Special Articles Ethnic Differences Among Israeli Jews: A New Look by U.O. SCHMELZ, SERGIO DELLAPERGOLA, and URI AVNER LISRAEL'S JEWISH POPULATION is made up of immigrants and cheir descendants from all over the world, most of whom came to the country only in the last few decades. Within this societal mosaic the meeting of the two major origin groups of Jews—Asian-African and European- American—is of particular significance and has attracted widespread atten- tion by researchers.1 During the early statehood period, the two groups exhibited strong dif- Note: The research reported in this study was carried out under the auspices of the Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. All statistics were derived from published or unpublished data compiled by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics or from computer files deposited by the bureau with the Hebrew University's Data Bank. Numerous special tabulations were made from these files. The responsibility for the findings rests exclusively with the authors. U.O. Schmelz wrote the introduction and the sections on immigration, population size and struc- ture, residential distribution, interethnic marriage, and fertility; Uri Avner wrote the section on education; Sergio DellaPergola wrote the section on voting behavior and the conclusion. Benjamin Anderman, Zvi Richter, Nitza Genuth, Judith Even, and Ann Poller ably assisted in preparing this study. 'In the vast literature dealing with the problems discussed in the present study, see the following general works: Carl Frankenstein, ed., Between Past and Future (Jerusalem, 1953); S.N. Eisenstadt, The Absorption of Immigrants (London, 1954); Judah Matras, Social Change in Israel (Chicago, 1965); Moshe Lissak, Social Mobility in Israel Society (Jerusalem, 1969); Mizug Galuyoth—The Integration of Immigrants from Different Countries of Origin in Israel (in Hebrew; Jerusalem, 1969); S.N. Eisenstadt, Rivka Bar Yossef, Chaim Adler, eds., Integra- tion and Development in Israel (Jerusalem, 1970); Michael Curtis and Mordecai Chertoff, Israel: Social Structure and Change (New Brunswick, 1973); Roberto Bachi, The Population of Israel (Jerusalem, 1977); Sammy Smooha, Israel: Pluralism and Conflict (London, 1978); Ernest Krausz, ed., Migration, Ethnicity and Community, Studies of Israeli Society, 1 (New Brunswick and London, 1980); Moshe Lissak and Nurit Ronel, eds., The Ethnic Problem in Israel—Continuity and Change (in Hebrew), Megamot, 25, 1984; Dov Friedlander and Calvin Goldscheider, Israel Population: The Challenge of Pluralism, Population Bulletin 39, 1984; Shlomo Deshen and Moshe Shokeid, eds., Jews of the Middle East: Anthropological Perspectives on Past and Present (in Hebrew; Tel Aviv, 1984); S.N. Eisenstadt, The Transformation of Israeli Society: An Essay in Interpretation (London, 1985); Alex Weingrod, ed., Studies in Israeli Ethnicity (London, 1985); Peter Y. Medding, ed., Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 5 (New York, 1989). 4 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1990 ferences in many areas: demographic patterns and family organization, educational attainment, occupational skills, consumption patterns, degree of religiosity, and so on. The impact of these objective differentials was exacerbated by the existence of psychological barriers, such as the percep- tion by each group that the other had "a different mentality" and the accumulated resentment of Asian-Africans toward the dominant European- Americans over initial absorption difficulties. At the same time, a broad diversity prevailed within each of the major groupings with respect to country of origin, mother tongue, and societal background abroad. Later arrivals among European Jews did not show the strong commitment to social experimentation and change that was evident among European immi- grants of the pre-1948 period. This diversity notwithstanding, there existed strong commonalities among Israel's Jews, in particular a shared Jewish heritage—the ancestral religion and history, some international contacts in matters of rabbinical learning, and the perennial experience of minority status in the Diaspora, which had recently been underscored by the Holocaust in Europe and nationalistic violence against Jews in Arab lands. Most of the immigrants in their countries of origin had been town-dwellers with urban occupations, and the Jewish men, at least, had been better educated than their non- Jewish counterparts. In addition, most Jews arriving in Israel shared the feature of being destitute refugees.2 In Israel itself, the members of the two origin groups were brought closer together by such existential factors as smallness of the country, residential proximity of many people of different backgrounds and characteristics, dependence on