A question of
class
Sara Leibovitz-Dar
It is somewhat surprising to
discover that
"We, the Sephardis, are not part of them,"
he says, referring to the university's administration. "They don't believe
we have a culture. They don't consider Sephardi [mizrachi] subjects to have cultural value. They didn't
understand why students flocked to my classes. When I asked why I couldn't get
a permanent post, they had one reply: there are none available. There was a
post for someone who taught classical music. There was a post for a teacher of
Yiddish. When the new immigrants from
Dr. Eilam-Amzaleg is not the only lecturer
specializing in Sephardi culture who has not been
tenured at the university. In fact, in the teaching of the history of the Jews
from Arab lands and their culture,
There are 15,000 students at BGU. According to estimates provided by senior
officials there, more than half of them are of Near Eastern origin, yet the
university offers only a limited number of courses in Sephardi
history and culture, and an almost negligible number of tenured positions for
lecturers in those subjects. By comparison, the
Dr. Eilam-Amzaleg, 60, was born in
Ruling culture
BGU Prof. Braverman has stated, "is certainly
not an Ashkenazi university." In an interview to the daily, Ma'ariv, earlier this year, he stated that the institution
has "a more diverse mosaic of people," adding, "There is also a
struggle here for Israeli Zionism, which in other places has perhaps ceased. We
want to wield influence... The crux of the test facing
These pronouncements notwithstanding, the Department of the History of
the Jewish People has only three courses dealing with Sephardi
Jewry: "Zionism, immigration and defense: the activity of the Yishuv [the Jewish community in pre-1948 Palestine] in the
Islamic lands" and "The Jews of North Africa in the twentieth
century," both taught by Dr. Esther Meir; and
"Jewish-Muslim relations in the Middle East and North Africa in the era of
nationalism and revolutions," which is taught by Prof. Michael Lasker. Neither Meir nor Lasker have tenure.
As a rule, external lecturers do not act as advisers for students doing master's or doctoral degrees and are not entitled to sit on
the faculty council or help set policy. The lecturers who teach courses related
to Sephardi Jewry at BGU rotate frequently and do not
constitute a stable academic presence. As a result the courses offered are also
random in character. One of the lecturers who has
given courses on Sephardi Jewry is Dr. Zvi Zohar. For three years he
taught courses such as "
"The rector and the president removed my name from the list of candidates
for the prize," Zohar says. "They were
afraid that if I won they would have to add a position for the subjects I
taught, and that was something they had no interest in doing." The upshot
was that due to the lack of a budget Dr. Zohar had to
leave the university. He taught as an external lecturer in the Department of
the History of the Jewish People at the
"If you think a certain area of studies is important, you find positions
for it," Zohar says. "
Prof. Ze'ev Tsahor, one of
the senior lecturers in the Department of the History of the Jewish People and
the president of
In the past decade, Tsahor observes, a certain change
of emphasis has occurred, both because students have requested it and because
there has been an increase in the number of studies relating to Sephardi Jews. "I teach a yearly course on the history
of the Jews in the modern era that meets 42 times," he relates. "Most
of the classes deal with
"Recently, I became convinced that what happened in
Large distortion
Another academic at BGU who is uneasy about the situation is Prof. Yosef Shalmon, the head of the
History Department. "The program of studies is not suited to the needs of
the community," he says. "Most of our students come from the Sephardi communities and they deserve a larger slice of the
pie. There is a large distortion here, there is no doubt that something must be
done. If a history student who is a Sephardi attends
an introductory course and learns nothing about Sephardi
Jewry, that is bound to disturb him."
Prof. Shalmon does not think that BGU is pursuing a
racist policy. "It is simply inattentiveness and insensitivity, but it is
not racism," he asserts.
There are 12 tenured positions available in the History Department and
competition is fierce. In recent years two historians specializing in the
history of Zionism - Amnon Raz-Karkutzrin
and Benny Morris - have been accepted into the department. When Shalmon is asked why they were preferred over a scholar of Sephardi Jewry, he says that such complaints are justified
but adds, "We don't teach the French Revolution
or the history of Africa and
As for who is to blame, Shalmon says: "You
should ask the president of the university how he translates general statements
into applied practice. Overall, Prof. Braverman is
developing the sphere of high-tech. He is trying to develop Be'er
Sheva, which is a failed city, in the areas of
science. Responsibility lies with the rector of the university, by virtue of
his position."
"You fell into Prof. Shalmon's trap," says
Prof. Nahum Finger, the rector of BGU for the past six years. "Every
department head always wants more. In his place, I would also want more."
Asked if it isn't true that teachers specializing in the history of Sephardi Jewry are systematically excluded, he replies:
"Until two years ago we didn't have single lecturer who dealt with the
history of the
A different theory is proposed by Prof. Uri Poznansky,
a former head of the History Department. "I never claimed we were a social
or community university. If the president of the university wants to view the
institution as a factor that has influence in the immediate area, the result
will be a total failure, because a university like that is provincial in
character. What, are we a university to help develop the
Irrespective of the development of the
Limited section
Besides the Department of Jewish History, BGU also has the
In 1981 Romani received a donation of about $400,000
from Yehiel Eliassar, a New
York Jew who dealt in real estate, and he used the funds to establish the
center at BGU. The
A few years ago the elective studies section was detached from the center and
annexed directly to the university, with Dr. Romani
serving as its academic adviser. Since then its condition has only worsened.
