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Most sociological and ethnographical studies of Israeli Mizrahim are disconnected from those of Sephardic and MENA Jewish communities worldwide. Rooted in academic cultures that predate the country's establishment, Mizrahi history in Israel is often deemed either a success story or a shameful story of marginalization in these communities' global histories, and as a sui generis case of Jewish migration. We trace the early origins of this seemingly arbitrary disconnect to nineteenth-century European scholarship on "Sephardic" turned "Oriental" Jews and follow its subsequent entrenchment not only in Mandate Palestine and Israel but also in the United States. By focusing on key scholars working across transregional networks, we show how a Sephardic bias evolved into disciplinary divisions that have constrained the development of MENA Jewish studies. Finally, we call for renewed attention to the historical and contemporary patterns of separation, diffusion, and diasporic mobility that have long characterized MENA Jewish communities.
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Family of Aliza Mamo, soon turning 106, shares her inspiring journey from Djerba to Israel.
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Dozens of Tunisians have demanded accountability for a Tunisian-Israeli citizen who served in the Israeli occupation army during the war on the besieged Gaza Strip. Photos and videoclips of a Tunis…
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Le chanteur tunisien d’origine juive, identifié comme Sahi Maimoun, est au centre d’une vive controverse après la diffusion d’images le
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‘Comme à Tunis’ was an evening curated by Victoria Jonathan around the work of Tunisian artist Rafram Chaddad, on 14 October 2024 at the Book Bar (Hôtel Grand Amour), in conjunction with Paris Art Week. Drawing on everyday life and investing public spaces, Rafram’s work evokes exile, migration, the fragility of borders, and the mutability of identities. This roundtable, co-chaired with Joseph Hirsch (mahJ), focuses on Rafram Chaddad’s book The Good Seven Years, a deeply original artistic work on the traces of Tunisia’s Jewish minority that almost disappeared in the twentieth century.
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The article describes Jewish communities’ stances in relation to Zionist movements in France and in territories administered by France that were primarily populated by Muslims. It considers the actions of North Africa Jews in the Zionist movement, particularly during the Second World War, and how the war influenced Zionism. The Jewish communities in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia had different statuses influenced by and mirrored in the various colonial administrations, local authorities, and populations. Besides, those differences related to their degree of involvement with Zionism, which was anything but homogeneous and ranged from strong support to a lack of interest. Based on material collected from various archives (mainly Yad Vashem and the Central Zionist Archives), the article uses a selection of testimonies that describe the diversity of North African Jewish communities and their different levels of engagement with Zionist activities. In this way, the stories of these actors and witnesses will directly reveal the heterogeneous worlds of Judaism and Zionism in North Africa. The article also confirms the diversity of the French Empire despite the shared concept of assimilation and the impact of the colonial administration, that was organized in different ways depending on the local situation and on social relations in North African societies.
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The article examines the Jewish Arabic dialects of Gabes and Djerba, two geographically proximate yet linguistically distinct varieties spoken in southern Tunisia. The study highlights significant phonological differences, such as the vowel inventory and the realisation of sibilants, with Jewish Gabes featuring three phonemic vowels and retroflex sibilants, while Jewish Djerba exhibits a reduced vowel system and fronted palatal sibilants. Syntactically, the dialects differ in their future tense markers; Jewish Gabes employs both the particle bāš and the grammaticalised participle ḥabb, while Jewish Djerba uses ḥa, possibly derived from ḥabb. Both dialects also display topicalisation strategies, including left dislocation and non-resumptive topicalisation akin to the ‘Chinese-style topic construction’. The study combines linguistic analysis with field recordings and offers insights into the diachronic and sociolinguistic aspects of these dialects, reflecting the cultural and historical dynamics of Jewish communities in North Africa.
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