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http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-046.htm

EBLA: ITS IMPACT ON BIBLE RECORDS
- IMPACT No. 46 April 1977
by Clifford Wilson, M.A., B.D., Ph.D.*
© Copyright 2003 Institute for Creation Research. All Rights Reserved.

The new findings at Ebla are possibly the most significant discovery yet made so far as they relate to the background of early Bible times. The impact on some areas of Biblical knowledge will indeed be startling.

Where Ebla is Located … and the Work Begins

Tell Mardikh ¾ the ancient Ebla ¾ is on the main road to Aleppo in Northern Syria, being not quite half way between Hamath and Aleppo. It is nearer to Aleppo than to Hamath. There is a mound and a small village about one kilometer off the highway. Professor Paolo Matthiae of the Rome University has been excavating there since 1964, but his work was not spectacular until 1968 when his team produced a statue dedicated to the goddess Eshtar, and bearing the name of Ibbit-Lim, a king of Ebla. This endorsed the positive identification of the city. The kingdom of Ebla had previously been known in Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian texts, and the excavators had good clues when they began digging in this 50-feet high mound. Now their hopes were bright for the future.

In the 1975 season some 15,000 tablets were recovered. To bring the report up to date, the excavators recently reported (with a smile!) that 1976 was a poor season ¾ only 1,600 tablets were found! One tablet stated that the city had a population of 260,000.

Professor Giovanni Pettinato, also of the University of Rome, is the epigrapher working on the tablets, and some of what follows stems from his reports, both in the Biblical Archaeologist of May, 1976, and in public lectures and discussions at the University of Michigan in November 1976. Professor Matthiae also lectured at that time, and both professors were most cooperative in two days of lectures, discussion, and question and answer sessions. It was this writer's privilege to participate in these public functions, as well as in more private meetings with the archaeologists and with a number of leaders in the field of Biblical archaeology and Semitic studies.

What the Tablets Are All About

It is probable that the 17,000 tablets so far recovered are not from the major royal archives, but are rather a collection of records that were kept near the central court. Here the provisions were stored, tribute was collected, and apprentice scribes did their copying from the tablets which they would take temporarily from the royal archives themselves. A wide variety of tablets were copies, and this is of tremendous importance, for it means that today we have a wide range of these copied tablets available for study.

The two rooms where the main body of 15,000 tablets were recovered were close to the entrance to the palace. If the royal archives themselves are found as excavation proceeds, the potential for the study of Bible backgrounds and ancient history is tremendous.

As Professor Pettinato has pointed out, these are the sorts of tablets that scholars dream about, but rarely find. Personal names are included, and in one text alone 260 geographic names have been given. Other texts give lists of animals, fish, birds, professions, and names of officials.

There are a number of historical texts which can be tied in with other known records, such as those of the city of Marik, coming down to the time of Narim Sin who eventually defeated the Eblahites decisively. It appears that the city was defended by mercenaries rather than by its own army. Professor Pettinato conjectures that this is probably the reason why Akkad finally prevailed over Ebla.

The tablets would appear to date to the two last generations of the city, somewhere about 2,300 B.C. ¾ possibly 100 years earlier. The final destruction was about 2250 B.C.

There are literary texts with mythological backgrounds, incantations, collections of proverbs, and hymns to various deities. Rituals associated with the gods are referred to, many of these gods being known in Babylonian literature of a later period. These include Enki, Enlil, Utu, lnana, Tiamut, Marduk and Nadu. The god of the city of Kish is also referred to.

Most of the tablets deal with economic matters, tariffs, receipts, and other commercial dealings. However, other matters such as offerings to the gods are also dealt with.

The city was in contact with other cities all over the Near East. One of the interesting illustrations of this comes from the list of nations given to messengers as they traversed certain routes, with the names of the cities given. There are lists of towns in their geographic regions, and even lists of the towns that are subject to Ebla. Biblical towns known in later times are included, such as Ashdod and Sidon.

