Yemen: Muslim and Jewish Interactions in the Tribal Sphere · 129in their village and work there.^12 While Jewish commerce in San ̔a ̓ was
conducted mainly in workshops and shops in the Jewish quarter or in
the market of the Arab city, trading with their products and with other
goods, the actual economic foundation of Jewish life in rural areas was
the ̔umla. This was the permanent liaison between a Jewish artisan and
a number of Muslims, each called an ̔amil. Throughout the year, the ar-
tisan provided the farmer with all the services and goods he needed for
his farm and household; at harvest time, the farmer paid his debt in field
crops. Each party could engage in a number of ̔umla agreements, the
Jewish artisan with several Muslim families in his village, in other vil-
lages, or even with an entire village, and the Muslim farmer with differ-
ent artisans according to his needs.^13 The Jews also participated in the
weekly area markets where farmers gathered and sold their produce. In
addition to its economic advantages, the ̔umla relationship contributed
to the social solidarity between Jewish and Muslim members of Yemeni
society, creating strong, almost mystic, bonds of fidelity between the two
parties.^14
However, the political and economic developments that were men-
tioned above, and the entrance of industrial goods into Yemen that com-
peted with the local products in price, quality, and diversity, undermined
the traditional foundation of the Jewish economy. Starting from late in
the nineteenth century, more and more Jews were pushed from the crafts
toward retail trade and peddling. Jewish peddlers became a familiar phe-
nomenon in the rural-tribal landscape. The typical peddler wandered
around several villages, his route drawn within the tribe’s territory. Of-
ten, he also acted as a craftsman, carrying out necessary chores for the
tribesmen.
This period also witnessed increased Jewish labor migration, mainly
to the port city of Aden, which became a vital anchor for the movement
of goods to and from Yemen. In Aden there operated many small plants
with technology more advanced than that known in Yemen and which re-
lied on cheap labor from Yemen, Muslim and Jewish. Across the Red Sea
there appeared other attractive sites for Jewish migrant labor—Ethiopia,
Somalia, and Djibouti—which were also dominated by western colonial
powers. At the same time, Jewish immigration to Palestine was intensi-
fied. Between 1881 and 1914, nearly 8 percent of Yemeni Jews moved to
Palestine. This immigration movement was renewed in 1920, after the
conclusion of World War I.^15