ei
Israel's Sephardim and Ashkenazim
By ELIAHU SALPETER
(Copyright, 1960, JTA.. Inc.)
JERUSALEM — Immigrants
to Israel have come from 82
countries around the globe,
from Manchuria to Chile, from
Alaska to New Zealand. They
are of all shades of human
skin, from milk-complexioned
Scandinavian 5ews, through
brown - skinned Yemenites to
black-skinned Falashas from
Ethiopia. It is understandable
that "mizug galuyot" — the
merger of returnees from exile
—has always been considered
one of the top tasks of the new
nation.
While the population ca
thus, be divided into sco
ethnic communities, t
is
mental dividing li
azi corn-
between the A
and and the
munity on 01
the other. The
Sephardi o
division is, of
origin
een the Jews whose
emirs
s lived in Spain-
for
-and those whos
S
stern from what
ermany — Ashken z. D ng
t, th two
the centuries of
maintained
communities h
ifference
varying decirees
ell as •
in their
e He
the pron
prayers).
ews
Israel,
Today
coun-
Eur
coming
Bulgaria
tries (e. ept
of Greece) as
and some
the Western
Candles
Give Light
Trees Give Life
For Hanukah
You Give
hemisphere, are considered
Ashkenazim, though in fact
some of the British Jews, for
example, belong to the most
distinguished and outstand-
ing Sephardic families. On
the other hand, all Oriental
Jews are considered Sephar-
dic, including not only im-
migrants from North Africa
and the neighboring Arab
countries, but also from such
old Jewish communities as
Iraq, Aden and India which
certainly predate not only the
"dispersion of Spanish Jewry
after 1492, but even the
)f Spanish Jewry,
uries.
• .•*visio is not scientific
or ethnic, but ther social, and
sterns from th fact that immi-
opean countries
grants from
t with them a
usually bro
dern culture and
more
ucation, while im-
ader
• ants • om Oriental coun-
by and large, more
we
tr.
and in their great
w
b
poorer. It is a curious
bu
f history that, while Is-
twi
modern culture is pre-
inantly Ashkenazi, the He-
ew spoken in the country is
Sephardi.
Top echelons of Israel's
political, economic, social,
scientific and cultural life
held by Ashkenazi Jews.
One of the Sephardi C
members is the Mini
Police, Behor Shitrit;
other was the late 1‘
Religious Alfa'
Toledano.
Officially, the q
ethnic origin in Isra
as irrelevant as that
in any democratic society,
equal opportunity is the guid-
ing principle. In fact, however,
there is a tacit rule in govern-
.
ment positions that, whenever
there are two equally qualified
candidates for a post, prefer-
ence is given to the Sephardi,
in an effort to push forward
a more balanced ethnical struc-
ture of Israel officialdom. This
is particularly strictly observed
in the army, where for many
years, on Ben-Gurion's orders,
special campaigns have been
conducted to train as many
officers of non-Ashkenazi ori-
gin as possible. The army, by
the way, is one of the most
important factors in abolishing
differences of ethnical origin
among the young Israelis.
The measure of success of
this integration effort is the
fact that the Israel Cabinet
devoted recently an entire
session to the question of ap-
propriate representation to
non-Ashkenazi Jews in vari-
ous public committees and
councils. This is a far cry
from the problem of appro-
priate representation f or
Sephardis in civil service,
business etc., since such pub-
lic committees are a kind of
"superstructure" of the social
life of the country
problem disc
Cabinet
th
net decide that special
assur
should be
he
etc ti e
Sephardire
s,
such pt
ixe
tha
stresse
e established, since t
shoul
be "discrimina
wou
cure
e chosen
e posts on their
personal merit, and not as
representatives of ethnic
groups.
Isaac Gotlib Writes Informative
Book About Latin Amer'
iri which
"Ales
"Jews in Latin America", b
e, their Jewish in-
he pe
Isaac Gotlib, published by
, he intermarriages and
Lion te
Yiddish Culture 0
oyalties and many other fac-
, 25 E
(CYCO) Bicher-F
tors are incorporated in this well-
.1,is a
78th St., New
ction of essays written book.
informative
Some
Gotlib is a good
all of the Jewish
dealing
rela
the i iil
south of the United
commu
"For He Who Plants
is col.
