Israeli culture is comprised of both religious and secular aspects and its emergence came well before the State was formed in 1948. Israel’s diverse nation is comprised of different types of Jewish people. First, there is the Ashkenazim group who come from Eastern European Countries such as Russia, Germany, and Poland. There is also the Sephardim group that originate from Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and the Middle East. The culture that developed prior to the foundation of the State was heavily influenced by Western culture due to the fact that most immigrants were Eastern European Jews. Because of this, Ashkenazi Jews have naturally demonstrated a strong dominance in Israeli society, the impact of which is reflected in various works of art, film, and literature; this Ashkenazi mindset of superiority has created a major cultural gap between these two Jewish populations.
Subsequent to the establishment of the State, Israeli society was broken into an ethnic hierarchy in which the working class was comprised of the Sephardim and the middle and upper classes were comprised of the superior Ashkenazim. The social structure is both stable and self-perpetuating due to the passing on of ethnic inequality from foreign-born to Israeli-born generations as most families bequeath their social status to their offspring (Smooha 166-7). This ethnic inequality roots back to the foundation of the State, a time when the Ashkenazim group was already established to be a leading force in society. Although Ashkenazi Jews view themselves as superior and the Sephardim as inferior, each respective group does recognize that they share the commonality of Jewish faith, nationality, and the Hebrew language; however, the superiority complex of the Ashkenazi and the complete disparity between the two groups stems from their respective cultures. Sephardim tend to have traditional gender roles, larger families, and the use of more authentic Hebrew, which is significantly closer to Arabic (Smooha 167). Erez Bitton was the first poet to include native Middle Eastern thematic, linguistic, and formal elements in his poetry. This is evidenced in his poem “Shopping Song on Dizengoff” where we see the usage of Sephardic language. This poem depicts a Sephardic Jew and his encounter in the streets of Tel Aviv that were dominated by Ashkenazim. He explains, ““I unsheathe my tongue/ with clean words,/ Yes, sir,/ please, sir,/ very up-to-date Hebrew” which thus proves the speaker’s belief that he must act according to the cultural mores of the Ashkenazi Jews due to their dominance in the culture (Bitton 264-5).
This superior attitude held by the Ashkenazim is also reflected in Amos Oz’s story “The Insult and the Fury”, when Oz enters the heavily populated Sephardic village of Bet Shemesh. An Ashkenazi dislikes this as he says “I'll tell you something about the hatred. But write it in good Hebrew. You want the hatred between us to end? First of all, come and apologize, properly” (Oz 46). This passage demonstrates the offensive behavior Ashkenazi Jews had towards the Sephardim solely because they believed they were culturally privileged. Inequality between these two subcultures continued to worsen, as one inequality often perpetuated off of another. For example, there existed major educational inequalities in which the average years of schooling was greater for the Ashkenazi Jews than the Sephardim, leading to higher rates of illiteracy for the Sephardic Jews. This greatly affected their role in society as it unfortunately extended into occupational inequality since the need for the highest level of education was required to land a quality job; this only furthered the strain between these two Jewish populations. In the film made by Ephraim Kishon, Sallah Shabati, we see that Sephardic Jews are no longer able to attain traditional occupations. The protagonist is a Sephardic Jew from an Arab-speaking country named Sallah. He moves to Israel with his family but they are forced to live in ma’abara, also known as temporary housing with poor living conditions for new immigrants, before they are permitted to move to regular housing. Sallah begins to assume untraditional jobs, such as moving a cabinet for a head kibbutz official and obtains occupations that are easily attainable yet transient due to his lack of high education and lack of opportunities as a Sephardim.
Due to both the educational and occupational differences, judgment is often passed from the Ashkenazi to the Sephardim. In the film Kazablan we see the way in which the Ashkenazim negatively view the Sephardim and the ethnic stereotyping that occurs solely due to their self-impression of cultural privilege. In the town of Jaffa, a small neighborhood of Ashkenazi Jews, the homes are crumbling and the Israeli state refuses to renovate it. As a result, the residents pool their resources to save their homes but the money that has been collected is stolen. Since Kazablan, one of the main characters, is a Sephardic Jew from Morocco the Ashkenazi neighborhood views him as a criminal and is jailed, for people believe he stole the money. At this point he claims to feel “inferior, bitter, and like an animal” as he is innocent but completely misinterpreted due to his background. Another ethnic stereotype is seen in the film when Kazablan falls in love with Rachel, an Ashkenazi Jew; however, Yanush, a middle-aged shoe owner wants Rachel for himself and feels entitled to marry her since they’re both Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern European origins. Yanuch tells Rachel’s father that Sephardic Jews are not “intelligent, settled down, European, civilized, and well mannered.” Later on, Rachel invites Kazablan over for lunch with her family and her father insinuates how different Sephardic Jews are from them are since they do not eat the same delicacies; Kazablan is almost forced to eat and swallow the gefilte-fish, a symbolic Ashkenazi food. In this film it becomes clear that even though both groups of Jews are suffering from the lack of hospitality from the government, there is no coming together due to their ethnic differences. Various works of art also make these cultural disparities between Sephardim and Ashkenazim very apparent. Sephardic Jews are often pressured into assimilation so that they will no longer feel as though they are the group that is culturally inferior. Often times this coercion is rejected by Sephardim and instead, a feeling of frustration towards acclimatization amounts. This feeling is seen with artists Meir Pichhadze and Belu-Simion Fainaru as they use their works to reflect dissent toward assimilation and their alienation in Israeli culture as a whole. In addition, we see the issues of migration and the aversion to the belief of assimilation in the painting Jerusalem D.C. (1985) by Pinchas Cohen Gan. Along the same lines, Artist Yehuda Porbuchrai portrays the struggles her family faced with assimilation and her difficulties to connect with Israeli society.
The Ashkenazi power struggle stemmed from the issue of immigration, which thus created many Sephardic stereotypes, disparities and inequalities in education and employment opportunities. The emotions evoked from the cultural divide became so evident after analyzing particular books, poems, and films related to Israeli culture. Although the issue of immigration created a massive rift in Israeli culture, the problem also lent itself to become one of the most prevalent subjects matters for Israeli filmmakers, authors, and artists to reflect upon in their works.