Israelis

KEVIN AVRUCH

Yahudim (pl.), Yisraelim (pl.)

The state of Israel came into formal existence on 14 May 1948. The United States recognized the new state on the same day, and the Soviet Union followed on 18 May. On 15 May 1948 the new state was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, along with smaller numbers of troops from other Arab countries. Hostilities continued until January 1949, when a cease-fire was negotiated. On 11 May 1949 Israel was admitted to the United Nations as a member state. The boundaries determined by the cease-fire defined the state of Israel until the 1967 War (the “Six Day War”), when additional territories (East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip) came under Israeli control. Partial control was returned to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza after 1993, but these areas remain under dispute as the Oslo Peace Process collapsed in 2000.

Israel is located in southwestern Asia, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, at approximate latitude 31°30' N and longitude 35°00' E. It is bounded on the north by Lebanon, on the northeast by Syria, on the east and southeast by Jordan (the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba), on the southwest by Egypt (the Sinai Peninsula), and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Pre-1967 Israel had an area of approximately 20,700 square kilometers (about the size of the state of New Jersey). The territories captured after the 1967 War total about 7,500 square kilometers, including East Jerusalem which, along with the Golan Heights, Israel has formally annexed. Geographically, Israel is divided into four regions: the coastal plain, the central highlands, the Jordan Rift Valley, and the Negev Desert. The highest point in Israel is at Mount Meron (1,208 meters), in the Galilee (the central highlands) near the city of Safad. The lowest point is at the Dead Sea (in the Jordan Rift Valley) which, at 399 meters below sea level, is the lowest point in the world. Israel, located between a subtropical arid zone to its south and a subtropical wet zone to its north, has a Mediterranean climate with short, cool, and rainy winters and long, hot, and dry summers. About 70 percent of the rainfall occurs between November and March, but it is unevenly distributed, diminishing sharply to the south. During January and February, precipitation may take the form of snow at the higher elevations (including Jerusalem). About a third of the country (areas receiving more than 30 centimeters of rainfall a year—the coastal plain, the Jezreel Valley, and the Galilee) is cultivable.

At the end of 2001, the total population of Israel was 6,460,000, of whom 81 percent (5,240,000) were Jews. (About 36 percent of the world's Jewish population lives in Israel.) The Jewish population in the late 1990s grew at the rate of about 2 percent (compared to about 3 percent for the non-Jewish population). The Jewish population is relatively young, with about a third under 14, but not so compared to Arabs (about 40 percent under 14). The Jewish population still shows the effects of large-scale immigration in forming the Jewish population of Israel. Between 1948 and 1960, immigration accounted for almost 70 percent of the annual average population-growth rate. Many of these immigrants were older, and those who were younger were often single people who deferred marriage and child rearing until after their settlement. Immigration remains an important component of population growth. In 2001 Jewish immigration accounted for about a third of the total growth in population.

Hebrew is the major official language of Israel and the predominant language of Israel's Jews. Arabic is spoken by Israel's Arab minority, most of whom are bilingual in Hebrew as well. Arabic is also an official language and may be used in courts and the parliament (Knesset). The successful revival of Hebrew as a modern, spoken, and “living” language, a major thrust of the Zionist cultural program, was one of its major accomplishments. Nevertheless, because so many in the population are immigrants, many other languages are spoken by Jews, especially older people or recent immigrants. These include Arabic (or dialects of Judeo-Arabic), Yiddish, Ladino, Persian, English, Russian, French, Spanish, and other European, African (e.g., Amharic) and Asian (e.g., Malayalam, of Cochin, India) languages.

The Connection of the Jewish people to the land called “Palestine” by the Romans is one of the oldest religio-political claims in the world. Jews (and many Christians as well) will point to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:17 and Deuteronomy 1:7 and 11:24 as proof of the sacred “birthright” of Jews to what they call the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). Jewish presence in Palestine has been constant (if very small in number), even after the final Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt in 135 C.E. Throughout premodern times, pious Jews lived in Palestine, concentrated in the four “holy cities” of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safad, and Tiberias. They were supported by funds, called halukkah, collected by special emissaries sent from Palestine to Jewish diaspora communities.

