From Community to Statehood: The Annals of Yemenite Jewry in Zion

How did Jews from Muslim lands integrate into Palestine's Jewish community, both before and after the onset of Zionism? What socio-economic functions did they fulfill in the new Jewish state and were these predetermined by the movement's predisposed notions concerning non-European Jews? In order to answer these questions and more, this course will concentrate on Yemen's Jewish community and trace its often torturous path to becoming part of the Israeli polity. The collective trauma known as the 'Yemenite baby affair' will be probed from this vantage point.

We will also focus on the special role assumed by Jews and Jewesses of Yemenite stock in Modern Hebrew culture; a unique and century old phenomena. From a different angle we will discover how religious-secular strife, as well as political opposition in Israeli history has often been structured by Yemenite pawns. This trend will be complemented by an ongoing attempt to tease out Yemenite agency as an important factor in the annals of inter-ethnic strife in Israeli history