Far East" Legacies and the Normalization of "Non-Ashkenazi" Histories in Israel

How is a Sephardi-Mizrahi protest in Israel interconnected with a Western fascination with "Far East" civilization? This essay introduces The Jewish Communities in the Far East (Hebrew; Jerusalem, 1982), jointly published by key Zionist Sephardi organizations. Authored by Reuben Kashani, an Afghan-born intellectual who made significant contributions to various Sephardi-Mizrahi periodicals in Israel, alongside his broader Jewish readership, the book was designed to introduce East Asian cultures to Hebrew readers. This essay delves into the broader motivations behind the writing and publication of Kashani's 1982 book. I conclude that he aimed to challenge stereotypes and the assumption that the modernization of Asian and African Jewries necessarily requires Ashkenazi guidance, and emphasize the pioneering spirit and international engagement of these communities. In so doing Kashani also aimed to counter Ashkenazi dominance in both Zionist and Jewish historiographies, following the longer legacy of Sephardi-Mizrahi intellectual activism in the twentieth century. This approach disrupts prevailing narratives emphasizing domestic ethnic tensions in Israel, fostering a more multilayered examination of intra-Jewish hierarchies

Ancient history · Genealogy · Normalization (sociology) · Sociology · Anthropology · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies