Yemenite Jews

Yemenite Jews

Hebrew: יהודי תימן‎ اليهود اليمنيون
Yemenite family reading from the Psalms
Regions with significant populations
Israel	435,000
United States	80,000
United Kingdom	396[1]
United Arab Emirates	42[2][3][4]
Bahrain	5[5]
Yemen	1-5[6]
Languages
Hebrew, Judeo-Yemeni Arabic, Yemenite Hebrew
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Mizrahi Jews, Jewish ethnic divisions, Yemenis, and Samaritans

Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from Hebrew: יהודי תימן, romanized: Yehudei Teman; Arabic: اليهود اليمنيون), are Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews emigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet between June 1949 and September 1950. Most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, with smaller communities in the United States and elsewhere.^[7] As of 2024, only one Jew, Levi Marhabi, remains in Yemen,^[8] although Ynet cited local sources stating that the actual number is five.^[8][9]

Yemenite Jews observe a unique religious tradition that distinguishes them from Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and other Jewish groups. They have been described as "the most Jewish of all Jews" and "the ones who have preserved the Hebrew language the best".^[10] Yemenite Jews are considered Mizrahi or "Eastern" Jews, though they differ from other Mizrahis, who have undergone a process of total or partial assimilation to Sephardic law and customs. While the Shami sub-group of Yemenite Jews did adopt a Sephardic-influenced rite, this was mostly due to it being forced upon them,^[11] and did not reflect a demographic or general cultural shift among the vast majority of Yemenite Jews.