Yahya Ben Youssef's funeral procession
Following the death of Yahya Ben Youssef last week, the Jewish community in Yemen has dwindled to just five members, among them his elderly wife, who did not attend his funeral and is feared to have the same illness that claimed her husband’s life.
Yahya, who had no children, was laid to rest by his Muslim neighbors in the village of Madar, north of the capital, Sanaa.
A local source, familiar with the situation, confirmed that only five Jews now remain in Yemen. One of them has been detained since late 2015 for participating in a smuggling operation to deliver a Torah scroll to Israel.
"Yahya was beloved by his village," the source said. "He was a good man. That’s why when he passed away, all the villagers came to bury him and held a funeral for him." A new video from the funeral shows residents carrying Yahya's body, wrapped in a Jewish prayer shawl, to a grave on a hilltop near the village.
Despite some opposition at the burial site, most villagers supported the funeral. "Yahya refused to live in the Amran province’s Al Rida area, where the other Jews reside because he loved Sanaa and his Muslim neighbors there," the source added.
Yahya had previously moved to Al Rida before 2013, living in the home of a man now residing in the Emirates, but he eventually returned to his childhood village, where he passed away.
The source noted that other Yemeni Jews frequently visited Yahya. "The Jews in Al Rida loved him and always visited him, offering him to move, but he didn't want to leave. They recently offered him to leave Yemen, but he declined, possibly due to his old age. The villagers said his death is a great loss."
First published: 12:36, 06.19.24