Reply To: New book – “HaChareidim V’Haaretz”

AAQ – I’m starting to think that I’m just wasting time by answering you. You could do your own research if you sincerely cared to know.

How many sephardim wanted to join charedi schools and were prevented by the government v. how many did not want to.

In Yemen, close to 100% of the Jews were Shomrei Mitzvos. The vast majority of them were airlifted to Israel in the early 1950s and placed in “ma’abarot” consisting of rows of Quonset huts surrounded by barbed wire (to prevent Chareidi “Pe’elim” from entering. Sometimes they managed to enter anyway, if you are curious about this part read the books about it.) They had very little understanding of what was actually going on, other than that they had reached the Holy Promised Land where there was a new “Jewish” government. (Many thought Moshiach had come.) What happened afterwards is the subject of quite a few books, mostly in Hebrew. Within a generation almost all of their children were secular. (Not anti religious like the Ashkenazi descendants of Maskilim, but not Shomer Shabbos.) There are presently about 400,000 Yemenite Jews in Israel, mostly descendants of those 50,000 immigrants. These people were not “swept up by sociological phenomena”, they were taken from Yiddishkeit by force. Similar things happened to Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants, although they weren’t as easy prey as the Yemenites were.

There were approximately 900,000 Sephardic immigrants during those early years. More than half the Jewish population of Israel is descended from them.

next item – or were prevented by schools teaching in Yiddish and general attitude towards sephardim even among charedim.

The “Pe’elim” organization, which has since morphed into Yad LeAchim and various spin offs, worked tirelessly to open special schools specifically for the children of the Sephardi immigrants, with teachers who either were themselves Chareidi Sephardim, or Ashkenazim who taught in Hebrew. Again, books and articles have been written about this, that you apparently have never read. The “attitude” you describe is anachronistic. That was a very different era.

next – (not to pile on here, but I heard from a charedi black ger who was asked directly what problems he encountered in Israel � mentioned that their kids had a hard time in Israeli charedi schools, and he quipped �we converted because of Judaism, not necessarily the Jews�. This was somewhere in 1990-2000s.)

What does this anecdote about Nissim Black have to do with the children from 50 years earlier? In all fairness, many Israeli Chareidi schoolchildren had never seen Black Chareidim before. Sephardim had lived in Israel before the Ashkenazim arrived, although the big numbers came in the late 40s and early 50s.

next – How many parents were fooled that their children were sent to a yeshiva and sent to kibbutz instead?

I know personally such a person, one of 11 siblings, Kohanim from D’jerba, Tunisia (if that rings a bell for you), who was sent with his brothers to the “Yeshiva” in Deganya. I have his phone number in my cellphone contacts list. I don’t think he wants me to post it here, so you’ll trust me on this one. They were not the only ones. Far from it.

next – Again, I am aware of these stories, but I do not know whether this explains major population trends.

You are almost copying line by line Holocaust denier talking points. Entire communities were uprooted from their homes of centuries, or even millennia (Bavel and Yemen since Churban Bayis Rishon, D’jerba since Churban Bayis Sheini), and their children “reeducated” by hook and by crook to “integrate into Israeli society” (sound familiar?) What percentage of SEPHARDIC (not post-Haskala Ashkenazic) Jews were Shomer Shabbos 80 years ago, and what percentage are now? (Many of those who are Shomer Shabbos now are Baalei Teshuva or children of Baalei Teshuva, so factor that in also.)

next – For what I know, most Sephardim are reasonably �traditional� � either observant in large part or non-observant in some way, but still respectful of chachamim and religion in general, not like Ashkenazi leftists. So, even if someone tried, this was not very successful.

Unfortunately, it was very “successful” at the time. In the long run, many Sephardim returned to Torah and Mitzvos, but with the scars of their secular upbringing and the experiences of their grandparents and parents. This whole social engineering project continues to color Sephardi-Ashkenazi relations to today.

next – At the same time, many are pro-Israel, pro-Army � and I hope that charedi kahal develops a coalition that includes these Yehudim (and their opinions and sentiments) into a grand Jewish coalition.

Stockholm Syndrome anyone? Yes there are people like that. There are others too. You continue to regard the State and the Army with almost religious significance, which blocks out any information that would contradict that (see also RZ/Mamlachti). I hope together with the Chareidi Kahal to learn and keep Hashem’s Torah, and make for Him true ??? ???. Anything else, including the IDF, is not an integral part of the program.