Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Mizrahi Jews, a major Jewish ethnic group from the Middle East and North Africa.
Mizrahi Jews
The Latest
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Life The Kurdish Immigrants Who Built Israel
In Israel, there is often a singular narrative told about immigration and the creation of the Jewish state: Ashkenazi pioneers came from Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century and built the country. They established kibbutzim, moshavim, and cities like Rishon LeTzion, and created pre-IDF militias. Streets in every city in Israel bear…
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Culture This Dating Site Connects Jews Of Middle Eastern Descent
NEW YORK (JTA) — These days, there’s a dating site or app for just about any group you can imagine, from men with beards (and their admirers) to a farmers-only site. There’s even an app matches people based upon shared dislikes — as in “I saw you, too, hate paying extra for guacamole.” But one day it dawned upon Cynthia Shamash,…
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Opinion Can Amir Peretz Finish What Israel’s Black Panthers Started?
To understand the polarization in Israeli society between the center and the periphery, the divide between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, right and left, we must look back to the often fraught relationship between economically dominant Kibbutzim and neighboring “development towns.” Since the establishment of the state of Israel, this dominance was characterized by segregated living conditions…
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Opinion For Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, Whiteness Was a Fragile Identity Long Before Trump
“I have lived for 26 years under the illusion that I am unconditionally white…. Recently I have started looking at my face and going, ‘Oh man, do I look too Jewish?’” Sydney Brownstone, the reporter who voiced this question in a recent Blabbermouth podcast, is not alone in wondering this. Many Ashkenazi Jews who have…
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Opinion If A-Wa Wants Real Mizrahi Revival, It’s Time To Get Political
A-Wa, the groundbreaking band made up of three Israeli Yemenite sisters who famously sing in Arabic, has just released its first album “Habib Galbi” in the U.S. The band was listed by Rolling Stone last week as one of the 10 New Artists You Need To Know. The group’s first music video, “Habib Galbi,” has…
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Opinion Jews of Color Get Personal and Political at First-Ever National Gathering
If you want to get black Jews, Mizrahi Jews and a Palestinian-American Muslim to burst into tears at the same time, invite Yavilah McCoy to talk about hair. Speaking at the opening plenary of the Jews of Color National Convening, which took place May 1–3 in Manhattan, McCoy gestured at the woman beside her, a…
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Opinion Mizrahi Artists Are Here To Incite a Culture War
The lineup outside the Tel Aviv nightclub snaked until the end of the block, but Yonit Naaman and I bypassed the crowds and walked to the front door. People eyed us enviously as the bouncer let us through. Inside, we were giddy over the VIP treatment, joking that it was payback for all those times…
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Opinion The Mizrahi-Palestinian Intersectionality Nobody’s Talking About
If you’ve been tuned in to the Israel-Palestine conversation over the past few months, you’ve probably heard the word The idea that different forms of oppression are linked — so that standing up for victims of sexism and homophobia should also mean that we stand up for, say, victims of Israeli state violence — has…
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