Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews, or
Mizrahim (מזרחי "Easterner",
Standard Hebrew ,
Tiberian Hebrew ; plural מזרחים "Easterners",
Standard Hebrew ,
Tiberian Hebrew ) 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
Gruzim,
Persian Jews,
Bukharan Jews,
Mountain Jews,
Baghdadi Jews of
India and
Kurdish Jews.
The term "Mizrahim" is of modern
Israeli origin, and its usage before the establishment of the state of Israel is almost nonexistent. 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 also identify themselves by their 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 (a literal
translation of "Mizrahi"), though
Oriental in English is now considered outdated, and also potentially offensive; today it is more commonly rendered as
Eastern.
Prior to the emergence of the term "Mizrahi",
Arab Jews was sometimes used for Mizrahim originating in
Arab lands, though not by the Mizrahim themselves. Because of political tensions stemming from the
Arab-Israeli conflict, few if any Mizrahim identify themselves as 'Arabs' or 'Arab Jews'. This term is mainly used in the Arab world.
Some communities of the
Jewish diaspora originated as early as the
Babylonian captivity (
6th century BCE), thus predating the
Arab Muslim conquest by a millennium.
Mizrahi communities spoke a number of
Judeo-Arabic dialects, such as
Moghrabi though these are now mainly used as a second language. Among other languages associated with Mizrahim are
Dzhidi,
Gruzinic,
Bukhori,
Kurdish,
Judeo-Berber,
Juhuri 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.
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]
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
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 posesses before it arrives, and the presence or lack of a professional class within each community. However intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is now so common in Israel, and the Hebrew language so universal among the most recent generations, that later newcomers, such as Russians and Ethiopians, consider Mizrahim to be part of the Israeli establishment.
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 merge.
Politicians
*
Shlomo Ben-Ami, professor, former Israeli
Minister of Foreign Affairs and diplomat -
Morocco*
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, current Minister of Infrastucture, former Israeli
Minister of Defense and
Israel Labour Party chairman -
Iraq*
Moshe Katsav, current
President of the State of Israel -
Iran*
David Levy, former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister - Morocco
*
Shaul Mofaz, former Israeli Minister of Defense and chief of the IDF General Staff - Iran.
*
Yitzhak Navon, former Israeli President and Minister of Education, playwright -
Palestine*
Amir Peretz, current Israeli Minister of Defense, chairman of the Israeli Labour party and former chairman of the
Histadrut trade union - Morocco
*
Silvan Shalom, former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister -
TunisiaPerformers
*
Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress, won the
Eurovision Song Contest -
Yemen*
Izhar Cohen, Israeli singer and actor, won the Eurovision Song Contest - Yemen
*
Shoshana Damari, Israeli singer and actress - Yemen
*
Dana International, Israeli
pop singer, won the Eurovision Song Contest - Yemen
*
Yehoram Gaon, Israeli pop singer, actor and politician -
Turkey*
Ofra Haza, acclaimed
Temani vocalist - Yemen
*
Noa, acclaimed Temani vocalist - Yemen
*
Rita, popular Israeli singer and actress - Iran
Business people
*
Charles Saatchi, advertising executive and art collector - Iraq
*
Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, advertising executive and chairman of the
Conservative Party (UK) - Iraq
*
David Sassoon, Indian businessman and philanthropist - Iraq
*
Isaac Mizrahi, Jewish-American
fashion designer*
Michael Kadoorie, prominent businessman from Hong-Kong - Iraq
Others
*
Mordechai Eliyahu, former
Sephardic
Chief rabbi of
Israel and current spiritual leader of
Shas - Iraq
*
J.F.R. Jacob, celebrated Indian army officer and one of the winners of the
Bangladeshi Liberation War - Iraq
*
Moshe Levi, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces - Iraq
*
Farhat Ezekiel Nadira (
Nadira),
Bollywood actress of the 1940s and 50s - Iraq
*
Ovadia Yosef, former
Sephardic
Chief rabbi of
Israel - Iraq
*
Jewish ethnic divisions*
Sephardi Jews*
History of the Jews in Muslim Lands*
History of the Jews in Algeria*
History of the Jews in Egypt*
History of the Jews in Iran*
History of the Jews in Iraq*
History of the Jews in Morocco*
History of the Jews in Tunisia*
History of the Jews in Yemen*
Syrian Jews*
Israeli Black Panthers*
Iran-Israel relations*
Indian Jews*
Gruzim - Jews of Georgia
*
Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)*
PersianRabbi.com An online forum for the Persian Sephardic Jewish Community.
*
JIMENA Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.
*
Who is an Arab Jew? - On being Mizrahi (anti-Arab identity) by Albert Memmi.
*
Reflections by an Arab Jew - On being Mizrahi (pro-Arab identity) by Ella Habiba.
*
Mizrahi Wanderings - Nancy Hawker on Samir Naqqash, one of Israel's foremost Arab-language Mizrahi novelists.
*
The Middle East's Forgotten Refugees A chronicle of Mizrahi refugees by Semha Alwaya.
*
Moshe Levy The story of an Iraqi Jew in the Israeli Navy and his survival on the war-ship Eilat.
*
My Life in Iraq Yeheskel Kojaman describes his life as a Mizrahi Jew in Iraq in the 50s and 60s.
*
Multiculturalism Project - Middle Eastern and North African Jews*
Loolwa Khazzoom - Multiculturalism movement for non-European Jewish history, heritage & social justice.
*
Hakeshet Hademocratit Hamizrachit - An organization of Mizrahi Jews in Israel.
*
Kurdish Jewery (י""ות כור"יסתאן) An Israeli site on Kurdish Jewry. (in Hebrew)
*
The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center Disseminating the rich 3000 year old heritage of Babylonian Jewry. (in English and Hebrew)
*
Iraqi Jews (י"ו"י עיראק - يهود العراق) Iraqi American Jewish Community in New York. Perpetuating the history, heritage, culture and traditions of the Babylonian Jewry.
