Portrait of a Community: The Attitude of the Zionist Leadership toward the Absorption in the Land of Israel of the Jews of Thessaloniki, the “Mizrahi’im”, in contrast to the Jews of Germany, the “Ashkenazim”
Portrait of a Community: The Attitude of the Zionist Leadership toward the Absorption in the Land of Israel of the Jews of Thessaloniki, the “Mizrahi’im”, in contrast to the Jews of Germany, the “Ashkenazim”

Summary/Abstract: The Zionist leadership created a “model” of selective Aliyah from the early 1900s until the 1930s. Priority was given to immigrants wishing and able to integrate in the workers’ sector – those with suitable ideology, pioneering hagshamah (self-fulfillment), and sacrifice. The selective absorption policies were cancelled by the Zionist leadership following the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Europe and the increasing Jewish-Arab struggle in Eretz-Israel. In practice, absorption of the German Ashkenazi immigrants and discrimination against the Thessalonikan Sephardic Jews continued during the 1930s. Prioritisation was based on ideological and political considerations, and the German Jews’ ethnic origin, which was similar to that of the Zionist leadership decision makers, almost all of whom were Ashkenazi. This study seeks to examine the public discourse regarding the attitude of the Zionist leadership to the “Mizrahi” Jewish community of Thessaloniki, compared to that enjoyed by the “Ashkenazi” Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe.

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