Aden has recently come to the forefront as the scene of an Arab attack upon the Jewish quarter by incited nationalists, who accused the Jews of defiling one of their mosques.
This has served to create interest in the population and the conditions under which Jews and Arabs there live.
The population of Aden is estimated at 50,000, of whom the majority are Moslems, including Arabs, Somalis, and Indians. In addition to the English soldiers and officials, there are a number of Hindus, Parsees, and Europeans. Most of the Europeans reside outside of the city, on the seashore and the hills, while the natives inhabit the crater of an extinct volcano, which is the real Aden.
The Jews, as “natives,” occupy a few congested blocks within the crater, and are surrounded by Hindus, Parsees, and Arabs, with whom they seldom come in contact. Mutual prejudice and distrust exist between the religious factions. A man of one religious persuasion can scarcely visit the house of another, lest he defile the abode. “Everyone for himself” is the password of Aden. It is probable that if this were not the case there would always be serious friction between the various factions, which range in character from the purest monotheism to the grossest polytheism and Animism.
PRONOUNCED TYPE
The Jews, who number about 5,000 persons, are of a pronounced type, and lean more towards the Mongolian than to the Semitic cast of countenance. Very few of them present a good physique. The women, especially, have little grace, and age rapidly. They are deeply religious, and pass most of the day in prayer, meditation, and the recitation of psalms and mystic lore. They live entirely in the past. Here the sun still revolves around the earth, which drifts rudderless on a vast unknown ocean. Here the letter of a sacred book is still more valid than a proven fact. Here the “medicine man,” the amulet, and the incantation are more potent than all modern science.
There is no doubt that the Jewish community in Aden had its origin in the remote past. Some claim for it a hoary antiquity. It is said that Aden is no other than Ezion Gaber, and that on their way from Egypt to Palestine the Israelites passed the city. Another theory is that Solomon built a colony here, as a stop-over for his ships bringing gold from Ophir. All the evidence which is advanced proves, at any rate, that the Jews were here long before the British, possibly long before the British were in Britain.
DEPARTED GLORY
The Jews of Aden are all traders. There are no Jewish workers, physicians, lawyers, government officials or clerks. At one time there were a number of powerful merchant-princes, who wielded a great deal of power in local affairs. Two rival families of wealth and influence still exist. They are the Menahem Messa family and the Ahroni family. Both were for many years the pride and glory of their poorer brethren in and around Aden. Recently however, much of the trade of Aden (coffee, skins, etc.) has slipped from their hands, and drifted into other channels. The leading merchants are now Europeans and a few Parsees from India. And the Jews, hated before for their wealth, are now doubly despised for their poverty.
The attacks on the Jews would never have taken place if they had still their rich and powerful protectors. But their old glory has vanished. The Jewish community has been humbled and humiliated to the dust. The mighty House
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