The history of modern Israel, however, begins in the nineteenth century with the articulation in Europe of a program for Jewish national and cultural revival, called Zionism (“Zion” being one of the biblical names for Jerusalem). Zionism was a reaction to virulent and increasingly violent European anti-Semitism (which culminated in the terrible Holocaust of 1933-1945), but it was also a response to the nationalist movements of other, especially eastern and southern, European peoples throughout the nineteenth century. Zionism stressed the physical relocation of Jews to Palestine (in Hebrew, Aliya), and in 1882 the first wave of these “modern” immigrants—politically and ideologically, rather than religiously, motivated—arrived. This first wave effectively doubled the Jewish population of Palestine (from about 24,000 in 1881). Immigration continued to come in waves, mostly from eastern and central Europe, until the eve of World War II. Immigration was greatly curtailed by the war and, later, by restrictive British policies (Palestine had been a British Mandate since 1919), which sought to assuage Arab fears, which were based on the fact that, by early 1948, the Jews had succeeded in establishing a society in Palestine (called the Yishuv) that was in many ways autonomous and independent of both Arab society and British colonial constraints and that had many of the institutions of a state already in place. On the day Israel declared its independence, there were about 650,000 Jews in the country. Virtually the first act of the new government was to open its borders to unrestricted Jewish immigration. There was a massive influx between 1948 and 1960 from Middle Eastern and North African countries—almost the entire Jewish populations of Yemen, Aden, Libya, and Iraq, and large numbers from Egypt, Syria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Today these so-called “Mizrahim” (Afro-Asia Jews) and their children constitute the majority of the Jewish Israeli population, outnumbering Jews of European and North American origin. Nevertheless, it was not until 1975 that native-born Jewish Israelis (called “sabras”) outnumbered immigrants of any kind. In 1996 more than 60 percent of the Jewish population was born in Israel.

The Jewish population of Israel is overwhelmingly urban (about 90 percent), concentrated along the Mediterranean coast and in the three major cities—Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. About twenty-seven smaller cities called “development towns” were planned by the government, starting in the mid-1950s, as ways to settle large numbers of Mizrahim, promote light industry, and disperse the population from the coastal strip. Today these areas, among the poorest Jewish areas in Israel, are sites of ethnic unrest. Of the small proportion of Jews who reside in rural areas, the majority live in collective (kibbutz) and cooperative (moshav) communities. The kibbutz, especially, is known worldwide as a distinctive Israeli institution whose members (kibbutznikim) historically have played a significant role in Israeli society. Nevertheless, today only about 2.5 percent of Israeli Jews live on the kibbutzim and 3.9 percent on the moshavim. In 2001 about 203,000 Israeli Jews lived in about 146 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza (about 3 million Palestinians live in about 700 towns in the same area). These settlements, continuing to be built, are the source of much conflict with Palestinians, but also among Jews in Israel who oppose them.

Israel's economy in the past was influenced heavily by the centralized and socialist tendencies of the Labor governments that ruled the country between 1948 and 1977. After 1977, various governments and coalitions favored privatization of enterprises and limitations on the large public sector. This was true even in the periods when Labor was returned to power.

The importance of Israel's industrial sector has continued to grow (proportional to agricultural production), and by the early 1980s industrial exports accounted for close to two-thirds of total exports. Tourism remains a major source of employment and foreign exchange, though it has been extremely hard hit due to continuing violence and the breakdown of the peace process.

Israel's merchant marine (numbering about 100 ships into the 1990s) is vital both to its economy and, given hostile relations with surrounding Arab countries, its sense of security. Israel's small size, lack of natural resources (particularly petroleum and water), and heavy commitments to defense expenditures have constituted obstacles to sustaining economic growth, and the country has become increasingly dependent on foreign inflows of capital, especially foreign aid from the United States.

About 45 percent of the Jewish civilian labor force is female. The other great division of labor is between Jews and Arabs, with the latter concentrated in construction and agriculture. Occupational differences are also evident between Jews of Afro-Asian origins (“Mizrahim”) and those of Euro-American descent (called “Ashkenzim”): the majority of Ashkenazim are concentrated in white-collar professions, a minority of Mizrahim are concentrated in blue-collar occupations. Beginning in the mid-1990s Israel attracted international labor migrants, meant to replace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza whose presence was perceived as a security risk. They worked mainly in the construction trades and agriculture. By the early 2000s they were fluctuating in number between about 55,000-64,000 per year.

Most of the land in Israel is owned by the state or state-sponsored institutions and is conceived as held “in trust” on behalf of the entire Jewish people.

