The Plight of Single Mizrachi Mothers

 Vicki Knafo made history with her famous march to Jerusalem to protect Netanyahu’s austerity measures. These measures cut the welfare allowance for singe unemployed mothers. This brought the plight of single mothers into Israel’s national spotlight. The authoress ,Smadar Lavie, is a university professor with a doctorate. She studied this movement and lived it. Professor Lavie is a single mother in Israel who also is part Yemenite. Single mothers have it tough but if you are a Jew if middle eastern descent it is even worse.

Smadar writes about the feeling of waiting hours in line only to be told that she has to go to another office to collect her check, which means more hours in line. There are times when she would be sent to this interview for this job or that many of which she was over qualified for. The clerks who run things sometime take advantage of these desperate single mothers. The buracracy is an instrument of torture.  The clerk if they are well intentioned thinks they are helping the single mother. It is just torture.

The cards are stacked against the Mizrachi Jews, those Jews who hail from Middle East. Originally they were brought here for labor so the pioneers from Europe would not have to rely on Arab labor. As cheap labor these Jews were abused by their fellow Ashkenazi brothers and sister. It persists to this day as Mizrachi Jews do not earn as much as their Ashkenazi counterparts. They are pegged into low paying manual labor jobs. Mizrachi Jews comprise well over 50 percent of the population yet they only occupy a small minority of white collar jobs. There are no Mizrachi professors who made it on their own steam. The ones who made it are married to Ashkenazi husbands or wives.

The country was founded by leftist, secular Ashkenazi Jews and they still hold the power. There are femsist organizations among both Ashekanzim and Mizrachi. The Ashkenazi ones are more international and focus on the rights of women elsewhere, especially Palestinians yet they ignore the plight of Mizrachi women. The Mizrachi women are fighting this on their own. The system is against them. They can be punished for protesting by denying checks or if they demonstrate lack of ability to care for their children then the children can be removed. Ashkenazi women have funds and connections so it will not effect them that much.

Many Mizrachi Jews vote for Likud or the right. It was the Mizrachi vote that got Menachem Begin voted in. They feel and rightfully so that the left took advantage of them and abused them. It was the Likud that focused on their plight. But alas things never end. No systematic change is on the horizon.