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January 13, 2016

Abandoned Jewish village


By Anis Albasha




It was a beautiful sunny day like most of the days in Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen. We were heading off to ‘Bait Baus Village’  which is a historical Jewish village located in the southern suburb of Sana’a.  When we arrived in the area, we got lost. We didn’t know which road to take to reach our destination. So, we had to stop the car and ask a taxi driver that happened to pass by. We innocently asked him :” do you know where the Jewish village is?” for some reason, the man got mad and gave us an angry look! Then he wrathfully said:” it’s not a Jewish village! It’s name is Bait Baus village.”

Frankly speaking, we couldn’t understand his reaction and we didn’t expect that any of the locals would reject the Jewish label. That’s because Jews were part of the Yemeni history and the existence of that village is proof of that part. Ironically, some historical references suggest that Baus is a Jewish man who built the village!

Anyway, the taxi driver showed us the way and we finally got there. And even though the village is not so much visited, we saw some local visitors with their children. The moment we entered the village, we felt that we crossed a door to the past. The place is unbelievably ancient but unfortunately abandoned . The houses are in a very dilapidated condition and are prone to collapse at any moment.  However, we wandered around and took so many pictures. 







At the end of our visit, I realized that no matter how some people show no spirit of tolerance for diversity, those remnant houses will always be a witness to peaceful coexistence. 





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