tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post5437073734166211123..comments2023-05-11T14:42:01.345+03:00Comments on How to Be Israeli: Two sides of Israeli Race Relations on Yom HaAtzmaut...Maya / מיהhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09871125878143128412noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-7356339843874418712010-06-18T12:53:54.258+03:002010-06-18T12:53:54.258+03:00the thing is Ethiopians don't tend to sympathi...the thing is Ethiopians don't tend to sympathize with African Americans and such they're like the lone rangers...well the ones in Ethiopia and the rest besides Israel I guess. A similar thing happened to me when I went to Israel last summer. Some of my friends, me and my cousin who lives in Israel went to ask about one of our passports and the lady at the desk glared at my cousin who looks like I assumed the typical Ethiopian in Israel and where in Ethiopia she would be considered pretty dark for a northern ethiopian. And the lady turned to me, which is wierd because I'm a Beta Israel myself but I was raised in Canada, and smiled and told me in English to go to the black woman at the second desk. I was like "the black woman? doesn't she have a name or something" and she said to me " yes, the black woman the ethiopian" and she laughed and said " you've probably not seen black jews much around have you..." and she tried to explain to me how MY people came to Israel as Jews. I was slightly offended by the fact that she glared at my own flesh and blood like that but the fact that she assumed I was Armenian or Greek, according to her, when I later told her what I actually I am and believe it or not her face was a mix of embarrassment/awkwardness/disbelief and she gave me a look that said "is-that-even frikin-possible-'cause-she-has-green-eyes-and-olive-skin-with-light brown hair", I'm used to people getting my race wrong and the usual face I get from Israeli's when I start speaking Amharic on the phone or saying hi to Ethiopian friends they're like WTF, but it stung a little hearing those things she said in a terrible tone. But when I was going to ask the lady why she was glaring at my cousin, my cousin stopped me saying that it's common in Israel. I understand the racism is also there for mizrahim's and other groups as well. But how long is it before people realize that they have greater enemies besides the people that are in their army from the same faith serving the same country and the same G-d. I just feel sorry for my people who are equally if not greater constantly hated and bashed by non-jewish Ethiopians. Most non-jewish Ethiopians have this wierd horrible pleasure from talking and hearing about the jews of ethiopia facing racism by the rest of Israel. Israel should be united and fighting the enemy not picking each other's skin. Trust me, 'cause here in the west once we tell them we're Jews they don't give a d*** they will go on and on about how me and my family have probably killed innocent Palestinian children when I lost my own two brothers and 7 cousins to this endless war and lots and lots of people to suicide bombing so I am immune to all of those Amnesty International information they preach to me about human rights.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-83895436412995326862009-11-20T12:54:17.415+02:002009-11-20T12:54:17.415+02:00I just got linked to this blog earlier today, and ...I just got linked to this blog earlier today, and have been working my way through the posts. Just wanted to let you know that this post has had me on youtube for the past hour or so watching hadag nachash videos. The sticker song is the first modern Israeli song that i ever really got into, but listening to the rest of their songs (and reading along the english translations), I really love all of them. I thought that you would particularly like this one entitled rak po- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikjiMbJIG8gMalkanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-12653117572461479972009-05-07T22:17:00.000+03:002009-05-07T22:17:00.000+03:00Well, Maya, you know one more person of mixed Jewi...Well, Maya, you know one more person of mixed Jewish heritage. I am Lithuanian/Galitzianer/Russian on one side and Syrian/Palestinian on the other (from the days when Haifa was considered to be southern Syria and the Jewish community was Syrian). -Jewish comes after all of the above.<br /><br />In response to the "black girl" remark, I would have said, "She is our sister. Let's not refer to her in such a derogatory manner." But, I would have to look up some of these words in Hebrew, LOL. <br /><br />I believe this is much more than newly-awakened American sensibilities, but part of the process of bringing Jewish unity to the fore. We have been spread out all over the world and become very different in one another's eyes.<br /><br />On the subject of Jew-Arab relations, which is not a racial issue but something else entirely, I am not willing to compromise. Our government does too much of that already.חוה 07https://www.blogger.com/profile/08729419454918634451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-19453475168118756532009-05-03T21:06:00.000+03:002009-05-03T21:06:00.000+03:00Yeah, I think they are race issues of different sc...Yeah, I think they are race issues of different scales, and if anything Ashkenazi-Sephardi relations are MORE of an actual race issue. The "black mask" thing was much more ignorance of the seriousness of the racism it represents. But yes, lots of material for race posts here... oy.