Vocabulary Lists in Two Languages

There are syllabaries of grammatical texts, making it possible to go from one language to another. There are no less than 114 Sumerian Eblahite vocabularies, these being the first such lists recovered from any ancient site. One of these vocabulary tablets contains nearly 1,000 translated words, and it has 18 duplicates.

It has long been known that scribes in Assyria copied tablets from Babylonia, but it is now established that scholars in Mesopotamia had also copied some of their tablets from the Syrian libraries.

When the first tablets were found, it was soon realized that this city used a very ancient language in the North West Semitic group which was previously unknown. Professor Pettinato labeled this "Paleo-Canaanite." In layman's terms, this means "ancient Canaanite." At the close of this article in Biblical Archaeologist Professor Pettinato tells us,

The pronominal and verbal systems, in particular, are so clearly defined that one can properly speak of a Paleo-Canaanite language closely akin to Hebrew and Phoenician.
These Ebla tablets are written in a Sumerian script, with Sumerian logograms adapted to represent Akkadian words and syllables. About 1,000 words were recovered initially (hundreds more later) in vocabulary lists. The words are written out in both Sumerian logograms and Eblaic syllable-type writing. These offered an invaluable key to the interpretation of many of the Ebla texts.

The vocabularies at Ebla were distinctively Semitic: the word "to write" is k-t-b (as in Hebrew), while that for "king" is "malikum," and that for "man" is "adamu." The closeness to Hebrew is surprising.

It is relevant to note that some of the tablets deal with judicial proceedings. There are elaborations as to the penalties incurred when a person is injured, and there are details about various trials. Some of these points make foolish the former criticisms against the possibility of the existence of a Mosaic law-code. Here is a civilization about 1,000 years earlier than that of Moses, and in writing it gives all sorts of details about the administration of justice. It is clearly a highly developed civilization, with concepts of justice and individual rights to the fore. To suggest that Moses could not have dealt with such cases is ludicrous.

Some tablets deal with case law, and the law code of Ebla must now be recognized as the oldest ever yet found. In dealing with the penalties for injuries, distinction is made according to the nature of the act. An injury caused by the blow of a hand merited a different penalty from one caused by a weapon such as a dagger. Differing penalties are prescribed for various offenses.

There is elaborate discussion of case law, with varying conditions recognized for what at first sight might seem to be the same crime. In the case of a complaint involving sexual relations, if the girl was able to prove that she was a virgin and that the act was forced on her, the penalty against the man was death. Otherwise he would pay a fine that varied according to circumstances. It is remarkably like Deuteronomy 22:22-30, supposedly very late according to liberal scholarship.

In the public lecture series referred to above, Professor David Noel Freedman pointed out that about 17,000 tablets and significant fragments have been found at this site, and they date to approximately 2,400 B.C. to 2,250 B.C. This would be about four times the grand total of all tablets found, dating to that period, from all other sites. The nearest in magnitude for the number of tablets would be Mari, dating several hundred years later.

Personal Names and Places In the Tablets

A number of personal names in the Ebla documents are very similar to names used at later times in the Old Testament. One such name is Michael (mi-ka-ilu) which means, "Who is like El?" A related form, also in the Ebla texts, is mi-ka-ya which is well-known in the Bible, with the ya ending replacing the el. Other names are e-sa-um (Esau), da-'u-dum (David), sha-'u'-lum (Saul), and Ish-ma-ll (Ishmael), this last meaning "II (El ¾ God) has heard me."

Other examples given by Professor Pettinato are En-na-ni-ll which gave over to En-na-ni-Ya (II/Ya has mercy on me); A-dam-Malik (man of Milik); 'il-ha-il, II is strength; Eb-du-Ra-sa-ap, Servant of Rasaph; Ish-a-bu, A man is the father; Ish-i-lum, A man is the god; I-sa-Ya, Ya has gone forth; I-ad-Damu, The hand of Damu; and Ib-na-Malik, Milik has created. Hebrew scholars recognize remarkable similarities to later Hebrew in the Old Testament, and Professor Pettinato himself states, in the Biblical Archaeologist referred to above, "Many of these names occur in the same form in the Old Testament, so that a certain interdependence between the culture of Ebla and that of the Old Testament must be granted."

