The Yemenites

Ashkenazim farmers were impatient with the strange arrivals. It was their first encounter with a traditional Mizrachi community and they openly ridiculed them.

The Yemeni quarters in the colonies were allowed a large measure of autonomy in matters of political, social and cultural organization. The segregation of the Yemenites during the period of the British Mandate (1920-1948) did not stem from conscious imitation of the prevailing millet system of the Ottoman Empire in which most religious communities lived in distinct quarters. It was based on the provision of land by the Zionist agencies for new immigrants and the desire for social and spatial solidarity among the new immigrants. Even separate cemeteries and synagogues were in existence for the period of the Mandate and continued until this form of social segregation began to break down after the establishment of the State of Israel.

(similar to old American prejudices against Italian immigrants) was however soundly appreciated by the Ashkenazi majority when, a melee broke out Rehovot in 1942 involving antisemitic Polish troops stationed in the colony. Dozens of local Yemenites from the Sha’arayim neighborhood came to the aid of their fellow Jews and handed the Poles a thrashing causing them to request a transfer.

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