Extended kin groups based on descent are not important among Jewish Israelis. Kinship is bilateral, and the nuclear family is its most important unit. Remnants of other patterns—for example, patronymic kin groups hamula, pl. hamulot)—can be found in some moshav communities settled by North African Jews.

Kin terms conform to Western (cognatic) systems, translated appropriately into Hebrew.

In the early 1990s, the median age of marriage for Jewish men was about 26 , for women about 23. (Many men defer marriage until after their mandatory service inthe Israel Defense Forces.) The age is considerably younger among ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are effectively exempted from army service, and for whom the biblical injunction to “be fruitful and multiply” is very important.

The nuclear family is the main domestic unit. In the early 1990s, the average family size is 4.7 among Mizrahim, versus 2.8 for Ashkenazim.

Inheritance, like all matters of personal-status law in Israel, falls for Jews under the jurisdiction of rabbinical courts that apply (sometimes controversially) rabbinic law ( halakha).

Education in Israel is free and compulsory through tenth grade. Preschool is available to children between ages 3 and 6 and (given the high percentage of working women) is widely used. Education is sharply divided into three separate tracts: state-supported secular schools (about 72 percent of primary-school students), state-supported religious systems (about 22 percent), and a number of traditional, private religious schools (the yeshivas, or Talmudic academies) that cater to the ultra-Orthodox. These enroll about 6 percent of primary-school students. For the vast majority of Israel's Jews, service in the Israeli army is a crucial part of their transition to adulthood.

The key to Israeli Jewish social organization is the fact that Israel is overwhelmingly a nation of immigrants, who, despite their common identity as Jews, come from very diverse social and cultural backgrounds. The goals of Zionism included the “fusion of the Exiles” (as Diaspora Jews were called), and although great strides toward this fusion have occurred—the revival of Hebrew has been mentioned—it has not, on the whole, been achieved. The immigrant groups of the 1950s and 1960s are the ethnic groups of today. The most important ethnic division is that between Jews of European and North American background, called “Ashkenazim” (after the old Hebrew name for Germany) and those of African and Asian origins, called “Sephardim” (after the old Hebrew name for Spain, and referring technically to Jews of the Mediterranean and Aegean) or “Orientals” (in modern Hebrew edot hamizrach; lit., “communities of the East”). The problem, as most Israelis see it, is not the existence of Jewish ethnic divisions per se, but the fact that they have become linked over the years to differences in class, occupation, and standard of living, with Mizrahim concentrated in the lower strata of society. Many Israelis, nevertheless, believe that the division of the society into religiously Orthodox and non-Orthodox camps is more serious than existing ethnic differences.

Israeli is a parliamentary democracy. The whole nation acts as a single constituency to elect a 120-member parliament (the Knesset). Political parties put forth lists of candidates, and Israelis vote for the list, rather than individual candidates on it. In 1996 Israel instituted the direct election of the prime minister, but there was widespread dissatisfaction with this change, and in March of 2001 the Knesset voted to return to the old system (to be effective in the 2003 elections). A party's representation in the Knesset is based on the proportion of the vote it receives. Any party receiving at least 1 percent of the national vote is entitled to a seat in the Knesset. The majority party is asked by the president (the nominal head of state, chosen by the Knesset to serve a five-year term) to name a prime minister and form a government. This system entails coalition formation, and means there are many small political parties, representing all shades of political and ideological opinion, that play a disproportionate role in any government.

There is a single national police force and an independent, paramilitary, border police. National security is considered a top priority in Israel and, within the country, is the responsibility of an organization called the Shin Bet. The Israeli army has enforced social control in the Territories, particularly after the first Palestinian uprising ( intifada) of December 1987. This new role for the army has been very controversial within Israel. After the so-called second intifada began in late 2000, violence increased dramatically, moving into pre-1967 Israel, and characterized by Palestinian suicide bombers attacking Jewish civilian targets. In retaliation the Israeli army carries out large- scale raids in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli society is characterized by three deep cleavages, all of which have entailed conflict. In addition to the cleavage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, and the deeper one between Jews and Arabs, there is a division in the society between secular Jews, the Orthodox, and the ultra-Orthodox. This last division cuts across Jewish ethnic lines.

Judaism is the dominant religion, although the majority (about two-thirds to three-fourths) of Israeli Jews are nonobservant. There are ritual and liturgical (and, some claim, stylistic and emotional) differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions.