Hebrew Words Akin to Ebla Words

At Ebla, the king has the Sumerian title 'en,' and according to the vocabulary lists already referred to, the Paleo-Canaanite equivalent is "Malek." This is virtually the same as the Hebrew word for "king" in the Old Testament "melek." The elders of the kingdom were the "abbu," remarkably close to "abba" (father) of the Old Testament. At many points the similarity to Old Testament Hebrew is very close.

Man's search for the true God and for spiritual truth is shown by some of the personal names at Ebla. "Mi-ka-Ya," meaning "Who is like Ya?" replaced "Mi-Ka-ll," meaning "Who is like ll (El)?" "En-na-ni-Ya" meant, "Ya has mercy on me." Re-i-na-Adad," telling the world that "Adad (a god) is our shepherd," reminds the Christian of Psalm 23 where the ultimate of that searching for divine leading and protection is found as the psalmist exclaims,"The Lord is my shepherd."

Professor Pettinato discusses the names of some of the gods attested at Eber, including "II/El of the Ugaritic texts," and tells us that "from Eber on, ll was substituted for by Ya… it appears evident that under Ebrum a new development in West Semitic religious concepts took place that permitted the rise of Ya. It would be more correct to see it as renewed acknowledgment of Yahweh. Dagan of the Old Testament is well-known, being associated with several places already known to scholars, including "Dagan of Canaan." This indicates that the term "Canaan" was known much earlier than previously believed.

One aspect of special interest to Bible students is that a number of Old Testament cities are referred to. There are cities that were previously known in lst and 2nd Millennium records, but now they are referred to in these 3rd Millennium B.C. tablets. There is Salim, possibly the city of Melchizedec, Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo, Gaza, Dor, Sinai, Ashtaroth, Joppa and Damascus. Of special interest is Urusalima (Jerusalem), this being the earliest known reference to this city.

Although a city called Salim is referred to in the tablets, there is no indication just what its geographic location is. It is referred to separately from Urusalima (Jerusalem), and this would indicate that the two cities are separate.

Two of the towns mentioned are Sodom and Gomorrah. Here we are transported back to about 2,300 B.C., and we find that these towns were regularly visited, being on the route of the King's Highway that ran down from Damascus. There are actually references to five "cities of the Plain" (to use the Biblical term at Genesis 14:2), and these were Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. We are told in that same verse that an earlier name for Zoar was Bela.

Another of the towns referred to is Carchemish, and Professor Pettinato made the point that the prophet Isaiah (at Isaiah 10:9) has a remarkable knowledge of this name, as shown in the text preserved at Isaiah 10:9. This preserves the ancient name of the god "Chemosh," the Moabite god known in later Bible times.

There is a creation record remarkably similar to the Genesis account. There are dealings with Hittites long before Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpelah from the Hittites of his time ¾ it is not so long since it was argued there were no Hittites so early. There are treaties and covenants similar to those in Exodus, and for the protection of society there are laws that point towards the concept of justice so prominent in Exodus. There are ritualistic sacrifices long before those of Leviticus, and before the Canaanites from whom some critics claimed the Hebrews borrowed them. There are prophets proclaiming their message long before the nevi'im (prophets) of the Old Testament, though the Old Testament's superiority in the realms of ethics, morality, and spiritual values stands unchallenged. The Old Testament records have that indefinable something that is different. Metaphorically, they bear within them the imprint of the finger of God.

The story has only just begun and there will be echoes from Eber for generations to come. It is at least thought-provoking that findings such as those at Ebla consistently support the Bible as a thoroughly acceptable record. To this writer it is far more than a wonderful history text: it is God's Word of Truth, His revelation of Himself in the Person of His Son.

* Dr. Clifford Wilson is an archaeologist, linguist and Bible scholar. He has a Ph.D. in Psycholinguistics from the University of South Carolina and is a member of the faculty at Monash University in Australia.
The foregoing material is taken from Dr. Clifford Wilson's new book EBLA TABLETS: Secrets of a Forgotten City, published by Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, CA 92115. (Publication date: April, 1977 - Price: $1.95)

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Eloah immakhem,

Very interesting article you have posted. Recently I have studied some of the Sumerograms in Akkadian cuneiforms, and trying to understand the phonetic Sumerian that was translated into Akkadian readings.

