If you’ve ever attended an Israeli wedding, joined a local folk dance session, or experienced a traditional Henna celebration, you’ve undoubtedly seen the Yemeni Step (Tza’ad Temani). It is one of those foundational pillars of Israeli culture, a movement people dance constantly, often without pausing to think about where it actually comes from. Here’s a closer look at how that style works, what makes it so unique, and how it found a lasting home in modern Israel.

Haim Nissim Amzlag was a Jewish businessman and community leader during the Yishuv period.

Decades before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the establishment of a Jewish state embodying Zionist ideology had already started.

Moshe Yitzhak Matlon was one of Tel Aviv's founders. Born in Jaffa, he studied at Mikve Israel and was one of the first Sephardim to graduate from the school. Then, he studied law, and in 1896, opened a law office in Jaffa and became one of the first Jewish lawyers in the city. The Matlon family first arrived in Israel from Iraq in 1817, over 200 years ago, playing a pioneering role in establishing the Jewish community in Jaffa.