August 20, 2024
Who are Mizrahi Jews?
Mizrahi Jews, also known as Mizrahim, are Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries. "Mizrahi" comes from the Hebrew word for "Eastern."
Mizrahi Jews trace their origins to ancient Jewish communities that have existed for millennia in the Middle East and North Africa. These communities were established long before the advent of Islam and Christianity, often in connection with the expulsions of Jews from their indigenous home in the Land of Israel by foreign empires like the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. Until recently and since ancient times, these communities have lived continuously in places such as Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Egypt.
Mizrahi Jews have deep historical and cultural ties to the Middle East, maintaining distinct religious practices, languages, and traditions that reflect their long-standing presence in these regions. Their history includes significant periods of coexistence with various local cultures and regimes, as well as periods of persecution and migration, especially in the mid-20th century when many relocated to Israel and other countries due to rising tensions and antisemitic policies in their home countries.
Where do Mizrahi Jews come from?
Prominent historical centers for Mizrahi Jews include Babylon (modern-day Iraq), Persia (modern-day Iran), and the Arabian Peninsula (modern-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen), where Jewish communities flourished and contributed to the cultural and economic life of their surroundings. Jewish religious study often flourished in these centers, leading to significant contributions to Jewish thought such as the Babylonian Talmud, a central text of rabbinic Judaism and a primary source of Jewish law.
Other critical historical communities include the Maghreb (North Africa), and modern-day countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. These communities often blended with the local Berber populations and developed unique cultural identities.
Additional countries that were home to prominent communities were along the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan, as well as in the Levant with modern-day Syria and Lebanon, with significant populations in cities like Aleppo and Beirut. An enormous amount has been learned about these storied Jewish communities from researching the contents of the historic Cairo Genizah, a repository of Jewish community documents and papers dating back to the sixth century CE.
What is the difference between Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Jews?
Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Jews represent three major Jewish ethnic divisions with distinct origins and cultural backgrounds. As noted above, Mizrahi Jews lived for centuries in lands across the Middle East and North Africa, although today the vast majority of them live in Israel. They traditionally spoke languages such as Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian and had cultural practices influenced by the local Middle Eastern and North African cultures.
Sephardi Jews originate from Spain and Portugal, speaking Ladino and incorporating Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. Following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, they settled in regions like North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and Western and Central Europe, often joining preexisting Jewish communities in those locations. Ultimately, groups of Sephardi Jews also settled in North and South America. In fact, the first Jewish community to settle in the land that is now the United States was made up of Sephardi Jews. That was the case of Emma Lazarus whose famous poem “The New Colossus” is inscribed on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and whose ancestors were among the original twenty-three Portuguese Jews who arrived in New Amsterdam after they fled the Inquisition in Recife, Brazil.
Ashkenazi Jews, on the other hand, come from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Germany, Poland, and Russia. They traditionally spoke Yiddish, and their customs and practices reflect the influences of Central and Eastern European cultures. Like their Mizrahi and Sephardi cousins, Ashkenazi Jews produced central contributions to Jewish religious and philosophical traditions, including Hasidic, Reform, and Modern Orthodox Judaism. The history of Ashkenazi Jews also includes significant persecution, such as the pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust, leading nearly all who survived to emigrate to countries like the United States and Israel.
Despite their differences, Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Jews share the common bond of Judaism, albeit with variations in religious customs and practices. Today, these groups have integrated significantly with one another through marriage and cultural exchange, contributing to a rich and diverse Jewish cultural heritage. Their combined histories, languages, and traditions continue to shape today's global Jewish community.
Mizrahi Jews, modern Israel, and the settler-colonialism lie
The term “settler colonialism” refers to a system of oppression in which a colonizing nation engages in ethnic cleansing by displacing and dispossessing a native or pre-existing population.
Those who oppose the State of Israel as a Jewish state falsely claim that Jews (or Zionists) have engaged in settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing by dispossessing the Palestinian population.
This claim could not be further from the truth. In reality, Jews themselves are native and indigenous to the Land of Israel.
In fact, in Israel, Mizrahi Jews form a significant part of the population, constituting over half of the country’s population. Since their arrival in the state's early years, their integration into Israeli society has sometimes been challenging, with issues related to cultural differences from their Ashkenazi counterparts, economic disparities, and social integration.
Today, Mizrahi Jews hold important roles in every echelon of Israeli society, including government, army, business, and academia, and Mizrahi Jewish culture, music, and food are central to Israeli culture as a whole.
