Myth 5 – Jews are White Oppressors : From Blog Posts to Book
The purpose of “Myth 5 – Jews are White Oppressors” and these blog posts is to combine them into a published book entitled Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.
Go here for the full Table of Contents.
Chapter 3 – Myth 5: Jews are White Oppressors
Myth 5: Jews are white oppressors with white supremacy and white privilege
Myths About Jewish “Whiteness” and Privilege
The idea that Jews have white privilege, that they can pass as white and thus are free from prejudice, is a common misconception. The idea stems from the thinking that societies in all countries accept whites, so Jews that happen to be white are safe from discrimination.
History tells a different story.
If countries don’t like Jews, they will find a way to segregate all Jewish people from whites. Skin color, white or otherwise, didn’t save Jews from denial of citizenship, positions in government, entrance to Ivy League universities, jobs in corporate America, membership in ‘for whites only’ clubs, fraternities, and organizations.
Skin color played no role in expelling the Jews from Italy, England, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, Portugal, Spain, and Germany.
If someone wanted to harm the Jewish people in their city, they would go to where the Jewish people were, seeking Jews at synagogues, Jewish organizations, Jewish museums, Jewish dormitories, and Jewish festivals for example.
To ensure safety, many Jews had to hide their identity—and continue to hide their identity to this day—by not practicing their religion, cutting themselves off from Jewish communities, and moving away from Jewish neighborhoods. After October 7, 2023, whenever I went to a Jewish event, my wife would wish me goodbye adding a new phrase: “Be careful.”
The Jewish people only have privilege when society welcomes them as a part of the community. This is true of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and religions. As educators, it is our responsibility to make sure all our students are fully welcomed.
Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and Sephardi Voices: Reclaiming Global Jewish Identity
I always found it odd when friends, family, and teachers claimed Israelis were white colonizers. Most Israeli Jews are people of color.
The Sephardi Jews are from Spain and Portugal, practicing Judaism with different traditions than European Ashkenazi Jews. When expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s, many fled to North Africa, places like Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt, places where the Mizrahi Jews resided. Mizrahi comes from the Hebrew word “Mizrah” which means “Eastern.”
The Mizrahi Jews in Israel are descendants of those who lived in Northern Africa and the Middle East, places like Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Algeria. Due to increases in antisemitism, most Mizrahi migrated from Morocco in 1948, from Yemen in 1949, from Algeria in 1962, from Lebanon in 1967, and from Syria in 1992. The Mizrahi were expelled from Iraq in 1950, from Egypt in 1956, and from Iran in 1979.
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Author Biography of Safe Schools for Jewish Students
Ezra Barany, son of a Bronx father and a Dutch mother from Nazi-occupied Netherlands, loves riveting readers with Jewish thrillers. His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book. Ezra, not the cats.
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