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Have You Visited the '
Exactly 130 years ago, with the prominent Yemenite aliyah, the
A'aleh B'T'Ma'R
On the southern slope of
the Mount of Olives, near the Arab village of Silwan, facing the Shiloah
Pool – the village of Silwan was founded. A graduated path leads
from Ayn Rogel, on a steep slope. A slot for a mezuzah on one of
the doorposts indicates that Jews lived in the house.
The last settlement was
started 130 years ago, following the important aliyah from Yemen, known as
A'aleh B'T'MaR. The first group of immigrants consisted of 15 families, who
came from
The Yemenite immigrants
did the building work by themselves, and the dedication of the
first three houses took place on the fifteenth of Kislev , 5646 took place, amidst
great celebration. That same year another nine houses were built and in 5642
there sixty-five houses in Silwan. Over time, they continued to build their
own houses and built a synagogue, study rooms and a Talmud Torah. In
5668 the village had five synagogues: four of them were according to the
Yemeni nusach, and one in Nusach Sfarad.
The Arabs Attack
Life in Silwan was difficult, both because of its distance from the city and because of their Arab neighbors. Residents of Silwan were often attacked on their way to and from the city.
The water was pumped from
the spring nearby. The Arabs did everything to prevent them from access
to the spring, but they overcame that by digging wells near their homes. The
difficult situation was described by Eliezer Ben Yehuda in
"Chavatzelet": "Anyone who has not seen the meager brothers
and miserable human ones hugging rubbish in the
However, slowly the
residents overcame the difficulties. Some learned from the Arabs the
quarrying and lime professions, and many of them were employed in silver
crafting, embroidery, jewelry and weaving, and women as maids. Over the years,
their economic conditions improved, they improved their homes
and adorned them with gardens and fruit trees.
Community life in Siloam
village was organized under the leadership of Rabbi Yosef Said Madmoni
followed by Rabbi Aaron Maleeach. The village fostered a unique atmosphere
and community life, but during the First World War, for lack of livelihood
and because many men were taken to work the Turkish military camp, some of
the settlers left. Despite the abandonment, 153 Jewish residents
remained in the village (according to the census in 1922). After conquest by
the British, the situation improved and many went back to the village. Then,
with the escalation of attacks in
Expulsion of the
The bloody riots of 5689 forced the residents, who were in great danger, to temporarily abandon their homes and flee to Yerushalayim. One of the notables of the neighboring
The British commanded them
to evacuate the village during the 5698 pogroms. They were loaded
on to trucks and allotted rooms in the
The Vaad Leumi and
Yerushalayim Community protested the evacuation, and informed the governing
body that it was temporary. They were promised that after the riots
clam down the settlers will be returned home.
The homes were ransacked,
their possessions stolen. Anything removable was taken from the homes,
including doors, windows, flooring, roofing and marble slabs. They were not
only out for the loot, but also to destroy anything in sight and wreak havoc
and devastation. The iron rafters and arcs above the windows were yanked off.
The homes looked as if they were bombed from the air, a visitor in 5703
reported.
Renewing our past glory
The refugees waited for the fulfillment of the promise to return them home, but it was not kept. After World War II, community representatives, led by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Chairman of the National Committee, tried to restore the village, but since the outbreak of the War of Independence, Silwan remained Jordanian-controlled territory, and the neighborhood was given to the custodian of the enemy properties. After the Six Day War, the neighborhood was granted to the Administrator General under the rule of law and order management.
In the year 5765, 67 years
after the village was evacuated, the Jewish settlement of Kfar Teimanim on
the slopes of Har Hazeitim was reestablished.
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Israel's response is Legal, and it is unfair to Israel Israel Israel
So we know the Israelis stand resolutely. Trouble is, the Israelis may be missing the Big Picture, which forIsrael Israel Israel Gaza Israel Israel Israel Israel
The clear truth is... Muslims and still many Christians have not evolved away from their evidently ingrained distrust and dislike of Jews. Over the past several thousand years, they have been continually trying to kill off Jewish people through Inquisitions, Pogroms, Holocausts, Jihads, etc. While Christians may have mostly evolved away from this idea, Muslims (who came 700 years after Christianity), evidently, still have a ways to go. There are now only about 12 Million Jews left in the world (half in America and half in Israel), compared to Chinese (who also have a calendar that is also about 5000 years old), for example, who now number 1.6 Billion.
Unfortunately, all this reminds me of a famous poem, where the protagonists are slaughtered needlessly, a tragedy that tugs at the heart strings because they faced their tragedy with brave countenance and resolute action... but so needlessly: The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson, which goes in part:
"'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into thevalley of Death
Rode the six hundred."
I hope thatIsrael
As an heir to East Asian culture (and neither Christian nor Muslim nor a believer in any God of Abraham religion), I am completely at a loss to understand the history of over a thousand of years of continual programs to eliminate Jews all over the world (except East Asia) by Christians and Muslims. Would somebody explain... why, how come?
