What do these two terms mean?
Originally, “Ashkenazi” referred to the Jews of Germany and by extension the Jews of Eastern Europe. The term “Sephardic” concerned, in the Middle Ages, the Jews present in Spain until their expulsion in 1492. After their departure for Maghreb countries, the term Sephardic gradually widened to designate Jews and descendants of Jews originally from from North Africa.
“We must not forget the Eastern Jews, the Mizrahim, that is to say those who were present in the Middle East before the creation of the State of Israel, specifies Rabbi Philippe Haddad, of the current liberal Jew on the move (JEM), although they are very much in the minority today in the countries of the region. These three communities share the same Judaism, based on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, but correspond to several cultural identities. »
How are these identities manifested?
Cultural distinctions are expressed first by language: the Ashkenazim spoke Yiddish, a language derived from German, written in Hebrew characters, while the Sephardim spoke Judeo-Arabic. These two languages, however, have almost entirely disappeared, after the genocide of the Jews of Eastern Europe and the emigration of Jews from the Maghreb to France or the United States.
Another difference between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities is found in the cuisine, passed down from generation to generation. “Tonight is Shabbat, we will rather eat couscous among the Sephardim, stuffed carp among the Ashkenazim”, suggests Philippe Haddad.
Moreover, Ashkenazi synagogues are arranged differently: the prayer ark is generally located at the back, while it is in the center in Sephardic synagogues. This difference is explained by the fact that, until the 20th century, Jews could not be architects. Ashkenazi synagogues were therefore built by Christians on the model of churches, while Sephardic synagogues were built on the model of mosques, with the rabbi in the midst of the faithful.
Distinctions are also expressed within the Jewish liturgy, with oriental sonorities characterized by quarter tones for Sephardic cantillations and songs with Eastern European accents among the Ashkenazim.
What stories have these communities lived through?
Historically, Ashkenazim and Sephardim have had different political and religious experiences, linked to the context of the countries where they were established. “The Jews of Eastern Europe first experienced a strong confrontation with modernity, which led to the emergence of several religious currents, from the ultra-Orthodox to the ‘Reform'”, explains sociologist Martine Cohen, researcher at the Societies, Religions, Secularism Group (GSRL) of the CNRS.
Acculturated more slowly, the Jews of the Maghreb, for their part, evolved towards a moderate “traditionalism”, which they imported into France. “Some of them have been the object of real ‘rescue missions’ by the ultra-Orthodox, aimed at preserving them from the misdeeds of modernity”, emphasizes Martine Cohen, which explains their remarkable presence in certain Lubavitch circles today, for example.
How was the French context the site of a particular encounter between these two identities?
“France was a meeting place between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, more than in other European countries”, recounts Colette Zytnicki, professor emeritus at the University of Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès. The historian explains it first by the antiquity of the Jewish presence on French soil: from the Middle Ages, Sephardim were established in the South-West, and Ashkenazim in the East, especially in Metz. They met for the first time at the end of the 18th century, in Paris, especially during the Revolution which granted them citizenship in 1790 and 1791.
At the end of the 19th century, many Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe emigrated to France to flee the pogroms and settled on rue des Rosiers in Paris, joined from the 1960s and decolonization by immigrants from North Africa, of Sephardic origin. At that time, Colette Zytnicki evokes a ” culture shock “ between the reputedly more religious Ashkenazim and the more Mediterranean Sephardim. “When they arrived in France, the Sephardim did not come as immigrants but as repatriates – they had received French citizenship by the Crémieux decree of 1870”, she reports. “So they were French citizens, withdrawn from a colony, so they spoke French, were civil servants, etc. », unlike Ashkenazi immigrants.
Do these identities forged by distinct histories persist today?
Since the arrival of Jews from North Africa, the Sephardim have gradually become the majority in France, although there are still some large Ashkenazi communities, such as those of the Victory and Rue Copernic synagogues in Paris, or those of Strasbourg.
“Today, marriages mean that there is no longer any real distinction between Ashkenazim and Sephardim”, considers Philippe Haddad, who cites the neologism “Ashkefarad” to designate the mutual acculturation between the two identities. In some communities of Sephardic origin, such as the Lubavitch, there is also an Ashkenazi acculturation, through the learning of Yiddish and a return to a strict observance of Jewish law.
Rabbi Philippe Haddad recalls, however, that Jewish identity is not monochromatic, but plural, and this from the outset, with the three founders of the people of Israel, or the twelve tribes of Israel of Genesis. “It is a richness that there are Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Orthodox, liberals… It is this kaleidoscope which forms the Judaism of yesterday and today. »