States
is
isodes
odes
ences,
Trees Plants the
T .`author bases his work on
rtain to
te a deep i
al
knowledge—on
nis
t
per
"
Future .
n his work, thus •
ing
ruguay, Argentina, Bo
of
Jewry's intere -s
-off corn-
,
Haiti,
Santo
Domingo,
Br
This
nsmen about
era, Chile, Mexico, Suri- muniti
Ve
ttle is known.
uador, Paraguay, P
nam,
Guatema
ragua, Honduras, Costa R i c a,
The
Panama, Colombia, Barbados, Ja-
Most Wonderful
maica, Trinidad, Cuba and a
group of other islands where Jews
Gift of Them All—
live — whether their numbers
PARIS, (JTA)—The Goncourt
there are large or small.
Prize jury, which annually an-
Richly illustrated with photo- nounces a literary award, small
graphs of many Jewish centers, in cash value but great in result-
the people in the communities, ing sales of the book thus hon-
reproductions of Yiddish news- ored, announced that it will
papers, cemeteries, personali- make no award this year.
ties, diplomats and other valu-
Thus ended the chance for
able pictures, this book, in Vintila Horia, Romanian exile, to
Yiddish, provides vitally needed obtain the award, which had
knowledge about Jews in far- been previously voted him by the
away places.
Goncourt Jury. He has, since,
Honor Your Loved
In a foreward, in which be been charged with being a fas-
praises the work of Isaac Gotlib, cist writer and Nazi collabora-
Ones—Add Real
Dr. Jacob Glatstein describes the tionist during the war, who wrote
Significance to
author's activities and calls him anti-Semitic articles.
This Occasion
Horia had already announced
an important emissary to the
Latin American communities. He that he would reject the Gon-
points out that Gotlib witnessed court Prize because he did not
the activities of Jews in the want "to be a cause of dissen-
" The charges against him
various Latin American republics.
de here last week by
were
He states that many of the
cals the Corn unist daily newspaper,
appeared in Jewish
and later backed up
:.Zany of L'Hwriani
throughout the
`Folk and by the R anian Embassy here.
them appeare
the World" Horia wa een to have failed to
Your Living Link Velt"—"Pe
ewish monthly pub- deny th harges when he told
— a Wor
With Israel
the pre here that, during the
lication
saints had erred."
war "
Rea rs of
Arne a" will
pop ations
JEWISH'.
scr ed —
entina, th
NATIONAL
B zil, the 12
FUND
the
th .400 in S
which
unity in
18414 WYOMING AVENU :21 co
ALL CONTRIBUTIONS - TO. JNF
_ew as
has
ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE'
ess of some of the
The
Zim Lines Signs Contract in Paris
for Largest Ship in Israeli Fleet
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
able to carry 1,100 passengers in
to The Jewish News)
PARIS — The contract for the . Ifour classes. It is scheduled for
purchase of the Zim Lines flag- . , the Haifa-Marseilles-New York
ship the "King Solomon," w hic h i run and will be launched on
will be the largest ship in the March 19, 1963.
No mf or
was released
Israeli fleet, was signed here
urchase,
Tuesday at a reception at the on
gree-
was understood
Hotel Crillon.
in
reac
The 23,000-ton liner w
igton sever- .onth ago
by Israel Finance MiniSter Levi
Eshkol and French Finance finis-
Analo
the state- ter M. Baumgartner.
Commenting
,inning of the
ment at the
Tlteerrl y was at
ded by
Book of L entations —
G. G
etary of
unto the
y . . . she has be
ant Navy;
widow. . ."—Rab
come like
Eytan
aeli Ambas-
Yehudah
the name of
sador; K.
i, director gen-
points out
at the Prophet in- eral
, and the director
a wise "
of the shipyards, Jean
spiringly say
' •
Pinczion.
and not an actua
this is like a woman whose
husband has departed for a
Vacation-Temporary-Wake-up
distant land, but it is his in-
tention to return to her—an
analogy to the situation which
the Almighty created between
Him and Israel.—Taanith, San-
VE 7-6701
hedrin.
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