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The history of the Jews in Aden, Yemen, are mainly those Jews who were born in, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Aden, on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, bordering in Hadramaut—akin to Biblical Chatzar-Mavet. Aden is a seaport on the Red Sea, previously belonging to Great Britain. The Jews were among the earliest settlers. Some five hundred years ago, the great Rabbi Obadiah of Bartinuro wrote that there had come to Jerusalem "Jews from the land of Eden . . . They are not much acquainted with the Talmud, but only with Rabbi Alfasi and Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon". Virtually the entire population emigrated from Aden between June 1947 and September 1967. Most now live in Israel, with some others in the United Kingdom, and fewer elsewhere. ==History== In 1489, Rabbi Obadiah di Bertinora encountered Jews in Jerusalem who had come from Aden, and who described for him their polity and settlement in the land of Yemen, as also knowledge about Moses' progeny who were settled some fifty-days' walking distance from their place as one journeys in the desert, and that they were encompassed by the river Sambation. He says that the Jews of Aden were only knowledgeable in the writings of Rabbi Alfasi and Maimonides, in the latter work of which they were especially well-versed.〔Avraham Yari, ''Igros Eretz Yisroel'' (''Letters of the Land of Israel''), in the "Letter of Rabbi Obadiah di Bertinora from Jerusalem to his Brother," written in 1489, Tel-Aviv 1943, (p. 140 ) (in PDF); See also Gedaliah ibn Jechia the Spaniard, ''Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah'', Venice 1585 (Hebrew), who testified in the name of Rabbi Obadiah di Bertinoro who had said that there came Jews in his days to Jerusalem, who had come from the southeastern hemisphere, along the sea of the () ocean, and who declared that they had no other book beside the Yad, belonging to Maimonides. Rabbi Yihya Saleh, speaking more distinctly about this episode, writes in his Questions & Responsa (''Pe’ulath Sadiq'', vol. ii, ''responsum'' 180) that he was referring there to the Jews of Yemen who had made a pilgrimage to the Land of Israel at that time.〕 The ''Cairo Genizah'' (discovered in 1896) contains amazing letters from an earlier period of the sages which reveal connections between the Jewish communities of Egypt and Aden, and trade to India via Aden.〔S.D. Goitein & M.A. Friedman, ''India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza (‘India Book’).'' The Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem & Brill, Leiden-Boston. xxix+918 pp. Bibliography, Indexes, 15 plates and 3 maps.〕 Some of the letters were sent by the heads of rabbinical academies to the Adeni and other communities seeking financial support for their institutions. Digs at Beit She'arim in Israel provide proof that Jews were settled in Aden and ''Yemen'' during the mishnaic period (2nd and 3rd centuries CE). A hall was discovered there containing tombs of the Jews from Yemen. These Jews had been brought from Himyar for burial in the holy land. Tombstones were also found in Jewish cemeteries in Aden, dating as far back as the 12th century. In the 10th century relations between the Jews of Yemen-Aden and of Babylonia became closer as evidenced by the formers adoption of upper pointing, (sometimes called Babylonian pointing, in which the vocal marks are placed above instead of below the line as is the case today.) Although this did not last long they retained this practice even after books began to be printed. Adeni Jewry possessed Saadia Gaon's translations into Arabic of the torah and the five megilloth. The prayers and liturgies composed by the Babylonian sages, such as the "Hosha'not" for Sukkoth, which is contained in Saadia Gaon's prayer book, were adopted by the Aden Jews and have been retained by them ever since. In one of the cairo documents there appear instructions from Madmon Ben Yafter Ben Bendar, the ruler of Yemen and himself from Aden, to Halfon Ben Nethaniel Halevi from Fustat in Egypt, which indicates that already in the 10th century there was a small Jewish settlement in Aden. From 1083-1173 Aden was ruled by an Arab dynasty called the Zura'ites. From this time onwards Aden served as an important community centre and became crucial as a port from the commercial sea lanes between the Mediterranean sea, India and further into the far east. The Jews became heavily involved in international trade and as a result they were able to support generously the yeshivoth of Babylonia, Egypt and the Land of Israel. From the 10th to the 13th centuriesm Aden was the centre of Yemeni Jewish life. The "Yemeni governors" or the "ministers of the communities" sat in Aden and from there led the entire community. Their influence spread as far as Persia and Babylonia and throughout the Arabian Peninsula as far as the Hijaz in the north and Hadramout in the east. For hundreds of years, until 1947 the 8,550-strong Jewish community in Aden, despite some underlying resentment from the Arabs, lived in relative tranquility. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Jews in Aden」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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