Solomon Kareh
(1804 – 1885)
Solomon Kareh was the chief rabbi in San'a (Yemen). Kareh was an eminent scholar of Torah and Kabbalah. Upon the death of his father, R. Joseph, he was elected to succeed him as av bet din. After some years he was elevated to the position of chief rabbi of Yemenite Jewry, which he occupied for 40 years. His period was one of disorder and rebellions, when much suffering was endured by the community of San'a. In 1859, the year of Jacob Saphir’s visit to Yemen, he fled from San'a out of fear of the authorities and took refuge in Ḳaryat al-Ḳābil. With the Turkish occupation in 1872, he returned to the capital and the new Turkish governor appointed him ḥakham bashi. Under Turkish rule, he was given ceremonial honors, and by the authority of his office and his personal influence he protected his coreligionists from the authorities and succeeded in nullifying persecutory decrees which threatened his community.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Saphir, Massa Teiman, ed. by A. Yaari (1951), 115f., 124, 186, 188, 218; A. Koraḥ, Sa'arat Teiman (1954), 31, 46.
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.