The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions
The Case of the Kuhlānī Synagogue in San ̔ā’, 1933–1944 r 141
- Nahshon, Hanhagat ha-qehilah, 310; Ismar Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy: A Compre-
hensive History, trans. Raymond P. Scheindlin (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Soci-
ety, 1993), 293. The reformers advocated that Jews in Yemen adhere to the “Baladī” rite,
which they believed to be based in the Judaism that had been practiced in Yemen before
the diffusion of kabbalistic works and practices in the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries. Some who prayed according to the Baladī rite, however, opposed Dor De ̔ah. The
struggle over rite in Yemeni Judaism began in the eighteenth century, with the attempts
by the Jewish grandee Sālim al- ̔Irāqī to change the prayer rite to Shāmī and the efforts of
R. Yahyā Sālih (Maharis) to defend the Baladī rite. Yosef Tobi, ̔Iyyunim bimgilat teman
(Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1986), chap. 6.
- Shalom Gamliel, Pequde teman: Mas he-hasut be-teman (Jerusalem: Makhon Sha-
lom le-shivte yeshurun, 1982), 167.
- Given the profusion of synagogues in San ̔ā’, if a Jew did not approve of his syna-
gogue’s affiliation (kabbalistic or anti-kabbalistic), why would he not simply pray at an-
other one more to his liking? This was a question that Muslim jurists raised more than
once during the synagogue controversy. To some extent, affiliation with a particular
synagogue was family oriented. Extended families tended to live close together in the
Jewish Quarter. The reformist position at the Sālih Synagogue was represented by the
Badīhī family, who lived close to the building and prayed there. Gamliel, Bate hakneset,
2:93. Also, some synagogues, such as the al-Dhamārī Synagogue, which housed a Torah
scroll said to have been written by Moses, were considered to be especially prestigious.
Each synagogue congregant had a set place to pray, a pallet near the wall, a book
stand, and a place where he kept books for his own edification and to teach his children.
Gamliel, Bate hakneset, 2:240n7. A Jew who did not pray three congregational prayers
a day, called “qāti ̔ salāh,” could not be a legal witness, as was the case for Muslims of
dubious probity (mashkūk al- ̔adālah) under Islamic law. Moshe Piamenta, Dictionary
of Post-Classical Yemeni Arabic (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990–91), 405. The various duties in
the synagogue—serving as the precentor (shaliah sibor), opening the Ark, unrolling the
Torah scroll, putting the Torah scroll away, lighting the candles, cleaning—brought no
financial remuneration but were considered great honors. That said, a congregant hon-
ored with reading from the Torah ( ̔aliyah) was expected to pay for the privilege. The
resulting income went to the upkeep of the synagogue and to the support of the students
who studied therein. Yehiel Nahshon, Bate kneset bi-San ̔ā’ (Me’ot 17–18) (Netanyah: Ha-
Agudah le-tipuah hevrah ve-tarbut, 2001), 48; Nahshon, Hanhagat ha-qehilah, 286. A
given synagogue’s factional affiliation would also have determined the content of the
curriculum taught by the rabbi in his daily lessons.
- In 1996, at the age of 90, R. Sālim Sa ̔īd al-Jamal published the documents relating
to the case of the Kuhlānī Synagogue in three volumes, under the misleadingly bland title
The Synagogues of San ̔ā’, the Capital of Yemen. The book included documents that R.
al-Jamal acquired years after the controversy from the son of the man from the opposing
faction who initially had claimed ownership of the Kuhlānī Synagogue. It also includes
verbatim conversations between R. al-Jamal and conversations that did not occur in
his presence. He explains that his record of such conversations was based on his close
contacts with prominent Muslims, particularly three of Imām Yahyā’s sons. Gamliel,
Bate hakneset, 1:369.
