Israelis: Is there still a divide between Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi and Ethiopians?

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[asynchronicity]

“There are no divisions… this is an Ashkenazi invention.”
The irony of this statement is pretty funny.

[johnmm]

Corey, this time you misunderstood the question. Divide in Hebrew, in this context, was meant in the sense of rift or tension/social tension. What you're asking in Hebrew is whether there was segregation. On that matter, there is quite a lot of misleading or very subjective, open to interpretation translating on this channel in Hebrew (I don't understand Arabic). You also often lead the people you speak to down a path of your choosing. Let them answer without 'contaminating the sample'. These thing are faulting what is otherwise a singular, pioneering and important project. Please double check your Arabic translation and your Hebrew as well, which is still a little short on some essential vocabulary.

[Sophie-hhbd]

I think the answer is simple: for the generation of our grandparents and parents there is a difference, for the new generation there is no difference. Because we are Israelis first of all. And a lot of us already mixed and have mosaic background. We have much more in common than different. Anyone who says that Jews are just a mixed bunch of random people will never understand what a blessing it is when you grew up in another country, but coming to Israel and making friends, you find out that your friends were taught by their parents and their grandmothers, exactly the same things, you were taught as a child. And I'm not talking about Judaism, I'm talking about worldly wisdom, daily choices and values. I honestly don't even know what background most of my buddies have unless they mentioned something themselves. We just truly don't care. But all Israel haters can continue comfort themselves with the idea, that we have some inner issues.

[ahmedmuayad]

We Iraqis are always divided over the silliest things lol I laughed so hard when the woman at @5:08 gave the example of the Iraqi Jew having divisions within themselves apparently it's in our DNA

[kobi]

As a 27 years old Israeli, from my experience the older generations made distinctions between ethnicities but the new generations (mine included) are already mixed up and you will find friends between all ethnicities, especially when you go to the military, you will most likely serve with people of ethnicities you might not have talked to before, spending a lot of time together and going through hardships together bonds us and even if you had bad experiences with one of the ethnicities or your parents passed on to you some racist ideologies, you will learn that there are good people from every ethnicity and a distinction is just something stupid from the past to most of us young Israelis.

I have wonderful friends who are Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, Bedouin, Druze, Peruvian, Indian and more, which taught me (And many other Israelis) to never judge a person by their ethnicity or race, I do not judge Palestinians as well for being Palestinian, but I don't have any Palestinian friends since I don't live close to any of them, and obviously they did not serve in the military with me 🙃

[MrPickledede]

I am half Yemenite and I live in Beersheva in a neighborhood with Ethiopians Morocans Bedouin and Russians, we all get along. in Ashkenazi neighborhoods the infrastructure is well maintained but in my neighborhood we live in such neglet the sidewalks, manhole covers are broken most of the buildings are 1950s ratholes with no light in the stairwells and with complaints to the city hall ignored for months....is this racism? You be the judge

[romypotash]

It’s like asking in every other country if all racism is completely done. Of course not, but I can say we are in a better place and still improving

[mattvdh]

The problem is that you won't get honest answers by cold approaching people on the street. They're going to the give you the politically correct answers. Ask Ashkenazis in private and I think you'll get wildly different answers

[BigMoeFo]

I am Israeli and the population has become so mixed by now the question is irrelevant.

[niro]

I was raised with Ethiopian jews Russians jews mizrahi Jews and i can say there was never division between us

[orenico]

It's interesting that almost all the people you interviewed were Sepharadi or Mizrachi, except the woman in Poleg who is both. I was born in the United States to a Yemenite/Israeli father and an Ashkenazi/Canadian mother. My father was born in Tel Aviv, the youngest in his family, in 1928. He is the only one in his generation who married a non-Yemenite woman. With my first cousins, things were different and most married non-Yemenites although only a couple married Ashkenazim, like my father did. Look, we are all Jews, but it's interesting that Israel has never had a Mizrachi Prime Minister, and, if I'm not mistaken, maybe not even a Sepharadi PM. So you can make of that what you will. As for the idea that the majority of Likud members of Knesset are Mizrachi, well, that shows the resentment that some feel towards the Ashkenazi elite, no? No question that the early days of the country were dominated by Ashkenazim, when my grandmother and aunts all were housekeepers for wealthier European Jews. My father's generation of Yemenites did not attend University even though they were sabras. And then years later, when Yemenites came straight from Yemen in 1948, some of them had their babies stolen by Ashkenazim. Has all this resulted in bad feeling to the present day? No. But to say that all of it is forgotten would not be accurate either. My cousins now have third generation and fourth generation Israeli kids and some work in hi-tech and are living the "Israeli Dream, " but it's still clear that Ashkenazim are the "elite" of Israel, from the army, to the media, to the Prime Minister's Office. Maybe you can prove me wrong. Maybe, after years of intermarriage, there is no difference though I still remember, in the late 1970s, when Russian Jews refused to enter a swimming pool with Ethiopian Jews.

[ofrikalif]

In a generation or two, the whole jewish people in Israel, ethiopian, Iraqi, polish, american, morrocan, persian etc will be mixed. People care less and less about your background and more of your abilities.

[simko]

Today there is almost no more problem of Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews. It still remains among ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox Jews.

[EatYourVegs]

As an Israeli I don't know how to translate "a divide"

Edit: actually I think it's the word the guy uses at 3:16: "Pilug"

[bendunk]

I'm mostly agreed with Emanuel from ramle. It's really depand on how religious you are, in the ultra orthodox community the separation is quite disturbing, but at least it's based on sticking to your coustmes on the religious rituals. The secular Ashkenazi are simply racist, i felt it on my skin many years as 34 year old in Israel you pass through some heavy turbulence of war and hate that it doesn't seems on the surface. This days generation are having it easy and leaving the hate behind.

[y]

Loll when people in Israel say there are differences it's not the same way like in the United States

[smartman]

hi I am syrian christian your nighber I can tell you Israeli very friendly people

[loveandmercy]

I remember an Israeli friend of mine who was of Yemenite background say to me his parents complained about Askenazi Jews and as we became more integrated the Ethiopians complain about us. Its typical the first generation struggles to integrate into a new society. None of my heritage is of the English/French/Scots that initially built Canada and all of them struggled to integrate into Canada. But I am a Canadian through and through. Based off my own anecdotal experience of living in Israel for 3 months most Israelis probably feel a similar way. The only people who seem to bring up these old tribal grievances are usually Israel haters. Stay strong and unitied,

[egedemirer]

I didn't sense a societal division between Hebrew-speaking non-black Israelis but Ethiopians and especially Russians (speaking Russian and migrated from former-USSR) were mostly either not accepted by Hebrew speakers or preferred to have their own friend group. It is expected because other Israelis came to the land by accepting to adopt a Hebrew/Jewish identity as a new identity and ignoring Yiddish/Ladino/Arabic background. But Russians and Ethiopians still have the same mother tongue (Russian or Amharic) as their ancestors and keep their traditions more than the Jewish ones. Especially, post-USSR migrants could view themselves as more Russian than Israeli or Jewish, celebrating New Year's Eve (Noviy God) which most Hebrew-speaker do not, and mostly not celebrating Jewish holidays and not observing Shabbat.

[monkeymoment]

Among older generations it’s probably true, as historically jews were very selective with their communities (the Jews in India as a big example, splitting between white Jews and “black” Jews, not allowing marriage between the groups) however, the newer generations do not care as much.