Several of the Sumerian logographic/semiphonetic writings are very shocking to me.

First I would like to know if you "or anybody else here" is aware of these Sumerian findings that use the names YH, Yahh, Yah, etc.

If anybody is at all familiar with this, then I would like to discuss this with you in a private forum.

Shalom,

Brother Yohanan

quote:

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Originally posted by Yahwehwitnesses:
Shalom Shimson,

Very interesting article you have posted. Recently I have studied some of the Sumerograms in Akkadian cuneiforms, and trying to understand the phonetic Sumerian that was translated into Akkadian readings.

Several of the Sumerian logographic/semiphonetic writings are very shocking to me.

First I would like to know if you "or anybody else here" is aware of these Sumerian findings that use the names YH, Yahh, Yah, etc.

If anybody is at all familiar with this, then I would like to discuss this with you in a private forum.

Shalom,

Brother Yohanan

[This message has been edited by Yahwehwitnesses (edited 12-29-2003).]

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Greetings Yohanan,

I know about some of what you are mentioning. There are have been a lot of discoveries all over the middle east, and in Egypt which show that varioius cultures worshipped deities with a Yah or Yahu sounding name. If you want to discuss it privately just let me know where you want to discuss it.

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Eloah immakhem,

Sorry for my delay. Been very busy.

I will be back on Jan 2nd.
Do you have e-mail address, or?

Shalom

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yahwehwitnesses:
Shalom Shimson,

Sorry for my delay. Been very busy.

I will be back on Jan 2nd.
Do you have e-mail address, or?

Shalom

Brother Yohanan

---

You can email me at rashad_harbert@yahoo.com.

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Eloah immakhem,

Contents of the Moabite Stone - The Mesha Stele - 930 BC
http://www.piney.com/BabMoabite.html

I am Mesha, son of Kemoshmelek, the king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father was king over Moab for thirty years, and I became king after my father.

And I made this high place for Kemosh in Qarhar . . . because of the deliverance of Mesha, and because he has saved me from all the kings and because he caused me to see [my desire] upon all who hated me. Omri, king of Israel -- he oppressed Moab many days, because Chemosh was angry with his land.

And his son succeeded him, and he also said I will oppress Moab. In my day he spoke according to this word, but I saw my desire upon him and upon his house, and Israel utterly perished forever.

Now Omri had possessed all the land of Medeba and dwelt in it his days and half the days of his son, forty years, but Chemosh restored it in my day. And I built Baal-meon and I made in it the reservoir and I built Kiryathaim. And the men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Ataroth from ofold and the king of Israel had built for himself Ataroth. And I foutht against the city and took it, and I slew all the people of the city, a sight pleasing to Chemosh and to Moab.

And I brought back from there the altar-hearth of Duda and I dragged it before Chemosh in Kiryoth. And I caused to dwell in it the men of Sharon and the men of Meharoth (?).

And Chemosh said to me: "Go take Nebo against Israel"; and I went by night and fought against it from break of dawn till noon, and I took it and slew all, seven thousand men, boys (?), and women, and girls, for I had devoted it to Ashtar-Chemosh.

And I took from there the altar-hearths of YHWH, and I dragged them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel built Jabaz and dwelt in it while he fought with me and Chemosh drove him out from before me. And I took from Moab two hundred men, all its chiefs, and I led them against Jahaz and took it to add unto Dibon.

And I built Qarhar (?), the wall of the forests and the wall of the hill; and I built its gates and I built its towers, and I built the kings house, and I made the sluices (?) for the reservoir of water in the midst of the city.

