אנשי בראשית, תימנים בתיאטרון העברי: Yemenites in the Hebrew Theatre: Constructing and Deconstructing the Stereotypes

Abstract

This article is an archeological exploration of the representations of Yemenite figures in Hebrew drama and Israeli theatre during the twentieth century. It studies a repertoire that helps to illuminate transformations in the representation of an ethnic group in Eretz Israel. The study of the character of the Yemenite Jew in Hebrew drama and Israeli theatre necessitates familiarity with related fields because Hebrew culture is characterized by strong links between its various parts, such as those between theatre and other dramatic arts such as cinema and television. Accordingly, data from the cinematic and television repertoires that influenced the theatrical representations of the Yemenite Jews are described. Conversely, the article examines the ways in which cinema and television were affected by theatrical stagings of Yemenite characters. This paper argues that up to the establishment of the state of Israel most plays were treated as literature and were published to be read rather than performed on the stage. Therefore, the study of the Yemenite Jew in that period is mainly literary. In plays from the post-establishment period, the character of the Yemenite Jew in Hebrew theatre assumes the stereotypical dimensions of the Oriental Jew. For the immigrants from East and Central Europe, the Oriental represented the other, a stranger who awakens attraction, repulsion, and fear. Considered this way, the creators of Yemenite stereotype can be seen as the disciples of the colonialist heritage. In this article I draw from some of the theories of Stuart Hall and Richard Dyer to illuminate the position of Jewish Yemenite characters as others in Hebrew culture and especially in the theatre. The study of the repertoire delineates a few central directions in the representation of Yemenite Jews. Until the establishment of the state, the Yemenite Jews were culturally placed between "Arabs" and "Hebrew-Jews". From the 1950's, the period of the large immigration, they were categorized with the "Mizrachim." In the 1970's, a process of change affecting the stereotype of the Yemenite Jew began, due, in particular, to the emergence of Yemenite playwrights and their influence on the Israeli stage.