Old Yemenite Synagogue (Silwan) Explained

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), the Kfar Hashiloach (Hebrew: כפר השילוח) neighborhood in the Jerusalem district of Silwan.

History

Jewish community in Silwan (1884-1938)

Between 1885 and 1891, 45 stone houses were built for the Yemenite Jews which had arrived in Jerusalem in 1882^[3] 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.^[4] and in 1938, the remaining Yemenite Jews in Silwan were evacuated by the Jewish Community Council on the advice of the police.^{[5] [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)

In 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]

Notes and References

1. American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai, The Yemenite Village, from a September 2015 newsletter. Accessed August 2020.
2. Book: Gelber, Sylva M. . No balm in Gilead: a personal retrospective of Mandate days in Palestine . 87–88 . Carleton University Press/McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP) . 1989 . 0-88629-104-6 . 22 August 2020.
3. Homepage of the Yemenite Village Synagogue. Accessed August 2020.
4. Gelber (1989), p. 56.
5. News: 11 Jewish families move into J'lem neighborhood of Silwan. Shragai. Nadav. January 4, 2004. Haaretz.
6. Palestine Post, August 15, 1938, p. 2
7. https://archive.today/20130131181858/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62536043.html?dids=62536043:62536043&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+15,+1995&author=BILL+HUTMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=Documents+show+Arabs+illegally+obtained+Jewish+homes+in+Silwan&pqatl=google Documents show Arabs illegally obtained Jewish homes in Silwan
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20121104094953/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99689927.html?dids=99689927:99689927&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+10,+1992&author=Gail+Lichtman&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=WHO+OWNS+THE+LAND%3F&pqatl=google WHO OWNS THE LAND?
9. News: Jaskow. Rahel. 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. 8 May 2015. The Times of Israel. 6 May 2015.
10. News: Ben-Gedalyahu. Tzvi. Jews Move into Former Yemenite Synagogue in Silwan Valley. 8 May 2015. The Jewish Press. 7 May 2015.
11. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/195832 Joyus return to 130 Year Old Jerusalem Synangogue May 26, 2015