A leading expert on the issue of the social and cultural gap between Sephardi Jews, or Orientals, and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel believes that the problem can be solved by creating a pluralistic society, whose members would live “in peace and harmony.”
In fact, Dr. Maurice Roumani, director of the Elyachar Center for Studies in Sephardi Heritage at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-sheba, claims that Israeli society and the political establishment have been more receptive to a pluralistic society in the past few years.
“I think this is going to be the trend in the future which will lead us to a genuine social and cultural integration,” he said here in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Roumani, 45, is on a brief visit to the United States under the auspices of the American Associates of the Ben Gurion University whose president is Robert Amow. Roumani, a Libyan-born, American-educated scholar, who is also an expert on Mideast politics and Arab-Jewish relations, said that the social gap between Sephardim and Ashkenazim has two major aspects: economic and cultural.
He noted that the National Insurance Institute in Israel recently issued a report indicating that the number of families below the poverty level has increased by 20,000 to a total of 50,000 families. “Most of these families are Oriental Jews,” Roumani said. “This is a regression in terms of bridging the socio-economic gap in Israel.”
AN IMPROVEMENT UNDER THE LIKUD GOVERNMENT
Pointing out that this regression occurred during the recent period of the Likud government, he said: “For some of us this is not surprising. It is common knowledge that Oriental Jews supported the Likud and brought it to power. I think they did so not so much because they supported the Likud’s economic ideology, but as a protest vote against the Labor Party and its 29 years of paternalism and undermining the Sephardi heritage while in power.”
According to Roumani, there has been a change in this regard under the Likud government. “The Likud and Menachem Begin, its leader, restored for the Orientals the image of a traditional Jew with whom they can identify.” The Likud also helped the Sephardim in developing a positive self-image on the personal level, he observed. He noted that under the Likud government there are more Sephardi Jews in the Knesset and in high government positions.
Under the Likud government the economic gap seemed, until recently, to have been narrowed, Roumani said. He said that the Oriental Jews have enjoyed the economic prosperity in recent years together with the rest of the population. “That well being might have been false but nevertheless the individual’s economic situation has improved,” Roumani said.
This situation, however, has drastically changed in the last few months, and the economic gap has widened, Roumani said. “I regard the economic gap — although it affects children’s schooling and their way of life — as soluble,” he said, adding: “Recent history has shown that with resources, properly channeled, economic hardship can be alleviated.”
He continued: “What is more important, and becoming pressing, is the cultural gap in Israel; namely, what kind of culture we are going to see in Israel? Is it going to be a reflection of Ashkenazi Jews or is it going to reflect the pluralism of the Israeli society? Israel is a country where East can meet West and South can meet North. It can be very exciting to all members of society. Cultural pluralism is the answer to the cultural gap in Israel.”
Roumani said that “interestingly enough” the trend toward pluralism was started under Labor rule in 1976. In that year, he recalled, the Education and Culture Ministry established the Center for the Integration of Oriental Jewish Heritage which has been subsidizing since then teaching and research on the subject in all universities in Israel.
THE ROLE OF BEN GURION UNIVERSITY
Roumani said that the Elyachar Center for Studies in Sephardi Heritage at Ben Gurion University started in 1977 with only eight courses and a handful of students. Today, he said with obvious delight, the Center offers 35 courses and has some 600 students, about 12 percent of the total student population at the university.
He noted that Beersheba is a town whose population is 70 percent Oriental. “Our university is oriented toward community involvement. Many Orientals were given the opportunity to attend the university. Many students are enrolled now in the center’s courses, seeking their roots and gaining self respect,” Roumani said. He said that courses on Sephardi heritage “are contributing to pluralism in Israeli society.”
AN ACHIEVABLE GOAL
Roumani said the trend toward a pluralistic society can be achieved, “providing we control it.” He said that teaching Sephardi heritage courses should be introduced into the curriculum of elementary and high schools all over the country.
Roumani noted that reaching the goal of a pluralistic, integrated society might take 5 years. But it all depends on “the imputs in terms of new centers (for Sephardi heritage) and the rate of integration.”
Roumani, who recently published a critical study on an educational program to integrate Oriental Jews into the Israeli army, said that he believes that the army in Israel is a very good educational instrument toward integration. “It is a leveler of everybody,” he said. “All soldiers, Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike, are put on the same level.” He added, however, that the army is a reflection of Israeli society and the “culture of the army is Ashkenazi.”
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