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Ethnic trajectories in Israel: comparing the "Bené Israel" and "Beta Israel" communities, 1950-2000 Abbink, G.J. Citation Abbink, G. J. (2002). Ethnic trajectories in Israel: comparing the "Bené Israel" and "Beta Israel" communities, 1950-2000. Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift Für Völker- Und Sprachenkunde, 97, 3-19. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/9468 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/9468 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). ANTHROPOS 97.2002: 3-19 Ethnie Trajectories in Israël Comparing the "Bene Israel" and "Beta Israel" Communities, 1950-2000 Jon G. Abbink Abstract. - In this article a comparative study is presented of of various origins. Critical reassessments of the the Indian and the Ethiopian Jews in Israël, immigrant com- long-dominant sociological perspective on social munities that went through similar expériences of intégration intégration or "absorption" of these groups in and accommodation in Israël, despite the time lag in their arrivai. Elements of their history and sociocultural background Israël (e.g., the "Eisenstadt school") have made in the countries of origin are discussed in order to explain it clear that ethnie diversity and tensions now the émergence and status of ethnie identity in a complex visible were already long present under the sur- new society with a shared background ideology of intégration face. Tensions and conflicts with ethnie referents (Zionism). An assessment is made of the (perceived) initial have only gained a belated récognition in Israeli religieus and social marginality of the two groups as it may have interacted with their social "careers" and group status. The social science (since the late 1960s). At present, socioeconomic structure of Israeli society has contributed to the study of "ethnicity" among Jewish groups has "reproducmg ethnicity." The analysis suggests that the "Indian" become not only fashionable but mandatory. There and "Ethiopian" Jewish subidentities are now well-estabhshed are both political-economic and cultural reasons in Israël, illustrating that the cultural content of "Jewishness" or Jewish identity is quite diverse. [Israël, Indian Jews, Ethiopian for the (re)emergence of ethnicity itself. What Jews, ethnie identity, multiculturalism] makes the Israeli case interesting in a comparative perspective is that while the postmodern condition Jon G. Abbink, Ph. D., senior researcher at the African Studies of the résurgence and institutionalization of cultur- Centre, Leiden, and professor of African ethnie studies at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. His doctoral thesis (1984) al diversity without an overarching "normative" was on the Ethiopian Jews (Falasha) in Israel (see also bis framework is général, in Israël the Zionist idea article in Anthropos 78. 1983). - His research interests are the is still the commonly accepted rationale of state anthropology and history of southern Ethiopia, contemporary and society among most political parties, Jewish sociopolitical developments in Northeast Africa, and Ethiopian citizens, and immigrants.1 material culture. He carried out fieldwork on peoples in the My aim in this paper is not so much to reiterate Ethiopian Southwest, on which hè published many articles. His 2 most recent book (co-edited with G. Aijmer) is "Meanings of these général points, but to take it as a given in a Violence. A Cross-Cultural Perspective" (Oxford 2000). comparative survey of two ethnie communities (in Hebrew: edot, sg.: edah) in contemporary Israeli- Jewish society, the Indians and the Ethiopians, and l Introduction Apart from the conflict with Arab countries and the 1 Despite its bemg under fire from certain Jewish ultra-ortho- dox religieus groups and, on the other end of the spectrum, Palestinians not accepting its existence, the state from a disenchanted "secular" young génération. of Israël has, since 1948, had internai problems 2 See, e.g., Ayalon et al. 1985; Weingrod 1985; Ben-Rafael with the intégration of Jewish immigrant groups and Sharot 1991; Goldschneider 1996. Jon G Abbink to search for reasons explaining the (re)construc- Israel Ethiopian Jews. These groups hâve différent tion of their "ethnie identity" in Israël. In trying to historiés, but share some aspects of their structural account theoretically for phenomena of ethnicity it position and group identity in Israeli society: a) is no longer productive to pit the "primordialist" their "stigmatization" as dark-skinned, "différent" and thé "mobilizationist" positions against each Jewish groups, outside thé mainstream of Jewish other or dissolve them into a "constructionist" history and accepted only after a long struggle; b) paradigm. If ethnicity is seen as a kind of shared, their image of being socially "problematic" edot cultural interprétation of descent - i.e., an extended that are allegedly "hard to understand" by other notion of kinship among a group of people -, Israelis; c) their relatively low-rank social position then it is obvious that thé idea