Mizrahi Jews in Israel

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Mizrahi Jews in Israel
Total population
(2,921,000 (full or partial Mizrahi Jewish descent)[1])
Regions with significant populations
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and many other places
Languages
Hebrew (Main language for all generations);
Older generation: Arabic language (Judeo-Arabic languages) and other languages like French, Judeo-Persian, Kurdish, Berber, Georgian, French, Urdu, Pashto, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Bukhori, Juhuri
Religion
Judaism

Mizrahi Jews in Israel constitute the largest sub-group among Israeli Jews, numbering 2,921,000 people (full or partial Mizrahi Jewish descent).[1] The second-largest sub-group are the Israeli Ashkenazim.

Israeli Mizrahim are descended from Jews in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia who had lived for many generations under Muslim rule. The vast majority of them left the Muslim-majority countries following the independence of Israel during the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries.


Immigration history

Post-1948 dispersal

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Main article: Jewish exodus from Arab countries

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. After the establishment of the State of Israel and subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War, most Mizrahi Jews were either expelled by their Arab rulers or chose to leave and emigrated to Israel.[2] According to the 2009 Statistical Abstract of Israel, 50.2% of Israeli Jews are of Mizrahi or Sephardic origin.[3]

Anti-Jewish actions by Arab governments in the 1950s and 1960s, in the context of the founding of the State of Israel, led to the departure of large numbers of Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East.[citation needed] 25,000 Mizrahi Jews from Egypt left after the 1956 Suez Crisis, led to the overwhelming majority of Mizrahim leaving Arab countries. They became refugees. Most went to Israel. Many Moroccan and Algerian Jews went to France. Thousands of Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian Jews emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Argentina.

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.[4] There are few Maghrebim remaining in the Arab world too. About 5,000 remain in Morocco and fewer than 2,000 in Tunisia. Other countries with remnants of ancient Jewish communities with official recognition, such as Lebanon, have 100 or fewer Jews. A trickle of emigration continues, mainly to Israel and the United States.

Absorption into Israeli society

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Refuge in Israel was not without its tragedies: "in a generation or two, millennia of rooted Oriental civilization, unified even in its diversity,” had been wiped out, writes Mizrahi scholar Ella Shohat.[5] The trauma of rupture from their countries of origin was further complicated by the difficulty of the transition upon arrival in Israel; Mizrahi immigrants and refugees were placed in rudimentary and hastily erected tent cities (Ma'abarot) often in development towns on the peripheries of Israel. Settlement in Moshavim (cooperative farming villages) was only partially successful, because Mizrahim had historically filled a niche as craftsmen and merchants and most did not traditionally engage in farmwork. As the majority left their property behind in their home countries as they journeyed to Israel, many suffered a severe decrease in their socio-economic status aggravated by their cultural and political differences with the dominant Ashkenazi community. Furthermore, a policy of austerity was enforced at that time due to economic hardships.

Mizrahi immigrants arrived with many mother tongues. Many, especially those from North Africa and the fertile crescent, spoke Arabic dialects; those from Iran spoke Persian; Mountain Jews from Azerbaijan arrived with Azerbaijani; Baghdadi Jews from India arrived with English; Bukharan Jews from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan arrived with Tajiki; the Bene Israel from Maharashtra, India arrived with Marathi, Mizrahim from elsewhere brought Georgian, Judaeo-Georgian, Juhuri and various other languages with them. Hebrew had historically been a language only of prayer for most Jews not living in Israel, including the Mizrahim. Thus, with their arrival in Israel, the Mizrahim retained culture, customs and language distinct from their Ashkenazi counterparts.

Disparities and integration

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

See also: Racism in Israel § North African and Middle Eastern descent

The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and sometimes the divide between Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jews was quite sharp. Segregation, especially in the area of housing, limited integration possibilities over the years.[6] Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel and by the late 1990s 28% of all Israeli children had multi-ethnic parents (up from 14% in the 1950s).[7] It has been claimed that intermarriage does not tend to decrease ethnic differences in socio-economic status,[8] however that does not apply to the children of inter-ethnic marriages.[9]

Although social integration is constantly improving, disparities persist. A study conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), Mizrahi Jews are less likely to pursue academic studies than Ashkenazi Jews. Israeli-born Ashkenazim are up to twice more likely to study in a university than Israeli-born Mizrahim.[10] Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi origin, such as Russians.[11] According to a survey by the Adva Center,[12] the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004.[13]

Notable people

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Main article: List of Israeli Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Statistical Abstract of Israel, 2009, CBS. "Table 2.24 – Jews, by country of origin and age" (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  4. ↑ The Jewish Population of the World, The Jewish Virtual Library
  5. ↑ Ella Shohat: “Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims,” Social Text, No.19/20 (1988), p.32
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Barbara S. Okun, Orna Khait-Marelly. 2006. Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Behavior of Adult Multiethnics: Jews in Israel.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ http://www.jstor.org/pss/351810
  10. ↑ http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications/educ_demog_05/pdf/t16.pdf
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Adva Center Archived July 2, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Hebrew PDF Archived July 2, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Mizrahi_Jews_in_Israel&oldid=715127239"