The relevance of ethnic origin
Does it matter if any Mizrahim, Jews of Middle-Eastern descent, are engaged in academic research? Is the number of Mizrahi Jews and Arabs working in institutes committed to liberalism and humanism of any interest at all?
By Tamara TraubmannDoes it matter if any Mizrahim, Jews of Middle-Eastern descent, are engaged in academic research? Is the number of Mizrahi Jews and Arabs working in institutes committed to liberalism and humanism of any interest at all?
The senior staff of institutes of higher learning are interested in seeing more Mizrahi Jews employed at universities and would derive a great deal of satisfaction from the appointment of the first Arab woman professor.
They believe there is no problem of discrimination or racism - there just haven't been any promising candidates. In other words, if there were worthwhile candidates, they would certainly be promoted - irrespective of their origins - since academia is merit-based. It is color-blind.
Nevertheless, Mizrahim are a marginal minority in the academic world. In a study he conducted for his master's thesis, Israel Blechman discovered that Mizrahim constitute less than a 10th of senior academic staff. Arabs comprise a mere 1 percent.
The overwhelming majority of the academic elite, some 90 percent, consists of Ashkenazim - Jewish men of Eastern-European descent, and to a lesser extent, Ashkenazi women.
The way these statistics have been treated is no less interesting than the statistics themselves. The Council for Higher Education and senior university staff do not believe the ethnic composition of faculty members is a matter that needs to be dealt with. In Israel, no one is prepared to discuss the sort of affirmative action and economic incentives customarily employed at elite American universities. Council for Higher Education members also maintain there is no reason to present the public with information on minority representation in university staff. Publishing these figures, they say, would "only lead to trouble."
What would happen if the council itself were to publish the figures on a regular basis? Perhaps the traditional role of the Mizrahi Jews and Palestinians, as objects of research, would change and we would view Mizrahi Jews and Palestinians as the researchers themselves. A continuous follow up would also make it impossible to continue avoiding the problem. Troublesome indeed.
Keeping things quiet and denial are immensely powerful tools. This power maintains the existing discrimination and inequality. The processes of promotion in universities are not transparent; therefore it is difficult to inspect them. Policy makers in academia have built a world of concepts, inside which one must not count the number of Mizrahim and Ashkenazim on staff - the processes of promotion, after all, are based on excellence.
Excellence, however, is also the outcome of one's socioeconomic status and the opportunities derived from it. A woman who wants to succeed in academia has to have a rich husband to be able to pay for a cleaner and a caregiver for her children, making it possible to devote her time to research.
It is also worth re-examining the claim, widespread in academia, that the small number of Mizrahi academics reflects "historical discrimination," which no longer exists but whose effects are still palpable today, because of the many years required to develop an academic career.
But if we make do with the knowledge that it will take time, then there will be no significant change.
The number of women among the senior professorial ranks has barely changed over the years. Despite the declarations about "closing social gaps," the number of Mizrahi, Arab and socially-disadvantaged students studying for a first degree is still low.
One of the common reasons for not publishing this data is that a person's ethnic origin is irrelevant.
But why isn't it relevant? It is indeed relevant to all those Arabs, Mizrahim and women who have not managed to find a place in Israeli academia, to all those who were forced to make do with inappropriate conditions or move abroad to continue their activities at universities there.
It is also relevant to society at large since a homogenous academic world does not provide for diversity or freedom of thought.
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Mordechai, I am Ashkenazi and I work at a Univeristy. I would say that the ration of students if half/half with regards to Ashkenazi vs. Sephardi students. We should also keep in mind that today most people are a mix of the two. Regardless, I am married to a man of sephardi decent, he and all of his family members have 2nd degrees and consider education to be of utmost inportance. You clearly see sephardic Jews as having the shuk metality and that is why you are part of the problem.
As long as they are not religous their orgins are negible. Religous-zionst are an eccentric brand of Judiasim that should be barred at all costs from teaching in universities. They do not live in the modern age. They are sexist and racist and dangerous to normal Jews.
except your own elitist fantasies. You condescend everyone, and advance the causes of no one, save yourselves. I see the emperor with no clothes, and the laugh is on you.
Whatever happened to investigative reporting? TT does not appear to have taken the time to do her "homework". Hebrew University had has indepth discussions about the status of women, although to the best of my knowledge not Arabs or Mizrachim. In many fields, women already make up 50% or more of Ph.D's. In some fields in the Humanities they represent half or more of new appointments. Often the problems appear not during the studies while in the country, but when there is an expectation that scholars will travel abroad for a post-doc. Every committee I sat on from 2004-2006 reported how many women candidates submitted their candidacy, and how many were chosen. The question is, why have Arabs and Mizrachim not received similar attention. However, The Council for Higher Education gives out special "Levtzion" doctoral scholarship for students from the periphery. I guess TT didn't think this was worth discussing.
what's so insane about this ??? i think it's obvious .. the more educated and more assimilated of mizrahim jews had a clear preference for europe and france
i can't say about all european jews because i dont know but the last russian immigration was different in this respect ... until 1989 most russian jews headed straight for the US and only small fraction immigrated to israel .. things have changed in that or next year when the US stopped granting automatic asylum to soviet jews .. since then israel was getting russian jewry as it is and it was precisely the year the massive immigration from russia started... another factor that may be at play is that jews always get to the top of the society ... russian jews were a very small segement of the population and so they were overwhelmingly educated and developed .. in countries where jews account for a significant portion of the population there is not enough 'top' to allow all jews to be professors and entrepreneurs and so the gap between them and the rest of the country is less extreme ... and this was apparently a situation in morroco ... never mind that it's a third world country ...
