Is it true that there is a lot of prejudice between ashkenazi and sephardic jews in israel?

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Zeno

The zionist state was started by Russian jews and they will always dominate it,nothing will change until it is dissolved and all persons born within the original mandate borders have equal rights in a true democracy. The Mideastern jews have always been treated badly,although obviously not as badly as Palestinians.

Boomerang

I'm mixed blood (Persian+European), and I've got a great job at software development. In my team we have one guy from Egyptian descent, one woman from Argentina, one Arab guy from the Galilee, and one orthodox (Jewish) woman.
All at the same type of job. How about that?
---edit---
Oh, and in case it wasn't clear - I'm living and working in Israel.

beatle1909

This has become less and less of a serious issue in Israel. But the problem still exists.

jack r

I'm not jewish but I have friends who are, and I've heard that sephardic jews consider themselves pure blood jews they like to keep it that way, and ashkenazi jews are more liberal and will convert none jewish people to judism. I may not be totally right but that's my understanding.

wars and rumors of wars

Most likely. There is prejudice everywhere, so why not this kind too? Just look at white/black, Arab/Asian, Arab/Persian, Sunni/Shia, Muslim/Jew, Muslim/Christian, Jew/Christian, Arab/black, Aryan/Jew, Chinese/Tibetan...why should I continue? You get the point. Prejudice is not something that pertains only to Israel. In my opinion...Arab Muslims are the most prejudice people in the world by the way.

searcher

If you have been following the news over the past seveal years, you may have noticed that with the immigrants, from whereever, they can intergrate into the sociaty as fast as they can pick up language and customs. Jews from North Africa and Asia are behind for the same reason newcomers to any country are, having to learn their way around. As for serious errors in what Israeli have done, not to excuse, but they are just as human as anyone else. And for the rligious bent, many of the founders of the new state shared with founders of other new states(Like the USA) a dislike for authority, not religion. Like the USA, by chance(?) the founders made sure that those who did not agree with them were protected b y law and the weight of the State behind those protetions. Thus, a Jew discriminates against a peson of another faith, he gets the same punishment as if a gentile commited the same offence against a Jew. So since Jews are human, we also make mistakes, but our Torah is the basis for our lives, and the results are we take responsibility for our behavior. Alright, we also have our Nixons, but they cannot hide.

U made me do it !!

Ashkenazi Jews come from European (Christian) countries, whereas Sephardic Jews lived in the Iberian Peninsula, African and Middle Eastern (Moslem) countries.

Sephardim and Ashkenazi came to develop different prayer liturgies, Torah services, Hebrew pronunciation and ways of life. The rituals of the Sephardi were of the Babylonian traditions. Ashkenazi and Sephardi tunes for both prayers and Torah reading are different. A Sephardi Torah is contained in a wooden cylinder which makes it stand up while being read, while an Ashkenazi Torah lies flat.
In order to decide upon Jewish law, there are different authorities. Sephardim follow Rabbi Joseph Caroâ€™s Shulhan Arukh. There are differences in many aspects of Jewish law, from which laws women are exempt from to what food one is allowed to eat on Pesach.
Today in Israel, many of the distinctions between Ashkenazim and Sephardim have disappeared.

Sir Thomas

Well I don't live there, but I do think there is a little bit of tension between the two groups. I think it might be an Israeli thing though, because here, at least (America), we get along just fine, even though there are a lot of cultural differences. But don't confuse that with the kind of tension you see in relation to other groups from other religions; for example, conflicting groups in Islam kill each other and fight, etc- the tension here is not like that, it's a different sort of conflict.

mark

The question is centered on who is the real Jew. Zionists leaders are mainly Ashkenazi and they are mainly secularist and atheists..

mukawuka

in my opinion its not just in israel i live in england and the ashkenazi also have the better jobs.

Lisa

I don't know but my good friends are Sephardic Jews and they are very well of and respected in their community in Israel.

kadmonzohar

Don't really know. That is an interesting question. I would imagine they would be similar to Catholics vs. Protestants and accept each other. Then agaian they are more than religion but from different places. It might be like the Irish and the African americans in Boston in the 60s. I'm glad you asked this Question. I just wanted to write something so I could save this in my profile. I will be interested to see what other people say.

Duke of Tudor

That's about 50 years ago. There are even intermarriages between the two groups at present days.

kismet

This was true 50 years ago, not today!
Nowadays, opportunities are open to all. If you watch Israeli TV, you see most actors' and broadcasters' names are NOT Ashkenazic names.
In fact, most Israeli children's parentage is "mixed": It is both Sephardic AND Ashkenazic, since marriage between these two groups is very common.

lemon_lorrain

The Shas Political Party doesn't open its schools to the teaching of secular subjects but expects child welfare payments by the government for its support. Even secular Jews of Sephardi origin DON'T like Shas because of its religious* dogma which is a hindrance to their own advancement in Israel's secular society. Iraqi Jews are not Sephardim, and their attitude is different and they have a Western outlook, although they like Sephardim tend to be religious, though NOT fanatical.

