SHARABI Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Shar'abi is associated with Shar'ab (Sher'ab, Shar'abim), a district in south Yemen, in which there were many Jewish communities. The suffix "-i" means "of/from", in Hebrew and Arabic.
Distinguished bearers of the family name Shar'abi is Shalom Sharabi (1720-1777), the Sana (Yemen) born Jerusalem kabbalist. Sharabi is recorded as a jewish family name in a list of Jewish Yemenite families, made by Rabbi Shalom Gamliel, who was sent from Israel to Aden in 1949 to assist in the organization of the mass aliya from Yemen. A family called Sharabi, who came to Israel from Yemen during the 1950s, changed its name to Ben-David. Another Sharabi family changed its name to Sar-Avi, and yet another to Sharon.
Suf’i
(Place)Suf’i
An urban settlement on the western border of Bilad Amar district, north of the Shar’ab district, south central Yemen.
The Jewish communities of Yemen were of two types. There were district communities in the district and larger towns, which served also the neighboring villages, and there were small rural communities.
In the years 1678-1679 most of the Jews in the Jewish settlements of Yemen were exiled to Mawza on the southern shore of the Red Sea (Tihamah) by a decree of the Imam Al-Mahdi, the ruler of Yemen. A year later the expellees were allowed to return to their places but most of them were obliged to build for themselves new quarters as their former homes were either ruined or occupied by Moslems. Some demographic changes followed the year of exile. There were exiles who returned to other than their original places, while other returnees came to their place.
The relations with the authorities and the Moslem environment were based on the payment of tax in return for protection. In the towns protection was given by the local governor and in the villages by the heads of the tribes.
As in other Jewish communities of Yemen, Suf'i had no real organizational structure. The bigger district communities had a bet-din (court of justice), a president, and an Akel, a representative of the public. The bet-din in Yemen formed the spiritual leadership of the community and its authority was absolute also in secular matters, although without the sanction of the authorities. However, as much as is known, it seems that Suf'i had no bet-din. For the purpose of social aid, the support of the poor and needy, a tax on the ritual slaughter was collected.
Jewish communities near Suf'i were: Madcaran, Salahit, Sahfa, Ubeida, Ka’e Al-Harf. The nearest administrative center of the authorities was at the townlet Yarim.
The information concerning synagogues in the Jewish communities is limited and partial , as the Jews of Yemen worshipped mainly in private houses. Public institutions and public buildings hardly existed. Ritual purification was carried out in natural pools of water in the area and ritual slaughter took place in private courtyards. Schools existed in the houses in which a prayer place was available. A bet-midrash existed only in the bigger communities, attached to the synagogue.
The Jews of Suf'i engaged in various crafts: weaving, pottery, tanning, saddlery. A few Jews owned lands, but their cultivation was done by Moslems.
The community of Suf'i had no Akel for the collection of the tax for the authorities. In the 1940’s the tax was collected by the Akel of the community of Daral Rumeishi. He collected the tax from all the Jewish communities in the region and handed over the money to the Akel of Yarim, the seat of the area administration, for payment to the authorities.
In the 1940’s the community of suf'i consisted of six households of four families: Shar’abi, Madar, Levi, and Cohen. One private synagogue, at the house of Itzhak b. David Shar’abi, served the whole community. The rabbi was Rabbi Hassan b. David Shar’abi. The bet-din to which the Jews of Suf'i referred was the bet-din of the community of Madcaran, the biggest community nearby. Complicated issues were referred to the bet-din of San’a.
The Jews of the region all went to Israel by the Magic Carpet Operation in the years 1949-1950. Prior to their departure those who owned lands sold them to their Moslem neighbors. Months before embarking on the road of Aliyah, the Jews of Suf'i walked all the way to Aden, then a British colony, where the Aliyah emissaries operated. On arrival in Aden they were accommodated at special camps that had been prepared for them at Sheikh Uthman and other suburbs of Aden, until the time for boarding the aircrafts.
Shar’ab
(Place)Shar’ab
Sher'ab, Shar’abim, district in S. Yemen.
The district of Shar’ab contained 32 villages. The Shar’abim are known for their honesty, kindheartedness, hospitality, and charity; mutual help and aid to the needy are well developed among them. In Yemen many of them were weavers and tailors, and some were also landowners and coffee planters whose fields were cultivated by Arabs. These clean and easy occupations enabled them to devote themselves to the study of the Torah.
Their method of study comprised the memorization of texts by continued repetition. The main subjects of study were Aggadah and Midrash on the one hand, and Kabbalah, particularly the Zohar, on the other. The great Yemenite poets, Joseph b. Israel and Rabbi Shalom Sharbazi, were Shar’abim, as was Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, the Kabbalist.
Their immigration to Palestine commenced in 1911- 12, following S. Yavnieli's mission to Yemen. At first they were settled near the Kinneret, but they were later moved to Kefar Marmorek. Many of them became residents of the Ha-Tikvah quarter of Tel Aviv. In the moshavot they worked in agriculture and in the cities as manual laborers.