " First, do no harm ". While reversibility is one standard, longevity of the functioning of the book is also very important and sometimes takes precedence over reversibility especially in areas that are invisible to the reader such as the spine lining. Books requiring restoration or conservation treatment run the gamut from the very earliest of texts to books with modern bindings that have undergone heavy usage. For each book,

15762-477: The pleas for Jewish deportation by the clerics and maintained ties with the Jewish 'Iraqi family which was charged with the mint house. From the end of the 17th century, the Jews ran the mint house of the imams. In 1725, Imam Al-Mutawakkil ordered closure of synagogues because of the Jews selling wine to Muslims. However, their closure was rejected by a religious legal ruling that these synagogues were permitted by his predecessors. The Jews of Yemen had expertise in

15904-514: The priests or kohanim and David himself "danced before the Ark" or "danced before the Lord". Special prayers are recited when the Torah scroll is removed from the ark and the text is chanted, rather than spoken, in a special melodic manner (see Cantillation and Nigun ). Whenever the scroll is opened to be read it is laid on a piece of cloth called the mappah . When the Torah scroll is carried through

16046-660: The prominent Bundar family. Abu Ali Hasan ibn Bundar served as the head of the Jewish communities in Yemen as well as a representative of the merchants in Aden. His son Madmun was the central figure in Yemenite Jewry during the flourishing of trade with India. The Bundar family produced some celebrated negidim who exerted authority over the Jews of Yemen as well as Jewish merchants in India and Ceylon . The community developed communal and spiritual connections in addition to business and family ties with other Jewish communities in

16188-435: The publisher's information and artistic decorations. The trade of binding books is in two parts: the first is stationery binding ( vellum ) for books planned to be written in. These include: accounting ledgers, business journals, blank-page books, guest logbooks, notebooks , manifold books, day books, diaries, and portfolios. The second is letterpress printing and binding deals with books planned to be read. This comprises:

16330-512: The region. During this period, Jews enjoyed social and economic prosperity. This changed with the rise of the Tahiri dynasty that ruled until the conquest of Yemen by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. A note written in a Jewish manuscript mentions the destruction of the old synagogue in Sana'a in 1457 under the rule of the dynasty's founder Ahmad 'Amir. An important note of the treatment of Jews by Tahirids

16472-487: The rollers when the scroll is closed. Some scrolls have two crowns, one for each upper end. The metalwork is often made of beaten silver, sometimes gilded. The scroll-handles, breastplate and crown often have little bells attached to them. The housing has two rollers, each of which has two handles used for scrolling the text, four handles in all. Between the handles and the rollers are round plates or disks which are carved with images of holy places, engraved with dedications to

16614-413: The scroll are collectively known as kele kodesh (sacred vessels). The scroll itself will often be girded with a strip of silk (see wimpel ) and "robed" with a piece of protective fine fabric, called the "Mantle of the Law". It is decorated with an ornamental priestly breastplate , scroll-handles ( ‘etz ḥayyim ), and the principal ornament—the "Crown of the Law", which is made to fit over the upper ends of

16756-419: The second-largest Jewish population and nine synagogues, Sa'dah (1,000), Dhamar (1,000), Aden (200), the desert of Beda (2,000), Manakhah (3,000), among others. Almost all resided in the interior of the plateau. Carl Rathjens who visited Yemen in the years 1927 and 1931 puts the total number of Jewish communities in Yemen at 371 settlements. Other significant Jewish communities in Yemen were based in

16898-452: The south central highlands in the cities of: Taiz (the birthplace of one of the most famous Yemenite Jewish spiritual leaders, Mori Salem Al-Shabazzi Mashta ), Ba'dan, and other cities and towns in the Shar'ab region . Many other Jewish communities in Yemen were long since abandoned by their Jewish inhabitants. Yemenite Jews were chiefly artisans, including gold-, silver- and blacksmiths in

17040-478: The spread of Chinese papermaking outside of Imperial China ), was invented in the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD. First described by the poet Martial from Roman Spain , it largely replaced earlier writing mediums such as wax tablets and scrolls by the year 300 AD. By the 6th century AD, the scroll and wax tablet had been completely replaced by the codex in the Western world . Western books from

