Term Papers on Difference Between Sephardic And Ashkenazi Jews In Modern Times

Term Paper Title	Difference Between Sephardic And Ashkenazi Jews In Modern Times
# of Words	2161
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	8.64

Difference Between Sephardic And Ashkenazi Jews In Modern Times

      For the most part, modern Jewish history deals with the political,
social and economic advancements achieved by the Ashkenazi communities
in Europe, America, and later -- Palestine. Because of it's relatively
small size and involvement in the affairs of "civilized" countries of
Europe and America, the Sephardi branch of Judaism is rerely dealt with in
the context of modern Jewish history. Their developement is however, though
not as influential upon the flow of the "mainstream" history as that of the
Ashkenazi jewry, is nevertheless an area of interest to anyone undertaking
a serious study of Jewish history.
      The theological difference between the two movements, the Sefardi and
the  Ashekenazi,  lies  in  the traditional laws more than in written ones.
Both  take  an Orthodoxal approach to the written law of the Torah, and the
differences  in  its  interpretation  are  subtle  enough  to be dismissed.
However  the  traditions  aquired, and at times given the power of laws, in
the  course  of the long centuries of diaspora differ considerably from one
branch  of  Judaism  to  another.  Just  as  the  worldwide language of the
Ashekenazim,  Yiddish,  is  a  mixture  of  Hebrew  with German, the common
language  used  by  the Sephardim Ladino, still in use in some parts of the
world,  is a dialect formed by combining Hebrew with Spanish. The Sephardim
who  have  historically  been  more  involved into the lives of the gentile
societies  where  they settled don't have as strict a set of observances as
do  the  Ashkenazis  who have been contained in closed ghettos up until two
centuries  ago. The official doctrine of the Sephardis does not for example
prohibit  polygomy,  whereas  it  hasn't  been allowed in the Ashkenazi law
since Middle Ages.
      Although the Ashkenazi traditions are somewhat stricter than those
of the Sephardim, a greater percentage of Ashkenazi Jews have over the past
century and a half stopped observing these traditions, becoming either
"secular Jews", atheists, like the American Freethinkers, or simply
converting. An even greater part have chosen to follow only a part of the
traditional, or "oral", laws, forming widely popular Reform and
Conservative movements. This phenomenon, if present within the Sephardic
community exists on such a small scale that it can be discounted. The
reason for this difference in the adherence of the tradition is the way in
which the tradition itself was first put into effect. In the case of the
Ashkenazi Jews the traditions have been instated by the long centuries of
enforced separation, and when the barriers were let down, the communities
that were held together by pressure from the outside started to degenerate.
With the walls of the ghetto gone, but full emancipation not yet granted,
many believed that if they had integrated themselves into the gentile
societies, they would gain acceptance. Secular education replaced religion,
rather than complementing it. This however was not the case with
Sephardim, whose less strict traditions were developed in the environment
of toleration. While the Ashkenazi Jews were restricted to the ghettos of
Europe, held at bay by the Catholic church, the Sephardim of Middle East,
North Africa and Ottoman Empire were living as "dhimmies", or "people of
the pact", and though not fully equal with their Muslim hosts, were to some
extent intregrated into their societies. For this reason, the traditional
laws of the Sephardim are less demanding, but more enduring.
      Unlike  the  Ashkenazi  population  that  has  over  a century  of
immigration  spread  itself  all  over the world, The Sephardic communities
tend  to concentrate mostly around a few areas. Today most of the Sephardic
Jews  reside  within  Israel, amost other Middle-Eastern communities having
been reduced to virtual nonexistance by the migration of Jews out of Arabic
countries  after  the  creation...

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