Then, perhaps, less discrimination coupled with less complexes may heal the wounds of "Ashkenacentrism" and help us all.
Insane! You just mean that Israel got the weakest part of these people. Even "not westernized elite" families who moved in France got their chance!
they are different ... people who moved to israel were more conservative and traditional ========================== Well the eastern-europe jews who came to Europe and US are also different than the ones who did their aliya more educated, less conservative. If you compare ashkenazi acamedic population/acamedic mizrahi population you will not find the numbers found in israel. You can say what you want, but mizrahim are still second class citizens in Israel(not mentioning other third class,....) If you consider somebody second class, he becomes class. So far for the racist, antisemitic europe
Mordechai, the French jewish community is for a vast majority composed of jews of north african descent. You would be really surprised of the rate of success of those jews in accessing the most wanted top universities and the high rate of prominent researchers in all kind of fields. They`re not different from the one who fled Morroco, Algeria and Tunisia to Israel in the 50s and the 60s. ****************** they are different ... people who moved to israel were more conservative and traditional .. those who preferred france were more from the french speaking and westernized elite of the mizrahim jews
Mordechai, the French jewish community is for a vast majority composed of jews of north african descent. You would be really surprised of the rate of success of those jews in accessing the most wanted top universities and the high rate of prominent researchers in all kind of fields. They're not different from the one who fled Morroco, Algeria and Tunisia to Israel in the 50s and the 60s. These rates is Far Far Far Higher than their estimated weight in the population (0,5% !!!!) The only difference is that the selection system in France was most fair in France than in Israel : anonymous competitive exams, your name 'almost' doesn't matter I'm sorry to tell you that Israel (which has done so many impressive achievements) has missed something by considering this peoples as underdog who have "different value" and unable to reach the level of the European Descent Jews. In a fair competition without affirmative action, they can be as good as natives French.
The answer is not to have one section of the population raised up on a higher plateau than the rest because they have been to UNIVERSATY. The answer is to have a fairer system of wealth distribution. Then it would not matter if you have a PhD or shovel shit.
Wake up, Mordechai, you smugly assume Mizrahim ara not interested in study and research. How convenient! You only forget that in more congenial places like France, Canada, etc., Mizrahi students, researchers and University professors, in much greater proportion than their percentage of the Jewish or general population, are doing very well, thank you. There must be something (or somebody ?)in the saintly "avvir" of Erets Israel that keeps them from thriving as well.
I don't want to generalize, but it seems to me that a traditional arab jew has different values regarding to academic studies. First of all, the Mizrahi Jews have to be interested on universities as research centres. Then they must be interested in research. And maybe then they will apply for membership. If they are a minority as students, logically they will be a minority as lecturers.
"A woman who wants to succeed in academia has to have a rich husband to be able to pay for a cleaner and a caregiver for her children, making it possible to devote her time to research." Actually, successful female academics tend either to have no family life, or to have husbands who do their share of the cleaning and childcare. Even this "enlightened" article makes sexist assumptions.
this article is another attack by haaretz at the striking academics. before publishing this rubbish, i suggest tamara traubmann check the percentage of mizrahim returning from top us or eu universities after 2-3 years of postdoctoral studies. these are prerequisites for being considered for a faculty position. if the percentages are very different, then you might have some point here.
Just being able to raise the constantly denied point amoung the academic, is already a concession for the Newspaper to the reality of an irreductible injustice towards the Sepahardo-Mizrahi, that in fact comprise way over 60% of the Jewish population of the Country. Not socio-economics probles are at the hart of such result, but the environment: i.e. the descrimination that is continued inspite of all appearences. Now, just for a simple comparaison; what is the Academic representation of North African Jews in the Universities of France, Canada, Spain, South and North America: it is far beyond their demographics in those countries: Yes; all of them came from the same socio economics background, and yet they were able to reach level, sometimes far superior to the Eastern-European coreligionists, especially in France, Canada and Spain, plus Bresil. Why would you ask? well it is the "environment" in which I include the Eastern European Jews have created in Israel which unlike the rest of the West, is exclusive to the Sephardo-Mizrahi. I know what I am talking about, its quite existent within our in-laws... It is a mentality which inspite of Begin and the current Minister of Justice Friedman's revolution, thinks are moving slowly. It is revolting, it is sad because Israel is loosing a grate potential of different intepretation of our reality in the Land. Yes, I cannot see Tamir and the like of her as a proponent for an inclusive society where the contribution of the Academis pf Sephardo-Mizrahi origins, be allowed to create, and build a new future. Sami Sheetyrit, the writer who has written extensively on the matter does not see any changes, voluntarily, unless there is a wholesale REVOLUTION. Do we really have to get there, why not just level the plain field?!!!