Comments on: Orientalizing Arabs, Europeanizing Jews http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/ The Marketplace of Ideas Wed, 22 May 2013 18:24:56 +0300 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Tim Upham http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-108022 Tim Upham Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:34:57 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-108022 The Mizrahim connections actually goes much deeper than what is assumed. The Talmud came from the academies in Mesopotamia, Tel-Aviv was settled by Yemeni Jews in the 1890's, and I will break the fast after Yom Kippur with almond milk — a custom that came from Iraqi Jews. My background is Sephardim originally from Spain, but realize that the greatest of poets in Al Andalus, Judah Halevi, was influenced by Arabic poetry, and an Ottoman Sultan welcomed in the Sephardim after they were expelled from Spain. So the Mizrahim are very much a part of our lives, just like bagels and lox.

]]> By: Yen Sid http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-108024 Yen Sid Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:45:44 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-108024 We've always been a Middle Eastern people overall. Just because a certain segment of us wandered in Europe for a long time doesn't change that.

]]> By: Yen Sid http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-108020 Yen Sid Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:37:23 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-108020 We've always been a Middle Eastern people overall. Just because a certain segment of us wandered in Europe for a long time doesn't change that.

]]> By: Sarah Katz http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-89914 Sarah Katz Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:28:12 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-89914 Dear Gideon,

Are you referring here to Middle Eastern Jews or just Middle Eastern people? Ineed, there are some Jewish folks who look down upon Middle Easterners (Jews and otherwise) but there are also many Jews who appreciate their kinship with non-Jewish Middle Eastern people and value their own heritage as either Jews of Middle Eastern origin or, if they are Ashkenazi, respect Middle Eastern Jews as hailing from the original region of the Jews. I am one of these Ashkenazim and tend to surround myself with like minds. :)

Thank you for reading!

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-89912 Anonymous Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:28:57 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-89912 Excellent points, Ms Sarah Katz. However, Rabbi Ovadia Joseph represents the Middle Eastern Jew, who having suffered under Arabs or Muslims, feels is superior to them and spews vitriol about them, when not sanctioning and blessing a bully's treatment of them.And he's partly right too.

]]> By: Tizz Al Nabi http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orientalizing-arabs-europeanizing-jews/#comment-89910 Tizz Al Nabi Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:00:41 +0000 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=98050#comment-89910 Actually more than half the Jews living in Israel have their roots in Arabs countires and were ethnically cleansed from these countries since 1947.

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