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ABSTRACT
Underpinned by Bourdieuian theory, specifically, Bourdieu’s argument in Distinction (1984), this study investigates the instituting of an ethnoreligious social order in yeshiva high schools in Israel in the 1980s, as expressed in the personal accounts of Mizrahi graduates of these schools. The research findings indicate that the educational staff of the yeshiva high schools, being mostly Ashkenazi, constructed Ashkenazi religion as standard, and Mizrahi religion as flawed and out of place in the religious life of the yeshiva high school. The religious and liturgical practices in the yeshiva high schools followed purely Ashkenazi traditions, while the educational staff insisted on marking the inferiority of Mizrahi religion by means of various remarks regarding the students’ ethnic identity, in addition to inversion rituals that degraded Mizrahi religious traditions. The study findings correspond with Religious Zionist society’s preoccupation with the preference of the Ashkenazi version of religion to the Mizrahi version in state religious education in general, and in yeshiva high schools in particular.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. E.g., Meir Avitan, “Zarim be-bet aba” [Strangers at Home], Makor rishon, musaf shabbat, accessed April 20, 2021, https://musaf-shabbat.com/2013/09/27; Cohen, “Ani ba-ma’arav ve-libi ba-mizrah,” 8-11.
2. Bourdieu, Distinction.
3. Wacquant, “Habitus as Topic and Tool,” 81–92.
4. Bourdieu and Passeron, Reproduction in Education.
5. Bourdieu, The State of Nobility.
6. Katz, Tradition and Crisis, 103.
7. Friedman, “Masoret she-avda,” 196–218; Soloveitchik, “Rupture and Reconstruction,” 64–130.
8. Friedman, “Model ha-shuk,” 91–110.
9. Deshen, “Ha-datiyut shel ha-mizrahim,” 44–58.
10. Yadgar, “Traditionism.”
11. Leon, “The Ethnic Structuring of ‘Sephardim’,” 130–160.
12. Yadgar, “Jewish Secularism and Ethno-National Identity,” 467–481.
13. Bar-Lev, “Ha-yeshiva ha-tikhonit,” 206–222.
14. Ben-Zimra and Shmida, Hitgabshuta ve-tafkida shel hevrat ha-no’ar.
15. Arieli, “Mosdot pnimiyatiyim,” 199–207; Kashti, “Social Mobility Through Reconstruction,” 35–58.
16. Bar-Lev, “Ha-yeshiva ha-tikhonit,” 206–222; Sadan, “Ha-midrashiya ve-shealat ha-inteligentziya ha-datit,” 61–124.
17. Bar-Lev, “Ha-yeshiva ha-tikhonit,” 206–222; Dagan, Ha-hinukh ha-tzioni ha-dati, 117–123.
18. Gross, “Tafkidav ha-hevratiyim shel ha-hinukh ha-mamlakhti dati,” 129–186.
19. Dagan, Ha-hinukh ha-tzioni ha-dati, 117–123; Picard, “Tradition Versus Tradition,” 140–155.
20. Bar-Lev, “Bogrey ha-yeshivot ha-tikhoniyot be-Eretz Yisrael.”
21. Bar-Lev and Kedem-Friedrich, “Ha-meymad ha-hinukhi,” 93-160; Dagan, Ha-hinukh ha-tzioni ha-dati, 117–123.
22. Bar-lev, “Ha-yeshiva ha-tikhonit,” 206–222.
23. Chetrit, Intra-Jewish Conflict in Israel, 198–213; Hever et al., “Introduction,” 9–14.
24. Shenhav, The Arab Jews, 73–101.
25. Cohen and Leon, “Le-sheaelat ha-ma’amad ha-beynoni,” 83–101.
26. Don Yihye, “Religion and Ethnicity in Israeli,” 11–54; Friedman, “Ha-Mafdal be-tmura,” 105–122.
27. Don Yihye, “Religion and Ethnicity in Israeli,” 11–54; Herzog, Adatiyut politit.
28. Denzin, “The Practices of Politics,” 897–922.
29. Samuel and Thompson, “Introduction,” 36–48.
30. From an interview with Shimon, of Moroccan origin, June 12, 2017.
31. Katz, Tradition and Crisis, 103–105.
32. There are communities among Jews from Muslim countries whose tradition regarding the candle lighting is similar to the Ashkenazi tradition. Hence, the tradition is “identified as Ashkenazi,” rather than truly Ashkenazi.
33. See above 4.
34. Yoshea et al., Shiluv moreshet yahadut ha-mizrah, 50.
35. From an interview with with Danny, of Moroccan origin, November 19, 2017.
36. This statement of the head of the yeshiva can serve as an example of the construction of the yeshiva as an elite. Ergo, those who deviated from the yeshiva customs were considered “Amorite.”
37. Ars, or arsim (plural), comes from Arabic (young shepherd, used in Cairo and other Arab cities to denote a pimp). It is Hebrew slang for a male displaying bad manners, vulgarity, flashy jewelry and contempt for society’s norms. The term usually applies to Mizrahi Jews, stereotypically of Moroccan parentage.
38. From an interview with Shlomo, son of a Moroccan mother and a Tunisian father, January 26, 2018.
39. E.g., Yehuda Yifrah, “Panter varod [Pink Panther],” Makor Rishon, musaf shabbat, accessed April 20, 2021, https://musaf-shabbat.com/2014/11/28.
40. Cohen, “Ani ba-ma’arav ve-libi ba-mizrah,” 8–11; Gordin, “ Ben kodesh le-hol”; Avi Kadish, “Hatza’ah le-takanon tfilah minhag ‘klal Yisrael’” [Suggestion for Standard Prayer for “Klal Israel”], accessed June 13, 2022, https://toravoda.org.il/%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%A2%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%94%D7%92-%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%9C-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C/.
41. Gafni, Tahat kipat ha-leom, 182–192.
42. Leon, “Mi-Bney Akiva le-Minyam Ha-Tze’irim,” 153–176.
43. Lau, Mi-maran ad maran, 86–101.
44. Perry, “White Means Never,” 56–91.
45. Trabelsi, “Etniyut srugah,” 109.
46. From an interview with Reuven, of Moroccan descent, July 20, 2017.
47. Bourdieu, Sociology in Question.
48. Rutherford, “Interview with Homi Bhabha,” 207–221.
49. Gluckman, “Rituals of Rebellion,” 110–136.
50. This is an Israeli Hebrew expression, literally, “turning Ashkenazi,” parallel to acting white, that is, adopting the dominant group’s patterns of behavior.
51. Bourdieu, Masculine Domination.
52. Fanon, Black Skin, White Mask.
53. Ahmed, “Home and Away,” 329–347.
54. Sasson-Levy and Shoshana, “‘Passing’ as (Non)Ethnic,” 448–472.
55. From an interview with Arye, of Tunisian descent. December 22, 2017.
56. See above 49, 110–136.
57. Turner, The Ritual Process, 54–57.
58. Buzaglo, Safah la-neamanim, 47–57; Yadgar, “Traditionism.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Erez Trabelsi
Erez Trabelsi is lecturer in Ashkelon College and Herzog College in Israel. A doctor of Sociology and Anthropology from Bar Ilan University, his focus of interest is ethnicity and mobility in state-religious education in Israel. Dr. Trabelsi’s previous role was that of principal of a high school yeshiva, and he was appointed in charge of implementing the Power to Change reform in the Ministry of Education, southern region. His article, “When Adar begins devaluation increases: On the construction of Mizrahi religiosity in yeshiva high schools in the 1980s,” was recently published in the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies.