The Sephardi Perspective: Sephardi Zionist-Skeptics

Recently, I have held many discussions with certain Sephardim who have disparaged Zionism and the State of Israel. These 'intellectuals', all from North America, have only distaste for Sephardi Zionists, denigrating them Ashkenazi dupes or worse. Many of the arguments revolve around the fact that Sephardim were dispossessed of their culture and heritage by the mainly Ashkenazi political activists who helped create modern secular Zionism.

These Sephardi Zionist-skeptics have reinterpreted a version of Jewish history in Asia and North Africa which barely resembles the actual events that took place. For every individual that was cited as a success story for Jewish integration in the wider Muslim milieu, there were dozens of events which prove that these instances were the exception and not the rule. The Jewish status of al-Dhimma necessitated a repression which even in the best of circumstances meant that the Jew was never equal to the Muslim.

The Zionist-skeptics also point to a rich Arab civilization which the new Israeli was being deprived of when returning to his ancestral homeland. They essentially whitewash a culture and civilization which had been in decline for many centuries: today, the whole Arab world translates fewer books than Spain in any one year. There are certainly numerous aspects of Arab culture which are very positive; but many were Jewish customs and norms long before there was such a thing as 'Arab culture'. It is certainly true that the modern State of Israel saw itself in Western terms and attempted to create a homogeny that did not allow for 'other' traditions. However, to use this element to call into question Zionism and the return to Jewish nationhood is extremely shoddy intellectual reasoning.

As I have shown in previous articles, the vast majority of Sephardim were Zionists, whether they were religious or secular. The average Sephardi living in Israel is extremely patriotic and still retains a close connection to his traditions and religion. These skeptics thus remain on the extreme margins of the Sephardi discourse with Zionism.

Any elements of Sephardi culture, however important, are still very secondary to the unity of the Jewish People as a whole and what unites us as a people is far greater than what divides us. Many use their Sephardi or Ashkenazi identity as a weapon against the other, hoping to score points sometimes at the cost of our unity as a people and nation. It is incredible that people like Professor Sami Shalom Chetrit consider themselves Palestinian and an 'Arab refugee' because they feel a deep sense of victimization. This understandable victimization has been misappropriated by these radical Sephardim into taking on the role of another people.

In the debate of Arab versus Jew, Israeli versus Palestinian; they have looked to throw the proverbial "baby out with the bath water". Or in the words of Meyrav Wurmser of the Hudson Center in an article titled 'Post Zionism and the Sephardi Question', "the post-Zionist Mizrahi radical rejection of Zionism and the Israeli state is the wrong medicine for the disease. Rejecting Zionism is opting for a solution that is outside the Israeli political system. Such a solution will contribute little to solving the existing problems of Israeli society and its Mizrahi population. Destroying the state of Israel will not make the Mizrahim more equal or accepted by either Jewish or Arab societies."

This disturbing view of 'Stockholm Syndrome' sees the Jews as beholden to their Arab captors, and the Jewish People who have come to rescue them as the bad guys. The situation was and is not great for many Sephardim in Israel, but to cleave to a memory of persecution, exclusion and discrimination shows that the true amount of historic and philosophical gymnastics necessary are enormous.

Recently we celebrated and commemorated the Purim of Saragossa and Holocaust Memorial Day. Both dates attest to the helplessness of the exile and the extreme persecution that Jews can feel when they have no sovereignty. Another event, the possible return of the bones of Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, amply demonstrates the precarious situation many Jews had under Islam. Rav Shabazi lived in one of the worst times of Jewish persecution in Yemen where the Jews were forced out of their towns and cities to the inhospitable desert regions where a full 20% perished. As a result the Mori, as Yemenite Rabbis were called, penned a kinah or lamentation for recitation during the Ninth of Av, recalling the terrible exile of Jews in his lifetime. This Diwan is still recited by many Yemenite Jews to this day.

Every date in the Jewish calendar throws up memories of persecutions, death and destruction in our host nations. These Sephardi Zionist-skeptics, especially those from North America, have a more comfortable setting with which to complain. Their ancestors could never complain as they do, primarily because they did not have the safety that Israel provides. Political autonomy and sovereignty gives free expression for grievances and the fact their Israeli counterparts bemoan their lot in the Jewish State shows how progressive we are as a nation. The interesting nature of the Sephardi Zionist-skeptic academics is that they belong to a very small 'elite' which is home to many Ashkenazi extremists who they wish to emulate and post-Zionism allows them to use their background as a rod to beat the Jewish State.

There are real issues at stake, and the Jewish State has many failings. However, we are truly blessed to live in an age where Jews can be rescued from persecution and live in their own land. Many of us have become spoilt because we never experienced true oppression and have never lived in an age where there was no Jewish State. It is time that all Jews, wherever they reside and whatever the background, push their efforts into rectifying the many faults of Israel rather than attempting to undermine it because of their grievances. If the state if failing, it is our responsibility to make it a better home for all Jews.