Only 220 students enrolled for the seven courses the section offers; two years
ago there were 18 courses offered. The section has a "limited"
classification: students can accumulate up to 14 academic points, in contrast
to the section on army and security studies, for example, which offers 28
points.
Four of the lecturers in the section are external teachers. Dr. Dan Manor has
taught in the section for 19 years. He gives courses in "Haim Ben Attar and his doctrine" and "The
messianic idea among the Jews of Morocco." Manor was born in Morocco,
immigrated to Israel at age 16, worked as a teacher in a Be'er
Sheva high school, wrote two books and 16 articles on
Moroccan Jewry and hoped to get tenure in Dr. Romani's
unit or in the Department of Jewish History. "For years they told me there
was no position available," he relates. "I don't want to brag, but my
knowledge is no less thorough than that of other lecturers, yet teachers in
other subjects received tenure, and anyone with common sense will
understand."
Dr. Manor has no qualms about defining his situation: "Racism is a fact in
this country, but how can I prove it? The losers, in the end, are those who
behave in that way. I could publish a lot more studies if I had a full position
at the university. The culture of
An attempt to merge the section with the Jewish History Department, and thus
accord an academic seal, failed. "In the past we included Morris Romani among our teachers," Prof. Shalmon
says. "In the past few years that cooperation has declined and it is now
all but negligible."
180 papers
Dr. Haim Sa'adon, the dean
of students in the Open University, began his academic career at BGU. He was
born in
A knowledge of history is the key to social
integration, Dr. Sa'adon says. "In
Prof. Aboutbul, now the chairman of the Pedagogic
Secretariat in the Education Ministry, believes that studies in this sphere are
important not only in order to consolidate the identity of Israelis who are of
Moroccan origin. "The history of the Jewish people should be the history
of the entire Jewish people, not only of half the people. But the subject is
academic and not social, and the decision must also be purely academic. There
is no justification for opening an Islamic studies department but not opening
departments for the study of the Jewish communities. That is illogical and
incomprehensible. But the question has to be addressed at the academic level,
because when courses are opened only to meet social needs, it is a waste."
Bottom of the list
In contrast to the three courses on Sephardi Jewry
that are being offered this year in the Jewish History Department of BGU, the
Open University has eight courses in this field. Prof. Ya'akov Barnai, whose
specialization is the Jews of the
"Historical research is not created in a day," says Prof. Emanuel Ateks, the head of the Jewish History Department at the
The problem, he says, "is a real one and it needs to be addressed. It is
not something that will be solved by itself. It has to
be thought about. On my agenda it is definitely one of the things I want to
bring up. This is an area where there are shortcomings, and that is
particularly glaring in the light of the demographic structure of our society
and the expectation that subjects that are relevant to a large part of the
society will be taught."
In research, too, BGU is at the bottom of the list. In 1978 the Education
Ministry established a unit for the heritage of Sephardi
Jewry, which underwrites university research and develops the subject in
schools. Shlomo Ventura, the unit's director, was a
student in the Jewish History Department of BGU. "I expected to find
courses dealing with Sephardi Jewry, and when I
didn't find them I asked the lecturers what the reason was. That's the track,
they told me, that is how it is with the history of
the Jewish people. I learned about the French Revolution and about the first
Zionists and all about
The Ben Zvi Institute, which engages in the study of Sephardi Jewry, has reached a similar conclusion. Prof. Hagai Ben Shamai, the institute's
director, says that the
Vanishing culture
Prof. Avishai Braverman,
the president of BGU for the past 10 years and the individual who more than any
other is identified with the institution, declined to be interviewed for this
article. The university's spokesman, Amir Rosenblitt, sent a list of courses that have to do with Sephardi issues, most of them from the section on the
heritage of Sephardi Jewry. "The teaching
positions at the university derive from academic needs only and they are
approved solely according to those criteria," the spokesman wrote. He also
disclosed that just now "an agreement was signed with a donor, whose
identity is classified at this stage, for the establishment of a special center
for the study of the culture of Sephardi Jewry and
Ladino."
Prof. Braverman, the spokesman explains, "does not see fit to be interviewed on this subject. In
principle, he customarily gives interviews on matters that are part of the
public discourse in
Prof. Braverman expressed his opinion on Sephardi Jewry in an interview he gave on the eve of Rosh
Hashanah last September. How is BGU in East-West terms, he was asked by the
Iraqi-born writer Sami Michael for a special
supplement in Ma'ariv. "If you ask me,"
Prof. Braverman replied in part, "I am the son
of East European parents, and I will tell you that it pains me that the culture
of the Jews of Eastern Europe is vanishing."
First published on "Ha'aretz",
17.12.1999