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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
The two dominant Jewish ethnic groups in Israel are the
Ashkenazim (the term comes from the old Hebrew word for Germany),
which now includes Jews from northern and eastern Europe (and,
later, their descendants from America); and Sephardim (the term
comes from the old Hebrew word for Spain), which now includes Jews
of Mediterranean, Balkan, Aegean, and Middle Eastern lands. There
are differences in ritual and liturgy between these two groups, but
both sides have always recognized the validity and authority of the
other's rabbinical courts and rulings. Nor, throughout the
centuries, were scholars or notables from either branch totally
isolated from the other. In some countries, Italy for example,
communities representing both groups lived together. Originally,
Ashkenazi meant one who spoke Yiddish, a dialect of German, in
everyday life and Sephardi meant one who spoke
Ladino (see Glossary),
a dialect of Castilian Spanish. Although this narrow
understanding of Sephardim is still retained at times, in Israeli
colloquial usage, Sephardim include Jews who speak (or whose
fathers or grandfathers spoke) dialects of Arabic, Berber, or
Persian as well. In this extended sense of Sephardim, they are now
also referred to as the Edot Mizrah, "the communities of the East,"
or in English as "Oriental Jews."
Whereas the Ashkenazi-Sephardi division is a very old one, the
Ashkenazi-Oriental division is new to Israel. The term "Oriental"
refers specifically to Israelis of African or Asian origin. This
geographical distinction has developed over the years into a
euphemism for talking about the poor, underprivileged, or
educationally disadvantaged (those "in need of fostering," in the
Hebrew phrase). Some social scientists as well as some Sephardi
activists have seen a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy in this
classification. Many Sephardim will not refer to themselves as
Orientals.
The heterogenous nature of the Oriental segment of Israeli
Jewry is sometimes lost when someone speaks of "the" Oriental
community, or collects census data (as does the Central Bureau of
Statistics) on the basis of the "continent of origin"
("Europe-America versus Africa-Asia") of its citizens and
residents. The category "Oriental" includes Jews from Moroccan and
Yemeni backgrounds--to take only two examples that span the range
of the Arabic-speaking world. These two communities see themselves,
and are seen by other Israelis--particularly Ashkenazim--very
differently. Yemenis enjoy a positive self-image, and they are
likewise viewed positively by other Israelis; the Moroccans'
self-image has been more ambivalent, and they are often viewed by
others as instigators of violence and crime. Although this image
has become something of a stereotype, Moroccan Jews did instigate
acts of violence against the Labor Party in the 1981 elections, and
statistically their communities have tended to have a high crime
rate. In a similar way, Iraqi, Iranian, and Kurdish Jewish ethnic
groups all differ from one another in matters of self-perception
and perception by other Israelis. They differ also according to
such indices as income (for example, Iraqis are more concentrated
in the middle class, Kurds in the lower classes), orientation to
tradition (Yemenis are probably the most religious of all
non-Ashkenazi groups, Iranians are relatively secular), and so on.
These differences are likely to continue, moreover, as marriage
statistics in the 1980s indicate a higher rate of endogamy among
members of Oriental ethnic groups, as compared to the Ashkenazim.
As an ethnic group in the 1980s, Ashkenazim have become much more
culturally homogeneous than the Orientals.
Data as of December 1988
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