martillo@ihuxt.UUCP (Yehoyaqim Martillo) (05/01/84)
Just to show I am unbiased and do not pick only on irreligious Ashkenazim, I am posting this article from Sephardi World. Keep in mind as you read the article that the majority of observant Jews in Israel are Sephardi and that less observant Sephardim are usually not as hostile to Jewish religion as less observant Ashkenazim. Less observant Sephardim unlike less observant Ashkenazim often vote for the religious parties. Also note that the Sephardi version (shita) of Judaism is historically normative while the Ashkenazi version is somewhat abberrant (Jacob of Emden and Luzzato make this point). The Ashkenazi version has been discredited by the mass apostacy of Ashkenazi Jews during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Sephardi Revolution in the Aguda by Moti Bassok Behind the main dramas of the recent Municipal Elections, which often as in Herzlia, Ramat Gan, Beth Shean and elsewhere, ousted from power almost legendary mayors, the most significant event was perhaps what may rightly be called the Sephardi Revolution in the Aguda. Agudat Israel has always been traditionally led and represented by a jealously Ashkenazi leadership. Even its religious leadership -- the Council of Tora Sages -- is exclusively Ashkenazi. The Aguda has four Members of Knesset -- all Ashkenazi; two Hassidim and two Hungarians. Among the closely knit Aguda communities it is rare to find intermarriages with Sephardi or oriental families. A neighbor of mine the daughter and wife of a Rabbi, told me clearly that should one of her daughters marry a "Frank", she would be expelled and virtually excommunicated. "Beth Yaakov", the Aguda Educational Institute for girls, has two parallel facilities: the better one is reserved to Ashkenazi girls, while the second is "strictly Sephardi". When the local Jerusalem press made this situation public, one of the Sephardi mothers made haste to justify this apartheid, declaring that (sic!) tradition and reality show that Ashkenazis are by far more gifted... It goes without saying that in Aguda communities boys too are kept apart: there are Talmudei Tora, Yeshivas and Kollelim for Ashkenazis -- other institutions for Sephardi youngsters. At the last national elections, the Aguda made the "generous gesture" to concede the fifth (and purely academic...) seat to a Sephardi representative, Mr. Melamed of Bnei Brak, a Yemenite. After long negotiations, a document was signed by all four Aguda MK -- Shapira, Lorentz, Porush and Halpert -- confirming that at the end of the first two years of tenure one of them would resign to make place for Mr. Melamed. When the time came, vainly did Mr. Melamed knock on the doors of the four signatories: to no avail. Mr. Melamed has learnt the hard way that Aguda promises are not worth very much, at least when they deal with Knesset seats... Then came the day of reckoning. The Municipal elections were at hand and the Sephardi Aguda vote requested a just representation in the Aguda Jerusalem list. Rabbi Porush, the all-powerful Aguda leader in the Capital, rejected all such proposals without discussion. The Sephardis had no choice but to set up, unwillingly, their own list. Nobody took the new list seriously. Traditionally, such local initiatives seldom are successful. The Aguda leadership was slightly upset, and spoke of votes that would be lost to the religious constituency. The came the shock. The new group, sponsored by the former Rishon leZion and by the Jerusalem Sephardi Head Rabbi, took half the Aguda votes from its traditional Ashkenazi leaders. Today the Sephardi Protectors of the Tora have three seats in the city Council, just as many as the Aguda. This sensational achievement goes far beyond the Jerusalem local political scene. Soon it will be time to prepare the lists for the next national elections. And then, the Jerusalem Sephardi revolution will loom like Damocles' sword over the heads of the Tora Sages and of the Ashkenazi Aguda leaders. Echoes of the Mafdal-Tami drama will cause them many a sleepness night. There is little doubt that the policy makers of the Aguda will recognize the necessity for a change of policy. We shall soon be seeing the gates of the proud Ashkenazi Council of Tora Sages open to Rabbis like Ovadia Yossef, Mashash, Zedaqa and others. We shall soon see a convention for the nomination of the Aguda candidates for te Knesset elections that will have to abandon the traditional custom of holding their deliberations in Yiddish...