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Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahim,, also referred to as Edot HaMizrach (Communities of the East) are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus. With the exception of Yemenite Jews, who are sometimes included but more often considered a separate group, the Mizrahi category includes Jews from the Arab world and adjacent countries, primarily Muslim-majority, including Iraqi Jews, Syrian Jews, Lebanese Jews, Persian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Maghrebi Jews, Berber Jews and Kurdish Jews, as well as communities such as Mountain Jews and Georgian Jews, and among the Jews of India and Pakistan the Baghdadi Jews (descendants of relatively recent Iraqi Jews settled in the last few centuries, in contrast to Jewish communities of the Indian subcontinent established millenia earlier).
   Despite their heterogeneous origins, Mizrahi Jews generally practise traditional Sephardic Judaism (a fact which complicates the prevalent Israeli nomenclature as discussed below) with some differences among the minhagim of the particular communities.

History and usage

"Mizrahi" is literally translated as "Eastern", מזרח (Mizrach) being 'East" in Hebrew. The original use of the terms "Mizrahi" and "Edot ha-Mizrach" was as a translation of the Arabic term Mashriqiyyun (Easterners), referring to the people of Syria, Iraq and other Asian countries, as distinct from those of North Africa (Maghrabiyyun). In modern Israeli usage, it refers to all Jews from North African and West Asian countries, particularly Arabic-speaking Muslim-majority countries. The term came to be widely used by Mizrahi activists in the early 1990s, and since then has become a widely accepted designation.
   Many Mizrahim today reject this (or any) umbrella description and prefer to identify themselves by their particular country of origin, or that of their immediate ancestors, for example "Iranian/Persian Jew", "Iraqi Jew", "Tunisian Jew", etc. Another description sometimes heard is "Oriental Jews". This term is still frequently used by people in the western hemisphere. Some find it demeaning given theorist and Columbia University professor Edward Said's criticism of "Orientalism" in his book by the same name.

Other designations

Many speakers, especially in Israel, identify all non-Ashkenazi Jews as Sephardim. The reason for this classification is that most Mizrahi communities use much the same religious rituals as Sephardim proper. In the same way, "Ashkenazim" is used for "Jews of the German rite", whether or not they originate from Germany. This broader definition of "Sephardim" as applying to all Mizrahi Jews is also common in Jewish religious circles, especially those associated with the Shas political party.
   Additionally, many of the Sephardic Jews exiled from Spain resettled in small and large numbers in Arabic-speaking countries such as Syria and Morocco. In Syria, for example, most eventually intermarried with and assimilated into the larger established community of Arabic-speaking Jews. While in Morocco, where they came to outnumber the pre-existing Arab and Berber Jews, it was some of the latter that assimilated into the more prosperous and prestigious Sephardic community. Either way, it led to the popular designation and conflation of most non-Ashkenazic Jewish communities from the Middle East and North Africa as "Sephardic", whether or not they're actually descended from Spanish Jews, which is what the terms "Sephardic Jews" and "Sepharadim" refer to in the ethnic as opposed to the religious sense.
   In many Arab countries, older Arabic-speaking communities distinguished between themselves and the newer arrivals speaking Judeo-Romance languages, that is, Sephardim expelled from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497. The established Arabic-speaking Jews called themselves Musta'arabim (Arabic for Arabizers), while the newer Sephardi arrivals called them Moriscos (Ladino for Moorish).

Language

Mizrahi communities spoke a number of Judeo-Arabic dialects such as Maghrebi, though these are now mainly used as a second language. Most of the many notable philosophical, religious and literary works of the Mizrahim were written in Arabic using a modified Hebrew alphabet.
   Among other languages associated with Mizrahim are Judeo-Persian (Dzhidi), Gruzinic, Bukhori, Kurdish, Judeo-Berber, Juhuri, Judeo-Marathi, Judeo-Malayalam and Judeo-Aramaic dialects. Most Persian Jews speak standard Persian.
   Aramaic is a close sister of Hebrew. It is identified as a "Jewish language", since it's the language of major Jewish texts such as the Talmud and Zohar, and many ritual recitations such as the Kaddish. Traditionally Aramaic has been a language of Talmudic debate in yeshivoth, as many rabbinic texts are written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. As spoken by the Jews of Kurdistan, Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects are descended from Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, as could be seen from its hundreds of reflexes in Jewish Neo-Aramaic. In addition to Judeo-Aramaic, some Kurdish Jews speak an unrelated language called "Judeo-Kurdish" which is a "Jewish" form of the Indo-European Kurdish language.
   By the early 1950s, virtually the entire Jewish community of Kurdistan — a rugged, mostly mountainous region comprising parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the Caucasus, where Jews had lived since antiquity — relocated to Israel. The vast majority of Kurdish Jews, who were primarily concentrated in northern Iraq, left Kurdistan in the mass aliyah (emigration to Israel) of 1950-51. This ended thousands of years of Jewish history in what had been Assyria and Babylonia. See also Mizrahi Hebrew language.

Post-1948 dispersal

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and subsequent establishment of the state of Israel, most Mizrahi Jews emigrated to the new state where they could become citizens.
   Anti-Jewish actions by Arab governments in the 1950s and 1960s, including the expulsion of 25,000 Mizrahi Jews from Egypt 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.
   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 . There are few remaining in the Arab world. 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 1,000 or fewer Jews. A trickle of emigration continues, mainly to Israel and the United States. A number have been arrested, mostly for alleged connections with Israel and the United States. Some have been executed, with religious intolerance often cited as the main contributing factor.

Transitioning into Israeli society

Refuge in Israel wasn't 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. 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 and later sent to 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 didn't traditionally engage in farmwork.
   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; Baghdadi Jews from India and Gruzinic arrived with English; Mizrahim from elsewhere brought Georgian, Tajik, Juhuri and various other languages with them. Hebrew had historically been a language of prayer only for most Jews not living in Israel, including the Mizrahim. Thus since their arrival in Israel, the Mizrahim retained culture, customs and language distinct from their Ashkenazi counterparts.
Disparities and integration
The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and sometimes the divide between European and Middle Eastern Jews has been quite sharp. Segregation, especially in the area of housing, limited integration possibilities over the years. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is now relatively common in Israel, however, it has been found that intermarriage doesn't tend to decrease ethnic differences in socio-economic status.
   It appears that despite increased social integration, 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. Less than 10% of total doctoral students are Arabs or Mizrahi Jews, and Ashkenazi immigrants are up to 10 times more likely to study in a university than Israeli-born Mizrahim. Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi origin, such as Russians. According to a survey by the Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004. This difference is declining as the communities integrate.

Prominent Mizrahi figures

Politicians

Writers and Academics

  • Shimon Ballas, author
  • Sami Michael, author
  • Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author
  • Yehouda Shenhav, professor
  • Saba Soomekh, professor/writer
  • A.B. Yehoshua, author and professor
  • Ella Shohat, author and professor

    Entertainers

  • Elliott Yamin, American singer (Jewish Iraqi father)
  • Jerry Seinfeld, American actor and comedian (mother is a Jew from Damascus, Syria)
  • Paula Abdul, American singer, dancer, television personality, jewelry designer & actress (Jewish Syrian father)
  • Zohar Argov, Israeli born King of Mizrahi music (Yemenite)
  • Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress, won the Eurovision Song Contest (Yemenite family)
  • Yizhar Cohen, Israeli singer, won the Eurovision Song Contest (Yemenite family)
  • Shoshana Damari, Israeli singer (Yemen born)
  • Boaz Sharabi Israeli singer (born, Yemenite, Tunisian & Moroccan ancestry)
  • Dana International, Israeli pop singer, won the Eurovision Song Contest (Yemenite family)
  • Ninette Tayeb, Israel singer, won "A Star is Born" (Kokhav Nolad) Contest (Moroccan/Tunisian descent)
  • Ofra Haza, Israeli pop and oriental singer (Yemenite family)
  • Shoista Mullodzhanova, Bukharian Shashmakon singer (People's Artist of USSR)
  • Farhat Ezekiel Nadira (Nadira), Bollywood actress of the 1940s and 50s (Baghdadi Jew from India)
  • Achinoam Nini, Israeli born, Yemenite pop singer
  • Rita, Iranian born, Israeli pop singer
  • Bahar Soomekh, Persian Jewish-American actress
  • Subliminal, Israeli rapper of Persian/Tunisian descent
  • Harel Skaat, Singer and Kokhav Nolad contestant (Yemenite descent)
  • Chemda Khalili, singer and co-host of Keith and the Girl

    Business people

  • Charles Saatchi, advertising executive and art collector (born in Iraq)
  • Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, advertising executive and chairman of the British Conservative Party
  • Michael Kadoorie, prominent businessman from Hong-Kong
  • Shlomo Moussaieff, Jewellery Designer/ Judaic Collector and Expert (Bukharian)
  • Lev Leviev, Israeli businessman of Bukharian descent (External Link)
  • David and Simon Reuben, British businessmen born in India, from a family of Baghdadi Jews
  • Edmond Safra, banker from Lebanon

    Religious figures

  • Ovadia Yosef, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and current spiritual leader of Shas
  • Mordechai Eliyahu, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel
  • Ben Ish Chai was a leading Hakham (Sephardic Rabbi), authority on Jewish law (Halakha) and Kabbalist
  • Amnon Yitzhak, is a well-known Orthodox Haredi Israeli rabbi of Yemenite origin
  • Shlomo Moussaieff (rabbi), Co-founder of Bukharian Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem

    Others

  • Isaac Mizrahi, fashion designer
  • J. F. R. Jacob, celebrated Indian Army officer and participant in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 (Baghdadi Jew from India)Further Information

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