Hayyim Habshush was a prominent nineteenth-century Jewish scholar from Sanaa, Yemen. He is best known for authoring A Vision of Yemen, a book which both chronicles his travels across his country with the French orientalist Joseph Halevy in 1870 and describes the social and political life of the people they encounter, who are mostly Jews but also Muslims. Habshush was a pillar of the Sanaa Jewish community, with an abiding interest in those outside of it. He also maintained an interest in 19th-century European Jewish intellectual debates, and advocated strongly against mysticism and messianic movements among Yemeni Jews. A voracious reader, Habshush would reportedly station himself near the synagogue bookshelf, the better to sneak books to stave off boredom during services. Occasionally, he would even bring Islamic books with him to synagogue to the consternation of the congregation. In this photograph Habshush, dressed in his traveling clothes, poses with a copy of Ha-Magid, a European Jewish newspaper.

At left, author’s photograph of original photograph in Habshush family collection.