JEWISH DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN SAN’A YEMEN – By Carl Rathjens – A rare and unique publication of its kind about the unique structure of Jewish houses modestly unlike the house structure of their Muslim neighbors. with Introduction and appendix on 17th-century Jewish documents dealing with Jewish homes in san’a. THE ISRAEL ORIENTAL SOCIETY Jerusalem, 1957. English.
The comprehensive study is the result of Prof. Carl Rathins’ trip to Yemen four times between 1927 and 1937. Being in San’a, he discovered that the design and interior structure of Jewish homes was completely different from those of their Muslim neighbors, and decided to investigate this phenomenon in depth with his Yemeni Jewish friend Israel Tzubari. For example, Rathins discovered that in most of the Jewish houses, in addition to the rooms of the house, a special room called “Dimer al-Araj” was dedicated, in which homemade brandy was made. The room that was permanently located on the ground floor was designed in a way that was suitable for the production of the drink, which did not appear in Muslim homes due to the ban on drinking alcoholic beverages according to their religion. He also pointed out that the Jews ‘goods were modestly stored inside the dwellings themselves, unlike their Muslim neighbors who hired guards to keep the goods in special warehouses dedicated to it. He also revealed the special structure of the “Hijrab” – an open space in the Jews’ home Its place was on the top floor around which the living rooms were grouped, in the center of which a special room was dedicated to the privacy of husband and wife called “Mandar”. The “Madnar” even served the new bride and groom. In the large and modest estates in San’a there were three “mandarins” and according to this he knew how to determine the antiquities of the Residential buildings, and their age. The author also points out dozens of details in the design of Jewish windows, tableware, handicrafts, silver work, weaving and leather, utensils, the special dialect of the Jews of modesty, and more, which characterized the San’a Jews. According to the introduction, due to the historical importance of his research, parts of the publication before us were copied to the “Encyclopedia of Islam”.
The book is accompanied by rare photographs from San’a and diagrams of the special Jewish characteristics of the Jews buildings in San’a.
80, XI p. 25 cm. Copy of a library that was formerly closed. Very good condition.
