Israel Recognizes Middle Eastern Jewry Studies as Independent Academic Discipline
Israel’s Council for Higher Education recognized the study of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewry – or Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin – as an academic discipline that merits study and research, in a move its supporters say "corrects a historical injustice."
Seventeen of the council’s 22 members voted in favor of the move on Tuesday, according to sources, following a heated debate over the measure, seen as part of a broader inclusivity push in Israeli education and academia.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, who chairs the council, said “the human mosaic that makes up Israeli society must also be expressed in curricula and fields of knowledge and research.”
Rabbi Yitzhak Ben David, of the "Masorti Union" of mostly Mizrahi Jewish communities, said the decision "far exceeds the academic field," and is "an important milestone in our ability to tell a new story throughout all of Israeli society." Read more...