17182-400: The style of the original binding. For new works, some publishers print unbound manuscripts which a binder can collate and bind, but often an existing commercially bound book is pulled , or taken apart, in order to be given a new binding. Once the text block of the book has been pulled, it can be rebound in almost any structure; a modern suspense novel, for instance, could be rebound to look like

17324-548: The subjects of the Torah, Yemenite Jews customarily base their rule of practice (halakhah) on Maimonides' teachings, and will instruct following his view, whether in lenient or strict rulings, even where most other halakhic authorities disagree. Even so, some ancient customs remained with the Yemenite Jews, especially in those matters committed unto the masses and to the general public, which are still adhered to by them from an ancient period, and which they did not change even though Maimonides ruled otherwise. In common Jewish practice,

17466-707: The surface that it rests on, are collectively known as furniture. The earliest surviving European bookbinding is the St Cuthbert Gospel of about 700, in red goatskin, now in the British Library , whose decoration includes raised patterns and coloured tooled designs. Very grand manuscripts for liturgical rather than library use had covers in metalwork called treasure bindings , often studded with gems and incorporating ivory relief panels or enamel elements. Very few of these have survived intact, as they have been broken up for their precious materials, but

17608-488: The synagogue, the members of the congregation may touch the edge of their prayer shawl ( tallit ) to the Torah scroll and then kiss the shawl as a sign of respect. As it is important to guard the sanctity of a Torah, dropping it, or allowing it to fall, is regarded as a desecration. Bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book , usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by

17750-582: The town where the Byzantine monks established their first scriptorium , Byblos , in modern Lebanon. The idea of numbering each side of the page—Latin pagina , "to fasten"—appeared when the text of the individual testaments of the Bible were combined and text had to be searched through more quickly. This book format became the preferred way of preserving manuscript or printed material. The codex -style book, using sheets of either papyrus or vellum (before

17892-516: The unfounded rumour of the ritual murder of two girls led to looting. This increasingly perilous situation led to the emigration of virtually the entire Yemenite Jewish community between June 1949 and September 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet . During this period, over 50,000 Jews migrated to Israel . The operation began in June 1949 and ended in September 1950. Part of the operation happened during

18034-505: The upright storage of books and titling on spine. This became common practice by the close of the 16th century but was consistently practiced in Rome as early as the 1520s. In the early sixteenth century, the Italian printer Aldus Manutius realized that personal books would need to fit in saddle bags and thus produced books in the smaller formats of quartos (one-quarter-size pages) and octavos (one-eighth-size pages). Leipzig ,

18176-432: The urban areas of Jerusalem ( Silwan , and Nachalat Zvi), Jaffa , Tel Aviv ( Kerem Hateimanim ), and later, Netanya (Shekhunat Zvi). Emigration from Yemen to the area now known as Israel began in 1881, and continued almost without interruption until 1914. It was during this time that about 10% of the Yemenite Jews left. Due to the changes in the Ottoman Empire , citizens could move more freely, and in 1869, travel

18318-664: The vast majority of Yemenite Jews. Records referring to Judaism in Yemen started to appear during the rule of the Himyarite Kingdom , which was established in Yemen in 110 BCE. Various inscriptions in the Ancient South Arabian script in the 2nd century CE refer to the construction of synagogues approved by Himyarite kings. In the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 CE, there was significant Jewish emigration from Roman Judea to Yemen, which

18460-431: The vegetal and geometric designs that would later dominate book cover decoration. Until the end of the period books were not usually stood up on shelves in the modern way. The most functional books were bound in plain white vellum over boards, and had a brief title hand-written on the spine. Techniques for fixing gold leaf under the tooling and stamps were imported from the Islamic world in the 15th century, and thereafter

18602-407: The work involved, these can cost tens of thousands of US dollars to produce to ritually proper standards. A printed version of the Torah is known colloquially as a Chumash (plural Chumashim ). Although strictly speaking it is known as Chamishah Chumshei Torah (Five "Fifths" of Torah). They are treated as respected texts, but not anywhere near the level of sacredness accorded a Torah scroll, which

