128 · Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman
three times. Silence and terrible stillness took over the market. The
announcer continued: “Shaykh Naṣir Mabkhut informs you that
this respectable Jew, ̔Awad ibn Sa ̔id Ya ̔qub [Ovadia’s father], is
under our protection and he lives in our land. Shaykh Naṣir expects
everyone of Ḥashid to help him in all matters. And whoever harms
him in water, Shaykh Naṣir Mabkhut shall avenge him in blood.
This Jew, each one of you is his jar. Peace upon you and the bless-
ing of God.”^5“Whoever harms the Jew in water, we shall avenge him in blood” was
a well-known expression that announced the formulating of ties of
protection.^6 The protection was thus defined as a sort of blood cove-
nant, reflecting the actual blood relations that connected the tribesmen
in bonds of mutual responsibility and tribal obligations. Offending his
Jew was hence taken by the Muslim jar as an offense to his honor. The
protection commitment sometimes led to extreme consequences, such
as a Muslim father and son fighting each other because each was jar to
one of two quarrelling Jews.^7 On occasion, tribes went to war because a
Jew had been attacked, as it would have been shameful for them not to
respond.^8 Notions of honor and shame similarly regulated Muslim-
Jewish relations in the tribal areas of North Africa during the nineteenth
century and early twentieth, especially concerning itinerant Jewish ped-
dlers.^9 On the Yemeni scene, however, these codes also related to Jews
living within the tribe. Shame and obligations toward the Jews were con-
nected not only with viewing them as a weak group within the tribe but
also with perceiving their men as having a blurred gender identity, as
not being “real men,” and comparing them to women.^10 Therefore Jew-
ish men were not considered a danger to Muslim women’s honor and
modesty. While strange Muslim men were forbidden to enter the house
and remain alone with the women of the household, Jews were allowed
to do so.^11
The Integration of Jews into Muslim Tribal Society
The Jewish role in the tribal economy served as a main vehicle for their
integration into the surrounding society. Most of the Jews worked as ar-
tisans and suppliers of services to Muslim tribal farmers; they also en-
gaged in retail trade and peddling. The tribesmen wanted Jews to live