Rabbis are the predominant Jewish religious practitioners. Religious-court judges serve as state civil servants. There is a Ministry for Religious Affairs and a Chief Rabbinate, the latter divided into Ashkenazi and Sephardi offices.

All of the holidays of the Jewish religious calendar are celebrated in Israel. Some ethnic festivals (e.g., the North African Mimouna) are also celebrated, and some national holidays—for example, Israeli Independence Day (Yom Haatzma'ut) and Remembrance Day—are given a semisacred status.

Both the “high arts” (classical music, dance, theater, and literature) and folk arts (dance, especially) are highly extolled.

Good medical care is widely available, and medical insurance ( kupat holim) covers virtually all Israelis.

Traditional Jewish death rites are simple. At the grave site, a kaddish is said; on various occasions from then on it will be repeated by close relatives to memorialize the deceased. A seven-day full mourning period ( shivah) follows. (Lesser mourning lasts thirty days, a full year for one's parents.) The anniversary of the death ( yahrzeit) is celebrated by close relatives. The soul ( nefesh) of the deceased is thought to return to God.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Israelis collection consists of 19 documents, all in English, focusing on the majority culture and Jewish inhabitants of the State of Israel. Cultural data on Israeli Arabs will be found in the Palestinians collection.

The major time span for the Israelis collection ranges from about 1870 to approximately the year 2000, with an emphasis on the post independence period of 1948 to 1999.

Several of the documents in the collection deal with the State of Israel as a whole, these being: Aronoff, 1993, no. 1 (Israeli political history and political parties), Katriel, 1991, no. 8 (symbols and meaning in Israeli ethnography), Patai, 1953, no. 10 (ethnic relations between Sephardic and Askenasi Jews), Willner, 1969, no. 16 (nation building and development in Israel), and Kahn, 2000, no. 7 (assisted conception in Israel). Two of the works in the collection deal with a socio-cultural analysis of the Israeli commune or cooperative farm communities, known in the literature as the MOSHAV (Baldwin, 1972, no. 2) and the KIBBUTZ (Spiro, 1956, no. 14). The distinction between these units lies principally in terms of property. The MOSHAV (pl. MOSHARVIM) is a cooperative settlement of individually owned farms, while the KIBBUTZ is a cooperative farm or community in which all property is owned in common. A number of other studies in this collection deal with immigrant population settlements in Israel and their assimilation into and impact on the host Israeli society. These documents are: Salamon, 2000, no. 11 (Ethiopian Jews), Shokeid, 1985, no. 12, and Willner, 1969, no. 16 (the Jews of the High Atlas mountains of Morocco), and Zenner, 2000, nos. 18 and 19 (Syrian Jews).

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary is a revision (revised in 2003 by Kevin Avruch) of the article "Jews of Israel", by Kevin Avruch, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, vol. 9, 1995. Edited by John Middleton and Amal Rassam. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. The Synopsis and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in April 2004. The Human Relations Area Files acknowledges with thanks the bibliographical suggestions by Harvey E. Goldberg in the preparation of this collection.

• Afforestation -- use "CULTURAL GOALS (185)"

• Agricultural instructors -- use "RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (654)", use "STATUS, ROLE, AND PRESTIGE (554)"

• ALIYA -- a general term used to refer to the migration to Israel -- use "EXTERNAL MIGRATION (167)"

• ALIYAT HANOAR -- see youth ALIYA use "ADOLESCENT ACTIVITIES (883)"

• AMUTOT -- building cooperatives -- use "CONSTRUCTION (331)" and/or "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474)"

• AYIN HA'RA -- the evil eye -- "SORCERY (754)"

• BA'ALEI TESHUVA -- a newly religious person -- use "CONGREGATIONS (794)" and/or "RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS (795)"

• BAR MITZVAH -- a rite of passage to adulthood for 13 year old boys at or near puberty -- use "PUBERTY AND INITIATION (881)"

• BID -- a special wedding party for the groom, just before the wedding -- use "NUPTIALS (585)" and/or "REST DAYS AND HOLIDAYS (527)"

• Black Panthers -- a militant protest group -- use "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (668)"

• bomb shelters -- construction, use "MISCELLANEOUS STRUCTURES (349)" and/or "WARTIME ADJUSTMENTS (722)"

