From Jimena, for those still on Instagram:
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From JIMENA: Bukharian Jews are a Mizrahi community that adopted Sephardic customs in 1795, when Moroccan Rabbi Joseph Maman Maghribi settled there. The Bukharan Emirate was under the jurisdiction of the Umar caliphate & its laws that granted Jews limited religious liberty only in exchange for payment of a jizya tax. Devastated, community members searched for a rabbi, and Rabbi Maghribi accepted their invitation with the understanding that since his practice was rooted in Sephardic tradition, the community would need to follow.

The Umar caliphate’s laws stayed in effect through 1865, when Tsarist Russia began to conquer the land, although remnants of those laws persisted as late as 1920.

Under the rule of Russia, Bukharian Jews were granted more rights, which benefited their trading businesses. That golden age ended abruptly, when the Soviet Union took hold in Central Asia in 1924.

Read the article: https://www.distinctionsjournal.org/resilience-on-campus/

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I’m a Jewish linguist, and unlike some in Congress, I think ‘Ashkenormativity’ is a perfectly fine word.
Sarah Bunin Benor May 2, 2024

The term arose in Jewish discourse around 2014. It has since been used by North American Jews of Moroccan, Bukharian, Turkish, Ashkenazi, Ethiopian, Persian, Black, Japanese-American & other backgrounds to critique and debate the orientations of various educational, cultural & communal institutions & products...

The Sephardi/Mizrahi advocacy organization JIMENA...has created a toolkit to help day schools... “The schools were built and the curriculum was created at a time when Jewish life was ‘Ashkenormative’ — Ashkenazi Jews catering to Ashkenazi Jews,” JIMENA’s executive director explained. “And there’s a need for the schools to meet the current needs of their student populations.”

Jews discuss Ashkenormativity not to perpetuate the power imbalance, but to counter it..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/05/02/ideas/im-a-jewish-linguist-and-unlike-some-in-congress-i-think-ashkenormativity-is-a-perfectly-fine-word

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Jewish #AntiSemitism #JIMENA

The Fallacies of Israel’s East-West Identity Divide are Dissolving … Gradually

Sephardi? Mizrahi? One of Israel’s leading demographers delves into history to describe who we really are.

By Professor Sergio DellaPergola

Distinctions Journal Fall 2023

Register for the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsdeyorTouGNLTbBhyavjogTSHBYP8V-X8#/registration

Read the related article: https://www.distinctionsjournal.org/the-fallacies-of-israels-east-west-identity-divide-are-dissolving-gradually/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Sephardi #Mizrahi #JIMENA

Publishers Note by JIMENA's Director of Education, Ty Alhadeff

"...The Winter issue of Distinctions underscores these existential questions: What defines “home” for Jews? Will we forever be seen as outsiders? How much persecution is tolerable? When is resistance necessary? Why is preservation of cultural heritage in hostile environments worthwhile?

Personally, I contemplate my family’s history of survival through various exiles, from Babylon, Rome, and Spain to Rhodes, and now Seattle. The uncertainty of what lies ahead, whether it’s a fifth exile or a sense of displacement in the Pacific Northwest, looms large. Ultimately, my physical connection to Israel feels more distant — but my emotional ties have grown stronger — since October 7. I imagine many Jews around the world feel like me here in Seattle, where living outside of Israel seems more like an exile than a diaspora..."

https://www.distinctionsjournal.org/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Mizrahi #Sephardi #JIMENA