And there was no cistern in the midst of the city, in Qarhar (?); and I said to all the people: "Make you each a cistern in his house;" and I cut the cuttings for Qarhar (?) with the help of the prisoners of Israel. I built Aroer and I made the highway by the Arnon. And I built Beth-bamoth, for it had been destroyed. And I built Bezer, for it was in ruins....(Chi) of Dibon wer fifty, for all Dibon was obedient. And I ruled. And I ruled a hundred....in the cities which I had added to the land. And I built [Mede]ba dnd Beth-diblathan. And [as for] Beth-baal-meon, there I placed sheep-raisers....sheep of the land... And [as for] Horonaim there dwelt in it....and.....Chemosh said unto me: "Go down, fight against Horonaim," and I went down and....Chemosh in my day, and from there.....and I.......

Source: George A Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, Seventh Edition, p. 460-461

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Eloah immakhem,

During the period of Hadrian many of the Samaritan scrolls were either burnt or stolen, leaving few sources at their deposal. In 1352, the High Priest Pinhas gave the task of composing a book of Samaritan history to Abul-Fath. It was completed in 1355. During the research through all that was left of the Samaritan scrolls, they found at Nablus, the now famous, the Abisha Scroll. It is written in the scroll between the columns of Dt.5, 6ff: “I Abisha, the son of Pinhas, the son of Eleazer, son of Aaron, The Kohen, to whom be the favor of the Lord and his glory. I have written this the Holy Scroll at the gate of the Tent of the Assembly on Mount Garizim, Beth El, in the 13th year of the settlement of the Children of Israel in the land of Canaan. I thank the Lord.” This Pentateuch of Abisha was written in a form of the palaeo-Hebrew on sewed lambskin or goat-skin from a peace offering.

There are over 6000 details differing between the Jewish Masoretic Pentateuch. Most are small variants but in some cases there are great divisions between the two writes. The most important case is the word ‘chosen’ that appears, where the Jews have ‘will chose,’ concerning the sacred place. The Samaritan Pentateuch also contains an additional tenth commandment, where as the Jewish ten being reckoned nine. This refers to Mount Gerizim as the Holy Mount. The LXX is said to have as many agreements as 1,900 readings common with the Samaritan Text. Among them is the case of the Jewish text, Joshua set up an altar on Ebal. In the Samaritan and LXX says the altar was set up on Gerizim, the blessed mountain where the Tabernacle stood for many years.

Samaritan religious life emerges from the whole code of law of the words from the Pentateuch. Nothing can be added to the written word of the Torah. Therefore the Samaritans are the true keepers of the Law, the “Shamerim.”

The Samaritans have many times displayed to visitors their most sacred Scroll over the years. It is not allowed for any one Samaritan to show the Scroll alone. In the early 1900’s, the Samaritans allowed each page of the scroll to be photographed. The Scroll bearing traces of its antiquity where parts have become illegible and some letters have been rewritten.

It has been a controversy to many western scholars through the years of it authenticity. Many have studied it and wrote much about it. Early references of the Samaritan Pentateuch can be found in the writings of Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Epiphanius, Cyril of Jerusalem and Jerome, who used it in translating the Vulgate. Some scholars have wanted pieces of the famous scroll to perform tests of it legitimacy. But this would not be permissible. John Usgate in 1734 and others through the years have tried to purchase the Abisha scroll but to no avail. Many scrolls of the Samaritan Pentateuch have been collected. Pieto Della purchased scrolls in 1616 that made way to Italy and Paris. Manuscripts can be found in Rylands Library at the University of Manchester, the British Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationle, Michigan State University and few private collections.

There is no current reading of the Samaritan translation of the Torah in English but one Samaritan is working to remedy this situation and hopefully will be published soon. Copies of the Samaritan Torah can be obtained today mainly from the Samaritans in Holon or mount Gerizim. There is a book that does give the pronunciations of the Samaritan dialect written by Z. Ben-Hayyim.

For further study: In our articles section: Mount Gerizim, The One True Sanctuary by Jacob, son of Aaron, High Priest of the Samaritans. Mount Gerizim Bet-El and Jerusalem by Israel Tsedaka

Books: The Samaritan Pentateuch and Origin of the Samaritan Sect by James D. Purvis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1968.