• BROGEZ -- use "SOCIOLINGUISTICS (195)", "INGROUP ANTAGONISMS (578)" and/or "SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND GROUPS (571)"

• CHASSIDISM -- a religious folk movement in the eighteenth century, stressing the mystical and emotional aspects of religious life -- use "GENERAL CHARACTER OF RELIGION (771)"

• defence organizer -- use "MILITARY ORGANIZATION (701)"

• Development Corporation of "Greentown" -- use "ECONOMIC PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT (179)"

• Federation -- a union of collective settlements -- use "TOWNS (632)"

• GAMAHIM -- voluntary organizations that provide aid to those in need, use "PRIVATE WELFARE AGENCIES (747)" and/or - use "POVERTY (735)"

• general assembly -- the general public forum -- use "COUNCILS (623)" and/or use "PUBLIC LECTURES (544)"

• GIBUSH -- social cohesion or crystallization of a group -- use "SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND GROUPS (571)"; use of term as a metaphor and in semantics -- use "SOCIOLINGUISTICS (195)" and/or "SEMANTICS (196)

• GUSH -- the national political party machine -- use "POLITICAL MACHINES (667)" and "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• HAHLAFOT -- the ritualized swapping of collectible items -- use "EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS (437)" (sometimes combined with "HOBBIES (523)")

• HALUKKA -- an institution which raised funds for needy Jews -- use "PRIVATE WELFARE AGENCIES (747)"

• HAMULA -- a form of extended family in use by Arabs and Jews from Arab countries -- use "EXTENDED FAMILIES (596)"

• HAPOEL HAMIZRAHI -- a religious political party -- use "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• HAREDI -- ultraorthodox Jews -- use "CONGREGATIONS (794)" and/or "RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS (795)"

• health insurance -- use "SOCIAL INSURANCE (745)"

• HEVRA KADISHA -- burial societies -- use "MORTUARY SPECIALISTS (767)"

• HEVRAT OVDIM (society of workers) -- a holding company which functions to found and manage the economic activities of the HISTADRUT'S cooperative societies -- use "CORPORATE ORGANIZATION (473)" and/or "LABOR ORGANIZATION (467)"

• HIBUDIM -- the ritualized sharing of treats (children) -- use "SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND GROUPS (571)"

• HILLULA -- memorial celebration -- use "CULT OF THE DEAD (769)" and/or "RITUAL (788)"

• HINNA -- a special evening party for the bride, just before the actual wedding -- use "NUPTIALS (585)" and/or "REST DAYS AND HOLIDAYS (527)"

• HISTADRUT -- a major trade union (the General Federation of Labor) -- use "LABOR ORGANIZATION (467)" (sometimes with "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)")

• Holocaust -- use "WARFARE (726)"

• IKHPAT-LI -- a political pressure group -- use "PRESSURE POLITICS (664)" and/or "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• INTIFADA -- a civil uprising of Palestinians against the Israelis -- use "INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (648)"

• Israel as a welfare state -- use "PUBLIC WELFARE (657)" (sometimes with "CONSTITUTION (642)")

• Jewish Agency -- use "ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES (647)" or "PUBLIC WELFARE (657)" (depending on context)

• Jewish National Fund -- an organization created to purchase land in Palestine, and lease it to Jewish people for agriculture, home building, etc. -- use "OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF CAPITAL (471)", "REAL PROPERTY (423)", or "RENTING AND LEASING (427)"

• Jewishness, concept of -- use "CULTURAL IDENTITY AND PRIDE (186)"

• KFAR AVODA -- work villages, established on cultivatable land -- use "TILLAGE (241)", "SETTLEMENT PATTERNS (361)", or "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)

• KELET -- a program to provide a framework of pre-vocational training for youths who have dropped out of school, but still are of elementary school age -- use "VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (874)"

• KEHILLA -- the community -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• KEVUTZA -- a child's peer group -- use "CHILDHOOD ACTIVITIES (857)"

• KIBBUTZ (pl. KIBBUTZIM) -- a cooperative farm or community -- use "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474)", "TILLAGE (241)", or "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• KITURIM -- "griping", as a speech mode use "SPEECH (191)", in conversation use "CONVERSATION (521)", as an expression of world view, use "ETHNOSOCIOLOGY (829)"

• KLITA -- absorption, adaptation, assimilation -- use "ETHNIC STRATIFICATION (563)" or "ACCULTURATION AND CULTURE CONTACT (177)"