This too will pass.
Remember the old Star Tryk episode where two guys are trying real hard to kill each other over racial differences. Kirk couldn't figure out why as both were white on one side and black on the other.
When he asked what the difference was the guy says. " Can't you see? He is white on the wrong side.
Same kind of silliness.

p106_peppy

this is just a guess, but maby ashkenazi jews ten to have more money and more education, which leads to them being treated better.

eimittaa

Yes there is a lot of prejudice between the Askenazi and Sephardic Jews. This is because the Askenazi are from Europe and they feel that they are superior since they come form Europe and the Sephardic come from the Mediterreanan and North African and Middle
East and therefore do not share the same European heritage.

There was a full two hour documentary on Google about The Ringworm childrena and how in the 1950's Israel gave lethal doses of radiation to the Children of the Sephardic Jewish immigrants who came form places like Morrocco because there skin was darker than the White Askenazi Jews. The documentary was made by Israeli television much to their credit for being honest about such horrible experiments but after it got out on the internet it was removed from google videos because it is so embarrasing to the jews because they had experimented on other jews just like the German Nazis experimented on Jews a generation earlier in Europe.

Anyway here are some links of articcle about it:
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Ringworm_Children.htm

http://www.infowars.com/articles/world/israel_the_ringworm_children.htm

http://thiscanadian.typepad.com/this_canadian/2006/10/the_ringworm_ch.html

Here is the story of a jewish person who left Israel
Here is the link:
http://www.the7thfire.com/new_world_order/zionism/american_jew_in_racist_marxist_israel.htm

Additional Comment:
Here is a copy and pasted part of an article which is in the last link that I provided. It describes this person's experience with the Askinazim and Sephardic problem in Israel.

Here it is:
Sephardic Jews -- Second Class Citizens
For the first three years of our marriage, it was necessary for us to live with Ziva's aunt. This was because of the critical housing shortage in Israel and because of racism. Housing is allotted as follows:

Ashkenazi Jews who have lived in Israel for many years are given first choice.
Second in line are Ashkenazi Jews from Europe -- especially if they are married or marry an Israel-born Ashkenazi Jew.
The next favored are Ashkenazi Jews from the U.S. -- especially if they marry an Israeli-born Ashkenazi.
Sephardic Jews have the next choice of whatever housing is left.
At the bottom of the list are Moslems, Druze and Christians.
Opportunities for employment follow the same pattern: Ashkenazi Jews get the choicest jobs, Sephardic Jews next, and Moslem, Druze and Christians fill the menial jobs with a great many left unemployed. Even through I was an Ashkenazi Jew from the U.S., I was placed lower on the list for housing because I married a Sephardic Jewess.

Being denied housing was my second experience of the intense racism that exist in Israel. From the very beginning of my arrival in Israel, many slurs were yelled at me. We American Jews were merely being tolerated. Because Israel, to survive, must depend on gifts of American Jews and the sale of worthless Israeli Bonds in America, there is jealousy among the elite Israeli Ashkenazi Jews toward American Jews, even if the American Jews are also Ashkenazi. Many times I was told, "Go Home!" and, "We want your money, but not you."

One T

It was true a long time ago for many reasons, one would be the fact that Middle Eastern Jews didn't have the same skills as European Jews did.
What happened is true and really sad but please keep in mind that the Ashkenazi Jews helped Mizrahi's escape Muslim lands when they needed help and there are Mizrahi's who have been involved in Israeli politics from day one.
I am full Mizrahi and I have never EVER been discriminated by anyone in Israel, there are plenty of mixed marriages and Mizrahim have great jobs and positions just as Europeans, this problem has passed a long time ago.
Today it has become a joke, we have a good sense of humor and laugh about the different traits of different Jews - Moroccan, Polish, Yemen, Russian you name it we have jokes for all.

If we do a servey, you might see that Ashkenazi's hold a higher percentage of higher positions and I'll tell you exactly why.
Mizrahi Jews in general did not have great jobs in Arab countries, they are very simple people, they really don't hold money as such an important value in this life since we don't take our money to the grave anyways, they just want money to buy food, pay the bills and really nothing more, they are very non materialistic people, I think sometimes to the extreme.
This is not true in todays generation but if you look at Mizrahi grandparents especially the Yemens, you'll see how simply they live and how little they ask for.
Ashkenazi's were great business people in Europe, no wonder they have such high standards in Israel as well.

It's all do to where they came from and what standards they had, there is no discrimination today, not any more then there is anywhere else in this world, we are all Israeli's and if you work hard you can get whatever job you want.

Not really since Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in Europe and Turkey always got along. It had more to do with Jews from Muslim countries mainly speaking Arabic and Jews from European countries, mainly speaking Yiddish and Russian coming together in a new country, learning a new language, with a different form of government, high taxes and taking up jobs that they were not use to, thus getting bitter to a degree.

As that generation had children, this issue died down and most people are mixed ashkenazi-sephardic now

Crystal (PSM)

We can only hope that they disintegrate from within and return back to their own countries.

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