The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research by Emanuel Tov, Simor Ltd. Jerusalem, 1997

The Literary and Oral Tradition of Hebrew and Aramaic Amongst the Samaritans, Vol. IV The Words of the Pentateuch by Z. Ben-Hayyim The Academy of the Hebrew Language, Jerusalem 1977.

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Eloah immakhem,

http://www.tekhelet.com/pub.htm

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Eloah immakhem,

Originally the Samaritans or Shamerim (keepers, as they call themselves)were divided into two groups, Dosithean and Sabbuai. The Sabbuai later became known as the Kushaniyya, the modern day Samaritans are from this group. The Kushaniyya refused to pronounce the divine name and supplanted it with the term Shema (Aramaic for "The Name"). The Dositheans on the other hand used the divine name, but as they no longer exist it cannot be known how they pronounced the divine name. Many scholars claim that the pronunciation of the Divine Name as "Yahweh" is accurate due to Samaritan inscriptions written in Greek which write the Divine Name as "Yabe." The Samaritans in most instances pronounce beth, veth, waw, pe and fe as a "b". But what these scholars fell to realize is that the Samaritans like the Rabbinates subsituted a the Name with another word when they came accross the Name written in the Torah. The Samaritans unlike the Rabbinates did not read Adhonai when they came accross the Divine Name, but "yabe" or innon-Samaritan pronunciation "yafe" (Beautiful). Therefore the pronunciation of the divine name as Yahweh is inaccurate based upon the Samaritan/Kushaniyya desire 'not' to pronounce the divine name. Thus, not even the Samaritans to our knowledge remained as one group, who were in complete agreement with one another.

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Eloah immakhem,

History of the community
Local Yemenite Jewish traditions trace the earliest settlement of Jews in this region back to the time of King Solomon. Interestingly enough, the Chabashim (Jews in neighboring Ethiopia) have a sister legend of their origins that places the Queen of Sheba as married to King Solomon. The Sanaite Jews have a legend that their ancestors settled there forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, travelled to Yemen; when Ezra the scribe commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, whereupon he pronounced a ban upon them. Tradition states, however, that as a punishment for this hasty action Ezra was denied burial in Palestine. As a result of this local tradition, which is can not be validated historically, no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are used. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a poor people for not heading his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of many Yeminites, as Yemen is extremely poor.

The actual immigration of Jews into Yemen appears to have taken place about the beginning of the second century C.E., although the province is mentioned neither by Josephus nor by the main books of the Jewish oral law, the Mishnah and Talmud. According to some sources, the Jews of Yemen enjoyed prosperity until the sixth century C.E., and the fourth sovereign before Dhu Nuwas was a convert to Judaism.

Yemenite Jews and Maimonides
The average Jewish population of Yemen for the first five centuries C.E. is said to have been about 3,000. The Jews were scattered throughout the country, but carried on an extensive commerce and thus succeeded in getting possession of many Jewish books. When Saladin became sultan in the last quarter of the twelfth century and the Shiite Muslims revolted against him, the trials of the Yemenite Jews began. There were few scholars among them at that time, and a putative prophet arose; he preached a syncrectic religion that combined Judaism and Islam, and claimed that the Bible foretold his coming.

One of Yemen's most respected Jewish scholars, Jacob ben Nathanael al-Fayyumi, wrote for counsel to Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. Maimonides replied in a epistle entitled Iggeret Teman (The Yemen Epistle). This letter made a tremendous impression on Yemenite Jewry, and effectivly stopped the new religious movement.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the condition of the Jews of Yemen was miserable. They were under the jurisdiction of the local Muslim Imam, and they were forbidden to wear new or good clothes, nor might they ride a donkey or a mule. They were compelled to make long journeys on foot when occasion required it. They were prohibited from engaging in money transactions, and were all mechanics, being employed chiefly as carpenters, masons, and smiths.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century they are said to have numbered 30,000, and to have lived principally in Aden (200), Sana (10,000), Sada (1,000), Dhamar (1,000), and the desert of Beda (2,000). The chief industry of the Jews of Yemen at this time was the making of pottery.