• KNESSET -- the Israeli parliament -- use "DELIBERATIVE COUNCILS (646)"

• KOSHER, concept of -- use "PURIFICATION AND ATONEMENT (783)"

• KUPPAT HOLIM -- the sick fund established by the HISTADRUT labor organization -- use "LABOR ORGANIZATION (467)" or "SOCIAL INSURANCE (745)"

• KVUTZA -- the commune -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)" and/or "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474)"

• Land Settlement Department -- use "ECONOMIC PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT (179)" and/or "ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES (647)"

• LANDSMANSCHAFTEN -- associations of persons from the same homeland -- use "EXTERNAL MIGRATION (167)", "ETHNIC STRATIFICATION (563)", "SODALITIES (575)", and "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)" (depending on context)

• LIKUD -- the Independent Liberal Party -- "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• MA'ABARA -- transit villages composed of tents, huts and barracks established in areas where work was available -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)" and/or "SETTLEMENT PATTERNS (361)"

• MA'ARAKH -- see MAFDAL

• MADRIKH (pl. MADRIKHIM) -- guides or instructors in helping new immigrants get adjusted to village life -- use "STATUS, ROLE, AND PRESTIGE (554)" and/or "EXTERNAL MIGRATION (167)"

• MAFDAL -- a political party composed mostly of Moroccan immigrants -- use "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)", use "CONGREGATIONS (794)", and "ETHNIC STRATIFICATION (563)" (depending on context)

• MAGHREB -- a single Jewish culture area divided into Jews of northern Tunisia, southern Tunisia, and Tripolitania -- use "EXTERNAL MIGRATION (167)" and/or "ETHNIC STRATIFICATION (563)"

• MALBEN -- the Israeli health and welfare agency of the American Joint Distribution Committee -- use "PUBLIC WELFARE (657)"

• MAMZERS -- status of Jews who were conceived in certain rabbinically proscribed, illicit sexual unions -- use "DOWNWARD MOBILITY (558)"

• MAPAI -- the leading socialist party in Israel -- use "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• MARBEK -- marketing agencies -- use "BUYING AND SELLING (432)"and/or "MERCANTILE BUSINESS (441)"

• marketing manager -- use "MERCANTILE BUSINESS (441)"

• MASCHGICHOT -- ultra-orthodox women who were paid to sit in fertility labs and supervise the lab workers -- use "HOSPITALS AND CLINICS (743)" and/or "CONGREGATIONS (794)"

• MEZUZA (pl. MEZUZOT) -- a rectangular piece of parchment on which holy words are inscribed, which is affixed to the door post of a house -- use "SACRED OBJECTS AND PLACES (778)"

• MIKVEH -- ritual baths -- use "PURIFICATION AND ATONEMENT (783)" (sometimes with "PERSONAL HYGIENE (515)")

• ministries, government -- use "ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES (647)"

• MIMOUNA -- a traditional light-hearted spring celebration (Moroccan) -- use "REST DAYS AND HOLIDAYS (527)"

• MITSVA (MITSVOT) -- a meritorious act; something that people are commanded to do by God -- use "ETHICS (577)" (possibly with "THEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS (779)")

• MOADONIM -- clubhouses -- use "RECREATIONAL FACILITIES (529)" (sometimes with "PUBLIC STRUCTURES (344)" and/or "RECREATIONAL STRUCTURES (345)")

• MO'ETZA DATIT -- religious councils -- use "COUNCILS (623)" and/or "CONGREGATIONS (794)"

• MORI -- an informal rabbi; a respected and learned man who can explain religious works -- use "PRIESTHOOD (793)" and/or "STATUS, ROLE, AND PRESTIGE (554)", (possibly with "TEACHERS (875)")

• MOSHAV (pl. MOSHARVIM) -- a cooperative settlement of small individual farms -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)" (and "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474) when relevant)

• MOSHVEI OLIM -- immigrant settlements -- use "EXTERNAL MIGRATION (167)" and/or use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• MOSHVEI OVDIM -- middle-class MOSHARVIM -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• OTSEM -- a union for workers in a MOSHARVIM -- use "LABOR ORGANIZATION (467)"

• PLO-Israeli relations -- use "INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (648)"