of situationality is in society. crucial. A dynamic and processual approach must It may be that thé problem of the "marginality" be followed in accounting for ethnicity and identity and lack of acceptance of thèse two communities formation. It can, however, be easily recognized in thé Israeli mainstream has now, formally and that some social conditions leave much more room within the context of social interaction in Israël, for ethnie expression and its "primordialization" been declared a thing of the past (see below). But than others. Some external criteria are often seized a rétrospective analysis of their position may be upon as essential (skin colour, language, diet, useful to demonstrate thé force of: 1. historical- dress codes, religion). As we know, assimilation or cultural factors in defining varieties of "Jewish- intégration are hardly ever processes that erase ail ness", as related to an embodied, cultural style; 2. traces of ethnocultural diversity or identity. This the religieus power structure in Israël, 3. thé prob- applies especially to people who migrated for other lematic institutional approaches to "absorption" in than purely economie reasons, and this also holds Israël. for most Jewish immigrants to Israël. The impact Such a comparison may also be used to un- of "embodied" historical and cultural factors of derline thé interaction of mobilizationist and pri- group expérience in the country of origin on group mordialist aspects. The latter aspects like language, identification in Israël has only become fully clear physical appearance, shared enculturation, and val- in récent years. "Multiculturalism" certainly exists ues cannot be created out of nothing. Cultural in Israël - even though there is no accepted défini- représentations and practices concerning thèse as- tion of thé terni - and Jewish ethnicity, in ternis of pects, as évident in, e.g., perception and présen- a (sometimes only nominal) religieus culture and tation of self, behavioural codes, socialization of idea of descent, is still assumed as thé cultural children and ritual, hâve an experiential basis and background of most groups.3 are not only thé resuit of construction or politi- Some years ago, thé anthropologist H. Goldberg cal manipulation (cf. Van Londen and de Ruijter (1985: 180) rightly noted thé lack of a concept of 1999: 70 for a récent restatement of this point). culture as a critical variable in studies of ethnie Thèse cultural représentations found among immi- phenomena and "absorption" in Israël, as évident, grant groups are transmitted in the new country. If e.g., in thé lack of récognition of "Jewishness" as one dermes "culture" as a dynamic and constructed a cultural category (181). A more or less uniform, ideational system of shared, often tacit (Abbink culture-free idea of Jewish identity was long thé 1992: 101) and partly embodied meanings, one underlying premise of the Israeli "absorption mod- recognizes that in the case of the two groups el" on the basis of which ail immigrants would to be treated hère thèse représentations relate to hâve to be "processed," while it also delineated the construct "Jewishness" as collective self-image thé basic paradigm for sociological reflection upon and as lived practice. While "culture" should not thé process. The ideological assumptions of this be reified and does not exist as a bounded unit of were submitted to critical scrutiny by many authors thought or behaviour, I argue that divergent ideas since thé early 1980s.4 It is to thé historico-cultural and practices of Jewish identity are an important aspects of "Jewishness" as a category that I wish part of thé cultural identity of Indian and Ethiopian to draw attention with a comparison of two edot in immigrants, also in Israel. They represent in a Israël that long remained "marginal" in thé public way a reinvention of "tradition" and are a valued view: the Bené Israel Indian Jews and thé Bêta repository of meaning for both groups. How this has corne about is the subject of this article. 3 Though even hère there are growing doubts: many of the (supposedly Jewish) Russian immigrants who came to Israël after thé fall of the Berlin Wall m 1989 are not Jewish 4 Cf. Bernstein 1980, 1981; Swirsky 1981; Dommguez 1989. Anthropos 97 2002 Ethnie Trajectories in Israël 2 Backgrounds: Jews in India and Ethiopia Israeliness; among thé Ashkenazi it is the other way around. This is explained with référence to I start from the assumption that both edot are thé much stronger idea of (cultural) continuity "subethnic" groups within Jewish Israeli society. that thé Middle Easterners, as Jews, cherished Both the Ethiopian and thé Indians share a spécifie (or tried to cherish, as far as possible) after cultural interprétation of belonging and descent their immigration to thé Jewish state, while the (fictive or not) and a certain social-historical style Ashkenazi groups were more secular-oriented. A of behaviour, variably expressed in language, re- similar thing happened with thé Indians and thé ligion, kinship practices and ceremonies.

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