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offspring of such marriages —have so assimilated to the general culture that they could not be
put into either category without knowing their families' geographical past. In physical appear-
ance, most Israelis are not easily identifi able as either Ashkenazic or Mizrahi.
The most salient area of Mizrahi consciousness and, to some extent, identity is in poorer
towns and some city neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Overall, Mizrahi Jews tend to
be more conservative in social behavior and more traditional in religious observance. Whereas
Ashkenazim tend to be either highly religious (Dati and Haredi) or secular, many Mizrahi Jews
are somewhere in between.
One of the prominent differences between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, especially in the
1950s and 1960s, was family structure. Mizrahi families tended to have a larger number of chil-
dren; women married at a younger age and participated less in the labor force; and women and
men followed traditional gender roles more rigorously. When Mizrahim arrived in Israel, the
dominant culture expected that Mizrahi family structure would come to resemble Ashkenazic
family structure. Over time, this did in fact happen. By the 1970s, the average age of marriage
in each sector was identical. And by the 1990s, second- and third-generation Israelis of both
groups had nearly the same birthrate. The same narrowing of gaps happened with women's
participation in the workforce and with overall income levels.
Patterns of religiosity also became more similar, with Mizrahim becoming relatively more
secular. An exception was the development of what might be called a Mizrahi Haredi move-
ment. This kind of approach to religion had not existed in the immigrants' pre-Israel places
of residence. When the most religious Mizrahi arrived in Israel, they began studying at the
yeshivot (religious academies) of Ashkenazic Haredim, where they were at times treated in
a patronizing manner. Under the spiritual guidance of the Iraqi-born rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a
large group of Mizrahim, most with roots in Morocco, developed their own interpretation
of Haredi Judaism. Ironically, this movement adapted many historically non-Mizrahi tradi-
tions, including the eighteenth-century European-style clothing for yeshiva students and rab-
bis worn by Ashkenazic Haredim.
The Shas Party, founded in 1984, set up its own social welfare institutions and state-
supported school system, cementing the loyalty of its constituency by providing jobs and ser-
vices to them. When party leaders were accused, and sometimes convicted, of corruption, they
and their supporters often attributed this to anti-Mizrahi bias, although most Mizrahim did
not accept this shifting of blame. The party usually polls about 10 percent of the national vote,
corresponding with roughly one-fi fth of all Mizrahim, mostly originating in North Africa.
Mizrahim as a whole tend to be more politically conservative than Ashkenazim. Mizrahi
support was especially important for the Herut Party (later called the Likud). There are a
number of reasons for these political leanings: their more conservative social and religious
backgrounds; their view of those on the left as members of a privileged caste who looked down
on them; and their more skeptical view of Israel's Arab neighbors, derived from the oppression
they (or their parents) suffered in the Arabic-speaking societies of their Diaspora.
Mizrahim are still underrepresented in certain areas, notably academia. But as the de-
cades have passed, they have achieved upward social mobility and greater social integration.
Although Israel has still not had a Mizrahi prime minister, almost every other high political