18744-566: The years April 1939 – December 1945, was put at 4,554. By 1947, there were an estimated 35,000 Yemenite Jews living in Mandate Palestine. After the UN partition vote on Palestine , Arab rioters, assisted by the local police force, engaged in a pogrom in Aden that killed 82 Jews and destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes. Aden's Jewish community was economically paralyzed, as most of the Jewish stores and businesses were destroyed. Early in 1948,

18886-470: Was a minor. The Orphan's Decree was ignored during the Ottoman rule (1872–1918), but was renewed during the period of Imam Yahya (1918–1948). Under the Zaydi rule, the Jews were considered to be impure and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than

19028-523: Was born Zekharia Hadad in 1910 to a Yemenite Jewish family in Ibb. He lost his parents in a major disease epidemic at the age of 8 and together with his 5-year-old sister, he was forcibly converted to Islam and they were put under the care of separate foster families. He was raised in the powerful al-Iryani family and adopted an Islamic name. Al-Iryani would later serve as minister of religious endowments under northern Yemen's first national government and he became

19170-475: Was changed to be like left to right languages in the mid-20th century. Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews , also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from Hebrew : יהודי תימן , romanized :  Yehudei Teman ; Arabic : اليهود اليمنيون ), are Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen , and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of

19312-596: Was considered by the Zionist Office as allowing the importation of cheap labour. This wave of Yemenite Jewry underwent extreme suffering, physically and mentally, and those who arrived between 1912 and 1918 had a very high incidence of premature mortality, ranging from between 30% and 40% generally and, in some townships, reaching as high as 50%. During the British Mandate of Palestine , the total number of persons registered as immigrants from Yemen, between

19454-535: Was improved with the opening of the Suez Canal , which reduced the travel time from Yemen to Palestine. Certain Yemenite Jews interpreted these changes and the new developments in the "Holy Land" as heavenly signs that the time of redemption was near. By settling in the Holy Land, they would play a part in what they believed could precipitate the anticipated messianic era. From 1881 to 1882, some 30 Jewish families left Sana'a and several nearby settlements, and made

19596-402: Was not until the fifteenth century that books began to have the rounded spines associated with hardcovers today. Because the vellum of early books would react to humidity by swelling, causing the book to take on a characteristic wedge shape, the wooden covers of medieval books were often secured with straps or clasps. These straps, along with metal bosses on the book's covers to keep it raised off

19738-693: Was persecuting the Christian community of Najran . After much fighting, Kaleb's soldiers eventually routed Yusuf's forces. They killed the king, allowing Kaleb to appoint Sumyafa Ashwa , a native Christian (named Esimiphaios by Procopius), as his viceroy of Himyar. Aksumite control of Arabia Felix continued until c. 525 when Sumyafa Ashwa was deposed by the Abyssinian General Abraha , who made himself king. Procopius states that Kaleb made several unsuccessful attempts to recover his overseas territory; however, his successor later negotiated

19880-530: Was then famous in the Greco-Roman world for its prosperous trade, particularly in spices. The Christian missionary Theophilos the Indian , who came to Yemen in the mid-fourth century, complained that he had found great numbers of Jews. By 380 CE, Himyarite religious practices had undergone fundamental changes. The inscriptions were no longer addressed to Almaqah or Attar but to a single deity called Rahmanan . Debate among scholars continues as to whether

20022-429: Was to ensure their status as protected persons of the state. This tax (tribute) was assessed against every male thirteen years and older and its remittance varied between the wealthy and the poor. In the early 20th century, this amounted to one Maria Theresa thaler ( riyal ) for a poor man, two thalers in specie for the middle classes, and four or more thalers for the rich. Upon payment, Jews were also exempt from paying

20164-535: Was used in funerary services for the deceased. Torah scrolls, editions of first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Israelite (or Hebrew) Bible, were—and still are—also held in special holders when read. Scrolls can be rolled in one of two ways. The first method is to wrap the scroll around a single core, similar to a modern roll of paper towels. While simple to construct, a single core scroll has

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