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Mizrahi Jews

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For the Religious Zionist Movement and other entities and people named "Mizrachi", please see the Mizrachi disambiguation page.
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Mizrahi Jews, or Mizrahim (מזרחי "Easterner", Standard Hebrew Mizraḥi, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥî; plural מזרחים "Easterners", Standard Hebrew Mizraḥim, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥîm) sometimes also called Edot HaMizrah (Congregations of the East) are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East. Included in the Mizrahi category are Jews from the Arab world, as well as other communities from other Muslim countries, including the Georgian Jews, Persian Jews, Bukharan Jews, Syrian Jews, Mountain Jews, Yemenite Jews, Indian Jews, Berber Jews and Kurdish Jews.

History and usage

"Mizrahi" is literally translated as "Eastern", מזרח (Mizrach) being 'East" in Hebrew. The original use of the terms "Mizrahi" and "Edot ha-Mizrach" was as a translation of the Arabic term Mashriqiyyun (Easterners), referring to the people of Syria, Iraq and other Asian countries, as distinct from those of North Africa (Maghrabiyyun).

In modern Israeli usage, it refers to all Jews from Arabic and Asian countries. The term came to be widely used by Mizrahi activists in the early 1990s, and since then has become a widely accepted designation. [1]

Many Mizrahim today reject this (or any) umbrella description and prefer to identify themselves by their particular country of origin, or that of their immediate ancestors, e.g. "Iraqi Jew", "Tunisian Jew", "Persian Jew", etc. In the past Mizrahim were also known as Oriental Jews or Arabian jews though now, most of the arabian jews prefer to be named as an Oriental jews and it is especially common to identify them such in the western hemisphere.

Other designations

Many speakers, especially in Israel, identify all non-Ashkenazi Jews as Sephardim. The reason for this usage is that most Mizrahi communities use much the same religious ritual as Sephardim proper (i.e. Jews of Spanish descent), and can therefore be described as "Jews of the Spanish rite", though not as "Spanish Jews": for more detail, see Sephardic Judaism. This broader definition of "Sephardim" is common in religious circles, especially those associated with the Shas political party.

Others prefer to differentiate between Sephardim proper and Mizrahim. There is some disagreement on whether Spanish-descended Sephardim from Eastern countries (e.g. Turkish Jews) should be described as "Mizrahim" or not.

In many Arab countries there was a social distinction between Spanish-speaking Sephardim arriving after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and the older Arabic-speaking communities. The latter were often referred to as "Musta'arabim" (by themselves) or "Moriscos" (by the Sephardim).

Another term occasionally used for Mizrahim originating in Arab lands is "Arab Jews". Because of political tensions stemming from the Arab-Israeli conflict, few Mizrahim now identify themselves as "Arabs" or "Arab Jews". One argument against the term "Arab Jews" is that some of the communities referred to originated as early as the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE), thus antedating the Arab Muslim conquest by a millennium. At present the term is mainly used by official and journalistic sources in the Arab world, but it has been reclaimed by some Mizrahi activists such as Ella Habiba Shohat, Sami Shalom Chetrit and David Rabeeya as well as some of the Ashkenazi community in Israel .

Language

Main article: Judeo-Arabic languages

Mizrahi communities spoke a number of Judeo-Arabic dialects such as Maghrebi, though these are now mainly used as a second language. Among other languages associated with Mizrahim are Judeo-Persian (Dzhidi), Gruzinic, Bukhori, Kurdish, Judeo-Berber, Juhuri, Judeo-Marathi, Judeo-Malayalam and Judeo-Aramaic dialects.

Most of the many notable philosophical, religious, and literary works of the Mizrahim were written in Arabic using a modified Hebrew alphabet.

See also Mizrahi Hebrew language.

Post-1948 dispersal

Main article: Jewish exodus from Arab lands

Most Mizrahi Jews fled their countries of birth following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and subsequent establishment of the state of Israel, when citizens of Arab countries acted out violently against their local Jewish populations. Further anti-Jewish actions by Arab governments in the 1950s and 1960s, including the expulsion of 25,000 Mizrahi Jews from Egypt following the 1956 Suez Crisis, led to the overwhelming majority of Mizrahim becoming refugees. Most of these refugees fled to Israel. Many Morrocan and Algerian Jews fled to France, and thousands of Syrians and Egyptians now live in the United States.

Today, as many as 40,000 Mizrahim still remain in communities scattered throughout the non-Arab Muslim world, primarily in Iran, but also Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey [2]. There are few remaining in the Arab world, with just over 5,000 left in Morocco and less than 2,000 in Tunisia, with other countries harbouring less than 100 or none. A trickle of emigration continues, mainly to Israel and the United States. Many in Iran feel actively persecuted, and a number have been arrested, mostly for alleged connections with Israel and the United States. Some have even been executed, with religious intolerance often cited as the main contributing factor. [3]

Mizrahim in modern Israel

Since their arrival in Israel, the Mizrahim have distinguished themselves from their Ashkenazi counterparts in culture, customs, and language. Arabic dialects were the mother tongue of some -- especially those from North Africa -- Persian for those from Iran, English for the Baghdadi Jews from India, and Gruzinic, Georgian, Tajik, Juhuri, and various other languages for those who emigrated from elsewhere. Some Israeli Mizrahim still primarily use these languages. Before emigrating, many Mizrahim considered Hebrew a language of prayer.

The Mizrahim were at first moved into rudimentary and hastily erected tent cities, and later sent to development towns. Settlement in Moshavim (cooperative farming villages) was only partially successful, because many Mizrahim had been craftsmen and merchants, with little farming experience.

Mizrahi Jews do have specific cultural differences from Ashkenazi Jews and from each other which can make assimilation into Israeli society a difficult, decades-long process. Sociologists have noted many factors that influence the rate of integration, among them the amount of education a community possesses before it arrives, and the presence or lack of a professional class within each community. However intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is now relatively common in Israel, and the Hebrew language is universal among the most recent generations, that later newcomers, such as FSU immigrants and Ethiopians, consider Mizrahim to be a branch of the Israeli society.

According to a survey by Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004 (Hebrew PDF - [4]), but this difference is declining as the communities dissolve.

According to a study made by the Israeli Central Bureau Mizrachi jews are much less likely to pursue academic studies then Ashkenazi jews, in addition the percentage of arabs or mizrachi jews pursuing a doctorate is less then 10% of the entire Third degree students population of Israel [5],[6].

Although most of the Mizrachi jews in Israel are of a second generation to immigrants, the majority of them fall short to achieve the academic achievements that recent immigrants (such as the Ashkenazi CIS immigrants), that arrived since the 90's, have accomplished. According to the study the Ashkenazi immigrants are up to 10 times more likely to study in a university in a certain age group then an israeli-born Mizrachi.[7]

David Ben Gurion once said: We do not want Israelis to become Arabs. We are bound by duty to fight against the spirit of the Levant that corrupts individuals and society.

Abba Eban said: One of the great apprehensions which afflict us is the danger of the predominance of immigrants of Oriental origin forcing Israel to equalize its cultural level with that of the neighboring world.

Distinguished Mizrahi figures

File:Moshe katsav israeli president.jpg
Moshe Katsav, current President of Israel (Courtesy: Israeli Knesset)
Pop singer Dana International winning the 1998 Euvrovision
File:Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Voting in Israelis Elections.jpg
Former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, current spiritual leader of Shas

Politicians

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See also

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