So we know the Israelis stand resolutely. Trouble is, the Israelis may be missing the Big Picture, which for
The clear truth is... Muslims and still many Christians have not evolved away from their evidently ingrained distrust and dislike of Jews. Over the past several thousand years, they have been continually trying to kill off Jewish people through Inquisitions, Pogroms, Holocausts, Jihads, etc. While Christians may have mostly evolved away from this idea, Muslims (who came 700 years after Christianity), evidently, still have a ways to go. There are now only about 12 Million Jews left in the world (half in America and half in Israel), compared to Chinese (who also have a calendar that is also about 5000 years old), for example, who now number 1.6 Billion.
Unfortunately, all this reminds me of a famous poem, where the protagonists are slaughtered needlessly, a tragedy that tugs at the heart strings because they faced their tragedy with brave countenance and resolute action... but so needlessly: The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson, which goes in part:
"'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the
Rode the six hundred."
I hope that
As an heir to East Asian culture (and neither Christian nor Muslim nor a believer in any God of Abraham religion), I am completely at a loss to understand the history of over a thousand of years of continual programs to eliminate Jews all over the world (except East Asia) by Christians and Muslims. Would somebody explain... why, how come?
Kfar Hashiloach ("Silwan"), 1891 and 1932
Wikipedia, in the entry on Silwan, mentions:
Thanks to efforts by Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret, here is a copy of the photograph of the Yemenite village of Kfar HaShiloach taken in 1891 (click to enlarge):
Its caption:
YNet, in a historic photo essay earlier this year, fills in some blanks and shows us a photo of the exact same area in 1932:
So Jews were in this specific area for the 47 years from 1882 to 1929. They were expelled for the 38 years between 1929 and 1967. Israel has controlled the area now for 43 years. At least this part of what is now considered Silwan is being claimed by Arabs as their own, exclusive, area, and most of the world seems to agree.
Why does the world consider the anomalous 19 year period of when Jordan made the eastern part of Jerusalem Judenrein, or the scandalous time period when even relatively new immigrant Jews were forced out of their homes in the 1920s and 1930s, to be the "status quo?"
In 1882, a group of Jews arrived from Yemen. Initially, they lived in tents. Later, when the rainy season began, they moved into the ancient burial caves on the east side of the valley.[12] In 1884, the Yemenites moved into new stone houses on the eastern slope of the Kidron, north of the Arab village, built for them by a charity called Ezrat Niddahim. This settlement was called Kfar Hashiloach or the Yemenite Village. Construction costs were kept low by using the Shiloach as a water source instead of digging cisterns. An 1891 photo shows the homes on an otherwise vacant stretch of hillside.[13] An early 20th century travel guide writes: In the “village of Silwan , east of Kidron … some of the fellah dwellings [are] old sepulchers hewn in the rocks. During late years a great extension of the village southward has sprung up, owing to the settlement here of a colony of poor Jews from Yemen, etc. many of whom have built homes on the steep hillside just above and east of Bir Eyyub,”[14]
The Yemenite Jews fled for their lives from Silwan during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and non-Jewish Arabs moved into the vacated buildings. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Silwan was annexed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.[15]
Thanks to efforts by Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret, here is a copy of the photograph of the Yemenite village of Kfar HaShiloach taken in 1891 (click to enlarge):
Its caption:
In 1882, Jews emigrated from Yemen to Jerusalem. As they failed to find room in the city within the walls, they resided in caves on the Mount of Olives slopes. The city's Jewish dignitaries rushed to help the Yemenite families, and Yisrael Dov Frumkin, owner of the Havatzelet newspaper, established the "Ezrat Nidachim" association which raised funds for the families.
South of the village of Silwan were non-constructed areas owned by Boaz the Babylonian, who donated them in order to build houses for the Yemenite Jews (marked with yellow arrows). The houses were named Kfar Hashiloach. Additional Jewish families gathered in the area, which housed up to 200 families.
In the 1921, Arabs attacked the neighborhood's residents, killed some of them and torched houses. They "completed" their work in the 1929 riots. The British Mandate authorities, which did not want any conflicts, ordered the residents of Kfar Hashiloach to evacuate themselves from the area.Notice how much the neighborhood grew between 1891 and 1929.
So Jews were in this specific area for the 47 years from 1882 to 1929. They were expelled for the 38 years between 1929 and 1967. Israel has controlled the area now for 43 years. At least this part of what is now considered Silwan is being claimed by Arabs as their own, exclusive, area, and most of the world seems to agree.
Why does the world consider the anomalous 19 year period of when Jordan made the eastern part of Jerusalem Judenrein, or the scandalous time period when even relatively new immigrant Jews were forced out of their homes in the 1920s and 1930s, to be the "status quo?"
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