[Avodah] Mamlekhat Chimyar

[Micha Berger]

I stumbled across reference to the Humyarite Kingdom, which existed from
110 bce - 525 ce. Based in Yemen, ruled over much of the Arabian Peninsula.
It seems that they went Jewish. (Shades of the Khazars.)

See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himyarite_Kingdom#Jewish_monarchy>:
> The Himyarite kings appear to have abandoned polytheism and converted
> to Judaism around the year 380, several decades after the conversion of
> the Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum to Christianity (340), though no changes
> occurred in its script, calendar, or language (unlike Aksum).[7] This
> date marks the end of an era in which numerous inscriptions record the
> names and deeds of kings, and dedicate buildings to local (e.g. Wagal
> and Simyada) and major (e.g. Almaqah) gods. From the 380s, temples were
> abandoned and dedications to the old gods ceased, replaced by references
> to Rahmanan, "the Lord of Heaven" or "Lord of Heaven and Earth".[8] The
> political context for this conversion may have been Arabia's interest
> in maintaining neutrality and good trade relations with the competing
> empires of Byzantium, which first adopted Christianity under Constantine
> the Great and the Sasanian Empire, which alternated between Zurvanism
> and Manichaeism.[9]
...
> During this period, references to pagan gods disappeared from royal
> inscriptions and texts on public buildings, and were replaced by
> references to a single deity. Inscriptions in the Sabean language, and
> sometimes Hebrew, called this deity Rahman (the Merciful), "Lord of the
> Heavens and Earth," the "God of Israel" and "Lord of the Jews." Prayers
> invoking Rahman's blessings on the "people of Israel" often ended with
> the Hebrew words shalom and amen. [16]

I wonder about the kashrus of the conversion, and did it pose a rei'usa
when discussing the Jewishness of Teimani immigrants to Israel.

A lichtikn un freilechn Chanukah
un a gutt voch!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Life isn't about finding yourself
micha at aishdas.org        Life is about creating yourself.
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