Yemenite Jewish poetry
There is to be noted in Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī's ("circa" 1531 – d. 1608) poetic style a marked transition from the early Spanish-type of poetry typical of Yemen prior to his time (depicted in the prosaic writings of Daniel berav Fayyūmī and Avraham b. Ḥalfon, both, of Yemenite Jewish provenance) and the later classical Yemenite poetic writings (as depicted in the liturgical poems composed by Yosef ben Israel and Shalom Shabazi). Unlike the latter who compiled works, both, in Hebrew and in Judeo-Arabic, al-Ḍāhirī's corpus of prosaic writings are written almost exclusively in Hebrew. Much of al-Ḍāhirī's poetry was inspired by the great Spanish poets, while other works are said to have been inspired by Immanuel of Rome. Some of al-Ḍāhirī's poems are panegyrics influenced by the Arabic "madiḥ", in praise of great Jewish scholars, such as Rabbeinu Yerucham (1290-1350), a Provençal rabbi who moved to Spain in 1306, following the expulsion of the Jews from France. Other panegyrics were written about Rabbi Obadiah di Bertinoro (c. 1445-1515) and Maimonides.
Zechariah Dhahiri
Upon Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī's return to Yemen in 1568, during the Turkish-Yemeni wars, al-Ḍāhirī was imprisoned in Sana’a, along with other principal persons of the Jewish community, for a period of one year in earnest by the lame theocratic ruler, al-Imām al-Mutahhar b. al-Mutawakkil Yaḥya Sharaf ad-Din, who allegedly suspected them of collaborating with the enemy. Al-Ḍāhirī, writing about this experience, says that he saw his own suffering as God's way of punishing him for his having left the Land of Israel and returning to Yemen. It was during this time that he began to write his momentous work, Sefer Ha-Mūsar – a record of his travel experiences, at the age of thirty-seven, although it was completed several decades later. After the community's release from prison, the lame king still kept a firm grip upon his Jewish subjects, scattering them in different places throughout the country where they were kept under close-surveillance while working in the many towers built in that country. This close-surveillance continued unabated until the king's death in 1573. After the king's death, the Jews of Yemen were released from their incarceration by the succeeding ruler, who had borne a grudge against the former king and had destroyed his heirs to the throne. It was during this confinement to the towers (between 1569-1573) that Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī also completed another momentous work, which he composed mainly in the late hours of the night, viz., the book, Ṣeidah la’derekh (Victuals for the Road), being a commentary on the Pentateuch where he interweaves "kabbalistic" themes and philosophy drawn from the "Zohar", Rabbi Saadia Gaon, Maimonides’ "Guide for the Perplexed", Yosef Albo's "Sefer Ha`iqarim" and Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla’s "Sha'are Orah". He mentions that during the period of this book's compilation, he and his family were not permitted to leave the tower except with prior consent of his overseers. It was at this time that al-Ḍāhirī made a vow to return to the Holy Land, after he had performed a pending vow. It is uncertain whether or not he ever made the return trip.