Groups
The three main groups of Yemenite Jews are the Baladi, the Shami and the Rambamists. In the early part of this century, a group of Rambamists called Dor Daim (the generation of Knowledge) became strong sub-group of the original surviving Rambamists. Their goal was to bring Yemenite Jews back to their original Rambam method of understanding. This is the method of Judaism that existed in old (pre-1600's) Yemen.

The liturgy of Baladim Jews developed were developed by a rabbi known as the Maharitz. He attempted to break the deadlock between the followers of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) and the followers of the mystic, Isaac Luria. Before this point, the Baladim were actually Rambamists.

Dor Da'im are followers of Maimonides who did not accept the Maharitz's compromise. They reject the Zohar, a famous book of esoteric Jewish mysticism. They are similar to the old-time Spanish Portuguese (Western Sefaradic Jews), who are also known to be strict Rambamists that reject the Zohar.

In terms of liturgy and of interpreting Jewish law Shami Yemenite Jews were strongly influenced by Syrian Sepharadi Jews, though on some issues they reject the later European codes of Jewish law, and instead follow the earlier decisions of Maimonides. Unlike the Baladiim, they accepted the validity, authenticity and content of the Zohar. They had no problems in changing the original Yemenite nusahh (prayer book) into their own newly-created mystical concoction. They also had no problem in infusing Yemen with their Kabalistic outlook--which made social progress out of poverty a non-goal.

Form of Hebrew
There are two main pronunciations of Yemenite Hebrew, considered by many to be the most accurate form of Hebrew. Although there are technically five in total that relate to the regions of Yemen. In the Yemenite dialiect, all hebrew letters have a distinct sound, except for the letters samekh and seen. The Sana'ani pronunciation (used by the majority) has been indirectly critiqued by Saadia Gaon since it contains the Hebrew letters jimmel and guf, which he rules is incorrect.

Rabbi Mazuz postulates this hypothesis through the Jerban (Tunisia) Jewish dialect's use of gimmel & quf, switching to jimmel & guf when talking with Gentiles in the Gentile dialect of Jerba. Some feel that the Shar'abi pronunciation of Yemen is more accurate & similar to the Babylonian dialect since they both use a gimmel and quf, instead of the jimmel and guf.

Writings
The oldest Yemenite manuscripts are those of the Hebrew Bible, which the Yemenite Jews call "Taj" ("crown"). They date from the ninth century, and each of them has a short Masoretic introduction, while many contain Arabic commentaries.

Yemenite Jews were acquainted with the works of Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Kimhi, Nahmanides, r. Yehudah ha Levy, and Isaac Arama, besides producing a number of exegetes from among themselves. In the fourteenth century Nathanael b. Isaiah wrote an Arabic commentary on the Bible; in the second half of the fifteenth century Saadia ben David al-Adani was the author of a commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Abraham ben Solomon wrote on the Prophets.

Among the midrash collections from Yemen mention should be made of the "Midrash ha-Gadol" of David bar Amram al-'Adani. Between 1413 and 1430 the physician Yahhya Zekharyah b. Solomon wrote a compilation entitled "Midrash ha-Hhefess," which included the Pentateuch, Lamentations, Esther, and other sections of the Hebrew Bible. Between 1484 and 1493 David al-Lawani composed his "Midrash al-Wajiz al-Mughni."

Among the Yemenite poets who wrote Hebrew and Arabic hymns modeled after the Spanish school, mention may be made of Yahhya al-Dhahri and the members of the Al-Shabbezi family. A single non-religious work, inspired by Hhariri, was written in 1573 by Zekharyah ben Saadia (identical with the Yahhya al-Dhahri mentioned above), under the title "Sefer ha-Musar." The philosophical writers include: Saadia b. Jabess and Saadia b. Mas'ud, both at the beginning of the fourteenth century; Ibn al-Hhawas, the author of a treatise in the form of a dialogue written in rimed prose, and termed by its author the "Flower of Yemen"; Hhasan al-Dhamari; and Joseph ha-Levi b. Jefes, who wrote the philosophical treatises "Ner Yisrael" (1420) and "Kitab al-Masassah."

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Eloah immakhem,

Shimson bar-Tzadoq