“Decades of repressed trauma came undone..”

 “ In the early 1950's my great uncle's family emigrated to Israel like other Mizrahi refugees expelled from their home country for being Jews. With very few possessions, almost no $, & not speaking a word of Hebrew, his large family lived in poverty without running water or plumbing for most of their childhood.

A few years ago we went back to visit the site of their first home, & I watched as decades of repressed trauma came undone. Before long, my uncles were telling us horror stories about their 'education' as Mizrahi children in Israeli schools, which were more interested in teaching them how to look, sound, & behave like Ashkenazi Jews than giving them a proper education. Despite their poverty, they were made to style their hair &  wear formal attire like a Western prep school & were told they needed to embrace Ashkenazi culture and traditions to fit in while discarding their own.

Before long, my aunts and uncles, (of which there were 8) were unrecognisable to their parents and many traditions were lost through one generation of aggressive forced assimilation. My uncle recalls being punished for speaking Hebrew with a Mizrahi accent & being taught Jewish history that focused exclusively on Ashkenazi stories.

The days of early Israel were harsh for many, including  some Ashkenazi victims of the Holocaust that didn't fit in with Ben-Gurion's vision of the 'New Jew'  This meant many Jewish refugees found themselves repressing their trauma & cultures to serve an image of strength and cultural 'unity' that has mostly meant assimilation and erasure for so many Jews. So when people accuse Mizrahim of being too vocal about our unique challenges & differences in our Jewish experience I want to remind them we've been forced to hide & erase parts of ourselves even within our own communities for generations.”

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