December 14 1884 – 26 Kislev 5645
The Hebrew year 5645 was one of great hopes for Yemenite Jewry. They interpreted its numerical value in Hebrew letters as representing the Hebrew word “up the palm tree” (ba-tamar) from the biblical verse in the Song of Songs (ch. 7, verse 9), “I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches.” This they understood as meaning that 5645 was the year when they should leave Yemen and emigrate to the land of Israel.
Arriving in Jerusalem, the relatively large group of Yemenite immigrants (at its peak the colony numbered about 150 families) encountered numerous difficulties. The Jewish community in Jerusalem was skeptical of their Jewish identity, and there was no organization willing to help them settle and find accommodation in the city. The immigrants were insistent on living close by the Temple Mount, and took shelter at first in caves on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. They were helped in the end by Israel Dov Frumkin, publisher of the Hebrew newspaper Hahavazelet, and Baroness Hirsch who purchased land for them south of the village of Silwan, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Three rows of houses were built for them, as well as a health clinic and three synagogues, and a large cistern.
In the Arab riots of 1920 and 1929, when the defenseless Orthodox population of Jerusalem was severely attacked, the Yemenites property was looted and they were evacuated by the British authorities. Those returning to their homes were evacuated again by the Mandate government in 1939. The Elad organization has gradually been repopulating the houses of the Yemenite colony since the 1980s.
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