Born in 1619 in Najd al-Walīd near Taʿizz in southern Yemen, Shalom Shabazī was Yemen’s greatest Jewish poet and is popularly referred to as Mori Sālim(Rabbi or Master). Many members of his family (the Mashta) were scholars and poets, including his father, Joseph ben Avigad, who was also a leader of the local Jewish community, and Joseph ben Israel (see below). By profession, Shabazī was a weaver, and he lived in poverty in his youth. He studied with local rabbis, including his relative Israel Safra, but also spent time in Sanʿa, where he studied with the leading scholars of the Je…