Have you got a question about Mizrahim/Sephardim? If so, I'll try my best to answer it. Here are some replies to Antony D.'s questions, which other readers might also find useful.
Why is the number of Mizrahim so small compared to Ashkenazi Jews ?
There are roughly 13 million Jews in the world today. Of the total some 3,5 million are Mizrahim/ Sephardim. [Sephardim are Jews who trace their ancestry back through Spain. Mizrahim are Jews from the Middle East. I use the terms interchangeably because a large proportion of the Jewish communities of North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt came from Spain]. The overwhelming majority of Sephardim/Mizrahim (over 3 million) today live in Israel. The Sephardi/Mizrahi proportion of world Jewry is greater because the Nazi Holocaust wiped out a third of Ashkenazi Jewry.
The Sephardim/Mizrahim were not always a minority. A thousand years ago, an estimated 90 percent of the Jews of the world lived in Spain and Islamic lands. With the Spanish massacres of 1391 and the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of 1492 ( coupled with persecution in Ashkenaz - Germany and France), the centre of gravity of Judaism moved to Eastern Europe, which became the heartland of Ashkenazi Jewry.
Did most Jews living in the Middle East after the Babylonian era convert to the local religion and customs (Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism) ?
The majority of people living in the Middle East 2,000 years ago were Jews or Christians. In Persia, the population was Zoroastrian. (I 'm not aware of any Jews converting to Zoroastrianism.) With the 7th century Islamic conquest, Judaism and Christianity, as well as Zoroastrianism and Hinduism, lost many, many of their adherents to Islam. Christianity was in fact wiped out altogether in the Maghreb (North Africa).
Why is the number of Mizrahim so small compared to Ashkenazi Jews ?
There are roughly 13 million Jews in the world today. Of the total some 3,5 million are Mizrahim/ Sephardim. [Sephardim are Jews who trace their ancestry back through Spain. Mizrahim are Jews from the Middle East. I use the terms interchangeably because a large proportion of the Jewish communities of North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt came from Spain]. The overwhelming majority of Sephardim/Mizrahim (over 3 million) today live in Israel. The Sephardi/Mizrahi proportion of world Jewry is greater because the Nazi Holocaust wiped out a third of Ashkenazi Jewry.
The Sephardim/Mizrahim were not always a minority. A thousand years ago, an estimated 90 percent of the Jews of the world lived in Spain and Islamic lands. With the Spanish massacres of 1391 and the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of 1492 ( coupled with persecution in Ashkenaz - Germany and France), the centre of gravity of Judaism moved to Eastern Europe, which became the heartland of Ashkenazi Jewry.
Did most Jews living in the Middle East after the Babylonian era convert to the local religion and customs (Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism) ?
The majority of people living in the Middle East 2,000 years ago were Jews or Christians. In Persia, the population was Zoroastrian. (I 'm not aware of any Jews converting to Zoroastrianism.) With the 7th century Islamic conquest, Judaism and Christianity, as well as Zoroastrianism and Hinduism, lost many, many of their adherents to Islam. Christianity was in fact wiped out altogether in the Maghreb (North Africa).
Why do Ashkenazi Haredim rate themselves higher than the Mizrahim ?
You have probably heard stories of religious Sephardi/Mizrahi students being turned away by Ashkenazi Yeshivot (religious seminaries) in Israel today. It is a known fact that the most popular have a numerus clausus for Sephardim. While intermarriage between Ashkenazi and Sephardi secular couples is increasingly common, intermarriage between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Haredim is not. Why, you may ask, are Sephardi families fighting to get their children into Ashkenazi Yeshivot which do not want them, instead of starting their own? The answer is that Sephardim in Israel have never really recovered from the destruction of their religious heritage in Arab lands and simply do not have an educational structure reflecting their philosophy and traditions. Shmuel Trigano argues that on arrival in Israel, many religious Sephardim adopted a Lithuanian model.
The Ashkenazi Yeshivot have been accused of discrimination, even racism, but I don't think they 'rate themselves higher' than Sephardim, just different. And it is the prerogative of Ashkenazi Yeshivot, as with all educational institutions, to give priority to some students over others. In this case it is those who share their liturgy and traditions.
I read once that the Hebrew dialect of Yemeni Jews is the most authentic among the Jews living today, which might indicate they preserved the culture for thousands of years, thus making them the 'purest' of the Jews.
You are right: for centuries the Yemeni Jews were the most Jewish of Jews living among the most Arab of Arabs. This does not make Jews from other communities inferior, or less 'authentic' or 'pure'. In fact, given the geographical divide, the similarities between Western and Eastern Jews are astonishing.
Of course Mizrahim did encounter discrimination and prejudice when they arrived in Israel. Poverty and deprivation is still an enormous problem. But few if any countries in the world has had to integrate people from 80 different countries, and in the circumstances, Israel has been relatively successful.
You have probably heard stories of religious Sephardi/Mizrahi students being turned away by Ashkenazi Yeshivot (religious seminaries) in Israel today. It is a known fact that the most popular have a numerus clausus for Sephardim. While intermarriage between Ashkenazi and Sephardi secular couples is increasingly common, intermarriage between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Haredim is not. Why, you may ask, are Sephardi families fighting to get their children into Ashkenazi Yeshivot which do not want them, instead of starting their own? The answer is that Sephardim in Israel have never really recovered from the destruction of their religious heritage in Arab lands and simply do not have an educational structure reflecting their philosophy and traditions. Shmuel Trigano argues that on arrival in Israel, many religious Sephardim adopted a Lithuanian model.
The Ashkenazi Yeshivot have been accused of discrimination, even racism, but I don't think they 'rate themselves higher' than Sephardim, just different. And it is the prerogative of Ashkenazi Yeshivot, as with all educational institutions, to give priority to some students over others. In this case it is those who share their liturgy and traditions.
I read once that the Hebrew dialect of Yemeni Jews is the most authentic among the Jews living today, which might indicate they preserved the culture for thousands of years, thus making them the 'purest' of the Jews.
You are right: for centuries the Yemeni Jews were the most Jewish of Jews living among the most Arab of Arabs. This does not make Jews from other communities inferior, or less 'authentic' or 'pure'. In fact, given the geographical divide, the similarities between Western and Eastern Jews are astonishing.
Of course Mizrahim did encounter discrimination and prejudice when they arrived in Israel. Poverty and deprivation is still an enormous problem. But few if any countries in the world has had to integrate people from 80 different countries, and in the circumstances, Israel has been relatively successful.
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