http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3444634,00.html Whats wrong with Sephardic Jews? Are there any differences in belief?
They're seen as "less pure" Jews. You have to understand: radical Orthodox Jews like the Haredi have a Nazi-like obsession with racial purity. Some strain of racism is present throughout all Jews sects, except for the more liberal groups, like Reform Jews.
But Sephardic Jews are the Middle Eastern Jews. Its the Ashkenazi that have come from Europe and elsewhere. Surely the Sephardic are more "pure"? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No, Sephardi are descendants of Jews from Spain and Portugal that moved back to the Middle East. The argument that they're "less pure" is pretty dubious, yes, because even if you define "Jew" in terms of a genetic population, Sephardi Jews aren't any further removed from the original Israelites than the Ashkenazi Jews. It's a cultural phenomenon, probably because the Sephardi fled anti-semitism in Spain to go to the Ottoman Empire (where they were influenced by Arab Muslim culture), while those that stayed behind adopted Christianity (taking Christian names), only to convert back to Judaism centuries later. You also have to consider the fact that the Sephardi are the minority among Jews.
Hmm so if the Askenazi Jews are Europeans and the Sephardic Jews are also of European origin, what are the middle eastern Jews called? Like from Iran, Syria, Jordan, etc
Mizrahi, but there's hardly any of them left in the world and they practice Sephardic Judaism, so they're still treated the same way.
they are no more "European" than the Pakistanis & Indians in England, their origin is from Jewish tribes & the old kingdoms of Judah & Israel. of course there was intermarriage & rape, but there would be no "cohanim Y chromosomes" scattered among all the Jewish clusters in the Diaspora, if there had been purely European roots to these Jews; http://www.aish.com/societywork/sciencenature/the_cohanim_-_dna_connection.asp Aaron HaCohen = (Ha)the (Cohen)Priest = Aaron the Priest, brother of Moses Jews were scattered everywhere, a few samples; In China: In Ethiopia: In Greece: In India: In Italy: For more, try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_ethnic_divisions#Europe