<br /><br />I believe Ben Yehuda was the one to use Sephardi pronunciations when he brought Hebrew back to life, and we use Sephardi inflections-- for example, Ashkenazi Hebrew says SHAbos while Israeli Hebrew (and Sephardic Hebrew) says shaBAT. Same letters, totally different pronunciations. But maybe what really happened was that we ended up with Sephardic Hebrew spoken with an Ashkenazi accent... if that makes any sense. To an Ashkenazi ear, it sounds like we're speaking Sephardi Hebrew, just like I think I speak Israeli Hebrew, but the more subtle differences didn't translate... like the "chet." I never thought about it that way before, but it's kind of an interesting idea! <br /><br />I see so much happy coexistence here, though. I know SO many people who are mixes of Russian, Moroccan, Polish, Yeminite, Ethiopian, what have you... much more than I saw biracial people in the US. At some level I think all Jews in Israel feel very much like the same family whatever their origins. Although of course, as you say, Jewish-Arab relations are another story altogether.Maya / מיהhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09871125878143128412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-70232549249310979072009-05-03T20:57:00.000+03:002009-05-03T20:57:00.000+03:00You are right that it is different from the 'black...You are right that it is different from the 'black mask' dance, of course. Lucky for Israel, you don't have the racial relations baggage (eeeh... slavery?) that the US has. Or that European colonizing powers have with their citizens from former colonies, for that matter.<br /><br />But I believe that it is a race issue still. A haaretz article a little while back (titled "their mother is from Morocco") discussed the taboo of bringing up the subject.. <br /><br />And of course, remains the 'other' race issue in Israel - Jews and Arabs. Surely another post :)<br /><br />Re: pronunciation, I believe sephardis (well, Mizrahis, to be more precise) traditionally pronounce the ע ס ק ח the way Arabs do; in modern Hebrew these letters have been simplified to their closest 'Latin' letter (a, s, k, and spanish j). And I may be wrong, but i don't think any newscaster speaks like a sephardi..Mo-ha-medhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06580446493947668369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-52387608250929480352009-05-03T20:06:00.000+03:002009-05-03T20:06:00.000+03:00Thank you for the input! I think I will complain t...Thank you for the input! I think I will complain to the iryah for the "blackface"-style dance... thanks for reinforcing to me that I am not overreacting. <br /><br />Mo-ha-med, I see the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide as a little different from this dance at the Yom HaAztmaut celebration. I think this performance was truly the result of ignorance-- ignorance (combined with indifference, I'm sure) about the history of horribly dehumanizing racism in the US that created this kind of caricature. The Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide, on the other hand, is the result of the unequal conditions under which the different aliyot occurred, and the power balance that left secular Ashkenazim in control of early cgovernment. I'm surprised you say the modern Hebrew pronunciation is fully Ashkenazi rather than Sephardi-- I'd always thought it was the other way around. (For example, Ashkenazim have a "saf" while in modern Israeli Hebrew, a "taf" is always a "taf.") But definitely there are serious inequalities between ethnic groups in Israel, and in some ways the Ashkenazi-Sephardi relations are much more like modern US white-black relations... I've heard that the "black panther" movement in Israel was started by Sephardim! Definitely a post for another day.Maya / מיהhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09871125878143128412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-83173289706592567722009-05-03T18:01:00.000+03:002009-05-03T18:01:00.000+03:00Hi,
got here from Lisa's blog..
The question of "...Hi, <br />got here from Lisa's blog..<br />The question of "race relations" in Israel may be new but it isn't nonexistent. Remember the Boublils and the Friedmans last year? (or was it earlier this year)?<br />Israel has a clear hegemony of one racial group - whites, to be blunt - over others. Even the standard modern hebrew pronunciation is fully ashkenazi rather than sephardic. And 'horizontal inequalities' -- economic and social inequalities based on race, not on income - are increasingly visible.<br />If Israelis are planning on preventing race relations from getting any worse, they need to begin now.<br /><br />I would complain to the city council, if i were you!Mo-ha-medhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06580446493947668369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-12864998940331876262009-05-03T14:38:00.001+03:002009-05-03T14:38:00.001+03:00Argh... no question, of course.Argh... no question, of course.SnoopyTheGoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00920565522498918323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-24750806268977294892009-05-03T14:38:00.000+03:002009-05-03T14:38:00.000+03:00We definitely have all kinds here, not question ab...We definitely have all kinds here, not question about it.<br /><br />Cheers.SnoopyTheGoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00920565522498918323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-58399069907666670802009-05-03T09:29:00.000+03:002009-05-03T09:29:00.000+03:00Dunno-hard to say... but perhaps a complaint would...Dunno-hard to say... but perhaps a complaint would help other people realize the undertones.rickismomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07817042750959998664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746038026718535483.post-10780391744373383672009-05-01T14:44:00.000+03:002009-05-01T14:44:00.000+03:00We went to the show in Ofra, since our granddaught...We went to the show in Ofra, since our granddaughter was in it. The kids were of "all colors." Besides the many shades of "white," there were Ethiopeans and Bnai Menashe. YOu can see them on me-ander and my youtube and WEJEW.Batyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09402874037427009327noreply@blogger.com