Yemenite Jews in the context of "Halakha"

Jewish religious movements, sometimes called "denominations", include diverse groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times. Samaritans are also considered ethnic Jews by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, although they are frequently classified by experts as a sister Hebrew people, who practice a separate branch of Israelite religion. Today in the West, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Orthodox movements (including Haredi ultratraditionalist and Modern Orthodox branches) and modernist movements such as Reform Judaism originating in late 18th century Europe, Conservative (Masorti) originating in 19th century Europe, and other smaller ones, including the Reconstructionist and Renewal movements which emerged later in the 20th century in the United States.

In Israel, variation is moderately similar, differing from the West in having roots in the Old Yishuv and pre-to-early-state Yemenite infusion, among other influences. For statistical and practical purposes, the distinctions there are based upon a person's attitude to religion. Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni), "traditional" (masortim), "religious" (dati) or ultra-religious (haredi).

A targum (Imperial Aramaic: תרגום, interpretation, translation, version; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Hebrew: תַּנַ״ךְ, romanized: Tana"kh) that a professional translator (מְתוּרגְמָן mǝṯurgǝmān) would give in the common language of the listeners when that was not Biblical Hebrew. This had become necessary near the end of the first century BCE, as the common language was Aramaic, while Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. The translator frequently expanded his translation with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of sermon.

Writing down the targum was initially prohibited; nevertheless, some targumitic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century. They were not recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders. Some subsequent Jewish traditions, beginning with the Jews of Lower Mesopotamia, accepted the written targumim as authoritative translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic. Today, the common meaning of targum is a written Aramaic translation of the Bible. Only Yemenite Jews continue to use the targumim liturgically.

The Old Yishuv (Hebrew: היישוב הישן, haYishuv haYashan) were the Jewish communities of the region of Palestine during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah waves, and the consolidation of the new Yishuv by the end of World War I. Unlike the new Yishuv, characterized by secular and Zionist ideologies promoting labor and self-sufficiency, the Old Yishuv primarily consisted of religious Jews who relied on external donations (halukka) for support.

The Old Yishuv evolved following a significant decline in Jewish communities across the region during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and was composed of three clusters. Firstly, Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jewish communities settled in the region during the late Mamluk and early Ottoman periods, alongside Arabic-speaking Musta'arabi communities, who had already been living there since before the coming of Islam and had been culturally and linguistically Arabized. Secondly, Ashkenazi Jews emigrated from Europe in the 18th and early 19th centuries, forming another group. A third wave of Yishuv members arrived in the late 19th century, hailing from Europe, North Africa, Yemen, Persia, and the Caucasus. These migrations gave rise to two distinct communities within the Old Yishuv—the Sephardim (including Musta'arabim) and the Askhenazim.

Mizrahi Jews (Hebrew: יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as Mizrahim (מִזְרָחִים) in plural and Mizrahi (מִזְרָחִי) in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or Edot HaMizrach (עֲדוֹת־הַמִּזְרָח, lit. 'Communities of the East'), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jewish communities that lived in the Muslim world.Mizrahi is a political sociological term that was coined with the creation of the State of Israel. It translates as "Easterner" in Hebrew.

The term Mizrahi is almost exclusively applied to descendants of Jewish communities from North Africa, Central Asia, West Asia, and parts of the North Caucasus. This includes Iraqi Jews, Iranian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Kurdish Jews, Afghan Jews, Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews, and the small community of Bahraini Jews. The aforementioned groups are believed to derive their ancestry in large part from the Babylonian captivity. Yemenite Jews are also Mizrahi Jews, though they differ from other Mizrahim, who have undergone a process of total or partial assimilation to Sephardic law and customs.

Ktav Ashuri (Hebrew: כְּתָב אַשּׁוּרִי‎, k'tav ashurí, lit. "Assyrian Writing") also (Ktav) Ashurit, is the traditional Hebrew language name of the Hebrew alphabet, used to write both Hebrew and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is often referred to as (the) Square script. The names "Ashuri" (Assyrian) or "square script" are used to distinguish it from the Paleo-Hebrew script.

According to Halakha (Jewish religious law), tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzot (door-post scripts) can only be written in Ashurit.

The genetic history of the Middle East is the subject of research within the fields of human population genomics, archaeogenetics and Middle Eastern studies. Researchers may use Y-DNA, mtDNA, other autosomal DNA, whole genome, or whole exome information to identify the genetic history of ancient and modern populations of Arabia, Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkey, and other areas.

Jewish religious movements, sometimes called "denominations", include diverse groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times, including Qaraite Judaism and the majority group, Rabbinic Judaism. Samaritans are also considered ethnic Jews by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. However, experts frequently classify them as a sister ethnicity practicing a separate branch of Yahwism. Today in the West, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Orthodox movements (including Modern Orthodox Judaism and the ultratraditionalist Haredi Judaism) and modernist movements such as Reform Judaism originating in late 18th century Europe, Conservative Judaism originating in 19th century Europe, and other smaller ones, including Reconstructionist Judaism and Jewish Renewal movements, which emerged later in the 20th century in the United States.

In Israel, variation is moderately similar, differing from the West in having roots in the Old Yishuv and pre-to-early-state Yemenite infusion, among other influences.