Paper short abstract:

Moroccan Jews, along with other Jews from different Muslim lands, constitute more than half of the Israeli population. This paper discusses the narratives of second-generation Moroccan Jews to explore the Israeli system of social classification in Israel. Also, we will study the portrayal of this local Israeli culture by Israeli academia.

Paper long abstract:

Through this paper we will discuss the personal narratives of the sons and daughters of Jewish-Moroccan immigrants that arrived in Israel between the fifties and the seventies. We will focus on the construction of a sense of self vis-à-vis the system of social classification in Israel. We will explore the way in which each individual recreated his or her upbringing at home as well as their narratives about their own experience in Israel.

Moroccan Jews, along with other Jews from different Muslim lands, constitute more than half of the Israeli population. The conflict between descendants of European Jews and those coming from Muslim countries has been the most critical conflict within the Jewish-Israeli society. Each group has created their own "others" and have their own version of and contribution to Israeli culture. Israeli academia has had its own contribution in framing this conflict and the definition of Israeli culture. Through this work we will examine the discourse of second-generation Moroccans and their relations, tensions, agreements and disagreements with the different versions of the conflict found in Israeli academia.