• PROTEKTSIA -- political nepotism -- use "EXPLOITATION (661)", "POLITICAL INTRIGUE (662)", and/or "MANIPULATIVE MOBILITY (557)" (depending on context)

• regional councils -- a committee composed of members from several communities in an area who operate in defense of that area and in the provision of services such as drainage and sewerage -- 632, 631 (sometimes 633, and 634 depending on context)

• regions -- territorial administrative units -- use "TERRITORIAL HIERARCHY (631)"

• religious councils -- see MO'ETZA DATIT

• SAGE -- a commpound composed of a number of workshops which employ the indigent elderly -- use "BUSINESS STRUCTURES (347)" or "PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS (741)"

• scrutinizing committee -- see VA'ADAT HA'BIKORET

• secretary of the MOSHAV -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)" and/or "LOCAL OFFICIALS (624)"

• sentries -- use "MILITARY ORGANIZATION (701)"

• settlement movement -- a function of the Land Settlement Department, which supervises the economic development of one or more MOSHAV -- use "ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES (647)" (sometimes with "PUBLIC WELFARE (657)", and "RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (654)")

• SHABBAT -- the Jewish sabbath -- secular aspects of, use "REST DAYS AND HOLIDAYS (527)"; religious aspects, use "ORGANIZED CEREMONIAL (796)"

• SHEKHUNOT -- neighborhoods -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• SHOHET -- a religious slaughterer -- use "OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALIZATION (463)" and/or use "DOMESTICATED ANIMALS (231)"

• SHTETLS -- a small Jewish town or village -- use "TOWNS (632)" and/or use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• social instructors -- see MADRIKH (pl. MADRIKHIM)

• SODOT -- secrets -- use "DISSEMINATION OF NEWS AND INFORMATION (203)"

• SOLEL BONEH -- a cooperative society for public works -- use "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474)" and/or "PUBLIC WORKS (653)"

• Standing Committee, political -- part of the Israelis political parties -- use "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)"

• surrogacy -- a woman who "rents" her womb to produce a child for an infertile couple, basically a human incubator -- use "CONCEPTION (842)"

• TAHAL -- the Israel Water Planning Authority -- use "ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES (647)", "WATER SUPPLY (312)", and/or "CORPORATE ORGANIZATION (473)"

• The Movement -- a youth movement in Israel and abroad which prepared young people for KIBBUTZ living; also a political party -- use "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (668)", "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)", use "ADOLESCENT ACTIVITIES (883)" (where relevant)

• TNUVA -- the agricultural marketing cooperative of the HISTADRUT -- use "BUYING AND SELLING (432)", use "LABOR ORGANIZATION (467)", use "COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION (474)", use "DAIRYING (234)" (depending on context)

• VA'ADAT HA'BIKORET -- the "scrutinizing" committee which reviews the rulings of the council -- use "LOCAL OFFICIALS (624)"

• village councils -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• village executive -- village council or committee -- use "COUNCILS (623)"

• YESHIVA -- religious educational schools or seminaries -- use "ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (872)", "LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION (873)" and/or "VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (874)"

• YISHUV -- the old religious settlements in pre-independence Palestine -- use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)" and/or "SETTLEMENT PATTERNS (361)"

• youth ALIYA -- use "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (668)" and/or "ADOLESCENT ACTIVITIES (883)"

• youth instructor -- a teacher -- use "TEACHERS (875)"

• youthtown program -- a form of settlement house for disadvantaged youths, use "PRIVATE WELFARE AGENCIES (747)"; as a community, use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)"

• ZADDIK -- a "saint"; a holy or godly individual -- use "PROPHETS AND ASCETICS (792)" and/or "PRIESTHOOD (793)"; as a supernatural being, "SPIRITS AND GODS (776)"

• ZAHAL -- the Israel Defense Forces -- use "MILITARY ORGANIZATION (701)"

• Zionism -- use "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (668)"

• Zionist Forum -- use "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS (668)" and/or use "POLITICAL PARTIES (665)" (depending on context)

Avruch, Kevin (1981). American Immigrants in Israel: Social Identities and Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ben-Rafael, Eliezer, and Stephen Sharot (1991). Ethnicity, Religion and Class in Israeli Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Segev, Tom (1986). 1949: The First Israelis. New York: The Free Press.

Shafir, Gershon, and Yoav Peled. (2002). Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Torstrick, Rebecca. (2000). The Limits of Coexistence: Identity Politics in Israel. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.