#margalit oved

[adiradirim]

Margalit Oved, Yemenite Jewish dancer, choreographer, singer, actress, and musician. Oved left an indelible mark on twentieth-century Jewish culture through her inventive and modern interpretations of ancient biblical tales utilizing influences from the Yemen of her childhood, the Israel of her adolescence, and the Los Angeles of her adulthood. Women have long been at the forefront of preserving Jewish community dance practices and traditions, particularly from diasporas that were violently dispersed and no longer exist or are dangerously dwindling, as Oved herself was forced to flee Yemen as a child after the Aden pogroms of 1949. Read more about her here.

[jewishvirtuallibrary-blog]

Video of Margalit Oved speaking about Jewish life in Aden, Yemen; 2011.

Aden had a Jewish community of great importance, which reached its peak during the 12th century. By the end of the 11th century there was a "representative of the merchants" in Aden. He bore the Hebrew title sar ha-kehillot ("chief of the congregations"), which indicates that he was head of the Jewish communities of both Aden and Yemen.

In addition to business and family ties, there were communal and religious relations between the Jews of Aden and practically all the Jewish communities in the region. "Aden and India" formed one juridical diocese: the Jewish merchants and craftsmen of about 20 different ports of India and Ceylon were under the jurisdiction of the rabbinical court of Aden. In Yemen itself, the authority of the court of Aden extended as far as Sa’dah, the northernmost Jewish community of the country. The rabbinical court of Aden regarded itself subordinate to that of the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

[jewishvirtuallibrary-blog]

The Inbal dance troupe posing after performing the "On the Wings of Eagles" ceremony, marking 50 years since the immigration of Yemenite Jews to Israel, in the Knesset building in Jerusalem, Israel; 1998. x

The Inbal dance theater is Israel’s first and oldest modern dance company.  It was established in 1949 by Sara Levi-Tanai; a Yemenite Jewish woman who was a choreographer, artist, and song writer.  Many of the early performances of the company were made centered around Margalit Oved; an exceptionally talented Yemenite-Jewish dancer.  The Inbal dance theater continues to exist to this day and has received countless awards internationally, as well as put on performances around the world; including on Broadway.