The Old Yemenite Synagogue, known to its congregation as Beit Knesset Ohel Shlomo (lit. "Solomon's Tent Synagogue"), is a restored synagogue[1] from the nineteenth century[2] Yemenite Village (Harat al-Yaman in Arabic),[3] the Kfar Hashiloach (Hebrew: כפר השילוח) neighborhood in the Jerusalem district of Silwan.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Kfar_Hashiloach_1891.jpg/220px-Kfar_Hashiloach_1891.jpg)
History
editJewish community in Silwan (1884-1938)
editBetween 1885 and 1891, 45 stone houses were built for the Yemenite Jews which had arrived in Jerusalem in 1882[4] In 1936, during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Yemenite-Jewish community was removed from Silwan by the Welfare Bureau of the Jerusalem Community Council (Va'ad ha-Kehillah), the local counterpart of the Jewish National Council (Va'ad Leumi), into the Jewish Quarter as security conditions for Jews worsened.[5] and in 1938, the remaining Yemenite Jews in Silwan were evacuated by the Jewish Community Council on the advice of the police.[3][6]
According to documents in the custodian office and real estate and project advancement expert Edmund Levy, the buildings of the Yemenite Jews were occupied by Arab families without registering ownership.[7][8]
Jewish reclaim (2015)
editIn May, 2015 Ateret Cohanim, a Jewish group that had established legal ownership of the old synagogue, moved into the building.[9][10][11] Local residents threw rocks at the activists as they moved in.[9]
References
edit- ^ American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai, The Yemenite Village, from a September 2015 newsletter. Accessed August 2020.
- ^ Gelber, Sylva M. (1989). No balm in Gilead: a personal retrospective of Mandate days in Palestine. Carleton University Press/McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP). pp. 87–88. ISBN 0-88629-104-6. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ a b Shragai, Nadav (January 4, 2004). "11 Jewish families move into J'lem neighborhood of Silwan". Haaretz.
- ^ Homepage of the Yemenite Village Synagogue. Accessed August 2020.
- ^ Gelber (1989), p. 56.
- ^ Palestine Post, August 15, 1938, p. 2
- ^ Documents show Arabs illegally obtained Jewish homes in Silwan, Bill Hutman, Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ WHO OWNS THE LAND?, Gail Lichtman, Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
- ^ a b Jaskow, Rahel (6 May 2015). "Jewish activists move into building in Arab Jerusalem neighborhood Structure in Silwan was once the synagogue of a village built there for Yemenite immigrants in the 1880s, NGO claims". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Ben-Gedalyahu, Tzvi (7 May 2015). "Jews Move into Former Yemenite Synagogue in Silwan Valley". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Joyus return to 130 Year Old Jerusalem Synangogue May 26, 2015
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