the same institutions, such as schools, and the impact of common legal obligations, especially compulsory military service. Another unifying factor was the emergence of Hebrew as the lingua franca of a population made up of Jews of diverse mother tongues.3 Commonly shared experiences, often under conditions of war and national emergency, have served as powerful unifying bonds. Moreover, unlike in the early period of the state, most Israeli Jews are now native-born, and their proportion is growing. The ethnic factor has shown itself to be a key dynamic element of Jewish society in Israel. The coexistence, interaction, and interpenetration of the main origin groups, as well as the changes which their members have 2U.O. Schmelz, Jewish Refugee Immigration to Israel 1932-1980, Hebrew University, Divi- sion of Jewish Demography and Statistics, Occasional Paper no. 8, 1989; a Hebrew version was published earlier. 'U.O. Schmelz and R. Bachi, "Hebrew as Everyday Language of the Jews in Israel Statistical Appraisal," in Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume, vol. 2, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1974, pp. 745-785. ETHNIC DIFFERENCES AMONG ISRAELI JEWS / 5 experienced personally and intergenerationally, are major themes of Israeli social history. At the same time, the actual processes of evolution in each origin group as well as the differences between groups have tended to vary a great deal in different spheres—a point that is often not appreciated. This study will concentrate on the analysis of origin differentials in selected subject fields. The aim is to elucidate the empirical patterns of these differentials and their transformations over time, to document the prevail- ing diversity, and to contribute to the in-depth analysis of the selected subject fields. Viewed overall, the investigation of these evolutionary pat- terns sheds light on the main challenges and problems involved in the task of contemporary nation-building by Israel's diverse Jewish population. Background Prior to the Holocaust, world Jewry consisted of several principal group- ings, differing in geographical location, sociodemographic, and socio- cultural characteristics—particularly the degree of modernity—as well as in modes of Jewishness and religiosity. The bulk of European Jewry lived in Eastern Europe, one of the less developed regions of the continent, where it was subject to strong economic and nationalistic pressures. Previously this had been a traditional Jewry of the Ashkenazi type. However, two powerful trends made for change: in the Soviet Union, the Pale of Settle- ment and the numerus clausus were abolished, giving Jews opportunities for geographical relocation and careers in the framework of a Communist regime; in the East European countries outside the USSR, modernization and industrialization advanced during the interwar period. Central and West European Jewries, with the exception of some recent immigrants from Eastern Europe, had become so modernized that they anticipated and actually exceeded the demographic dynamics currently characteristic of both the general populations of highly developed countries and the contem- porary Diaspora. They exhibited negative population growth, low levels of Jewishness, and frequent mixed marriage. The recently established Jewish populations in the Americas, South Africa, and Australia were striking roots in these surroundings and setting out on the road to their remarkable present success in the economic and social spheres. The age-old Jewries of the Middle East and North Africa shared in the cultural and material stagnation of their countries of residence, most of which, in the mid-20th century, were just experiencing the early stages of sociodemographic change. Finally, the Jewish population of the Land of Israel (Palestine) during the Mandatory period was still of modest size, mostly of European provenance, with its majority ideologically oriented toward Zionist pioneer- ing. 6 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1990 The Holocaust wiped out most of European Jewry, whether traditional or modern. The remnants from Europe—excluding for a considerable time the Soviet Union—and the Jews of the Islamic countries made up the bulk of the immigrants to the new State of Israel. Most came as refugees. The dominant societal constellation in the early phase of the State of Israel resulted from the meeting of three sectors: the preexisting yishuv, new immigrants from Europe, and new immigrants from Asia-Africa. The latter two groups were newcomers, but conditions had changed utterly for the old-timers (themselves mostly foreign-born) as well. Since the old-timers and the immigrants from Europe had the same background, in sociodemo- graphic terms the picture was reduced to the