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Musta'arabi Jews (Arabic:المستعربينal-Mustaʿribīn "Mozarabs";Hebrew:מוּסְתערביםMustaʿravim) were theArabic-speaking Jews, largelyMizrahi Jews andMaghrebi Jews, who lived in theMiddle East andNorth Africa prior to the arrival and integration ofLadino-speakingSephardic Jews of theIberian Peninsula, following theirexpulsion from Spain in 1492. Following their expulsion,Sephardi Jewish exiles moved into the Middle East and North Africa (among other countries around theMediterranean Basin), and settled among the Musta'arabim. Not all Jews from Arab cultures accept the term "Musta'arabi" as it has connotations of Jewish Arabs being less Arab than Christian Arabs, Muslim Arabs, and Arabs of other religions, which can be viewed as racist. In countries like Israel, structural racism against Arabs has made it difficult for Arab Jews to openly identify themselves as such.[1]
In many Arab countries, Sephardi immigrants and the established Musta'arabi communities maintained separate synagogues and separate religious rituals, but often had a commonChief Rabbinate. The general tendency, however, was for both the communities and their customs to amalgamate, adopting a mostly Sephardic liturgy. This pattern was found in most Musta'arabi communities in Arab countries. A typical example is in thehistory of the Jews in Syria.
In contrast, inTunisia, there was a strong and enduring social distinction betweenTuansa (the establishedTunisian Jews) andL'grana (immigrantLivornese Jews from Italy to Tunisia).
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The word "Mustaʿrabi" itself, and its Hebrew equivalentmistaʿrevim, meaning "those who live among the Arabs",[2] are derived from the Arabicمستعربmustaʿrib, meaning “arabized”. Compare with the term "Mozarab" (mozárabe in Spanish, borrowed from Arabic) to refer to Arabized (but not Islamized) Christian Spaniards inArab ruled Islamic Spain. "Musta'arabi" was also used by medieval Jewish authors to refer to Jews inNorth Africa, in what would become the modern states ofMorocco,Algeria,Tunisia,Libya andEgypt[2] (which also underwent cultural and linguistic Arabization following the Muslim conquest there).
Following theMuslim conquest of the Levant, Syria and the surrounding region was brought under Arab rule in the first half of the seventh century, and the Jews of the land, like theChristian majority at that time, became culturally Arabized, adopting many of the ways of the newforeign elite minority rulers, including the language.[3]
Musta'arabim, in the Arabized Hebrew of the day, was used to refer to Arabic-speaking Jews native to theregion of Syria who were, "like Arabs" or "culturally Arabic-oriented".[3][4][5][6] These Musta'arabim were also calledMurishkes orMoriscos by the Sephardi immigrants.[7] This may be either a corruption of "Mashriqis" (Easterners) or a Ladino word meaning "like Moors" or "Moorish" (compare with theSpanish wordMorisco).[3][8]
The Musta'arabi Jews in theLand of Israel constituted one of the three main components of theOld Yishuv (Jewish community of Israel), together with theSephardi Jews, andAshkenazi Jews.[9] The latter were a minority whose numbers shrank further due to intermarriage with Sephardim.[9]
The Musta'arabi Jews in the Land of Israel were descendants of the ancient Hebrews who never left the Land of Israel, instead remaining there through the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD to the First Aliyah in 1881, prior to the onset of Zionist immigration.[citation needed] Under the rule of theOttoman Empire in the mid-16th century, there were no more than 10,000 Jews divided between numerous groups of congregations in all of Ottoman Syria.[4][verification needed] Within the Jewish community at this time, there was some conflict between the Musta'arabim and Jews who had immigrated to Israel fromSpain andSicily. Later on, there was also conflict between Jewish citizens of the Ottoman Empire and those who held foreign passports (the so-calledFrancos orSeñores Francos). From 1839 onward, Jewish subjects of the Ottoman Empire, including the Musta'arabim, were represented by a locally nominated rabbi, whose appointment to serve as ahakham bashi or "chief rabbi" required approval from the Ottoman authorities. This hierarchical system paralleled one previously established for Christianbishops in the empire.
Due to the persecution of the rural Jewish population since the Islamic period into the Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, the Musta'arabim decreased from a majority of the Galilee's population to its smallest minority.[citation needed]. In many of them, there were indigenous Jewish villagers until the Ottoman period.[citation needed] Only inPeki'in there was a Musta'arabi population that has survived.[citation needed] Due to theArab revolt in the 1930s they were forced to evacuate their ancestral historic village and to move toHadera, where most of them are living today.[citation needed] The synagogues and cemeteries of Musta'arabi Jews, as in Peki'in, are considered the oldest in the Jewish world and can be dated largely to the Talmudic period but also to Mishnaic and Second Temple period.[citation needed]
Unlike the majority of the Jewish communities, Musta'arabi Jews of Israel remained mostly rural farmers as in the ancient periods ofIsrael.[citation needed]
In lateRoman Palestine, the vast majority of those indigenous Jews who would come to be known as Musta'arabim lived in small villages, especially in the north orGalilee, but also many aroundJerusalem, and even towardRamallah.[10] They suffered extreme oppression and frequent massacres under theByzantines.[11][better source needed] They continued to speakAramaic, but many were illiterate.
The Jews in Palestine defended against theCrusaders withArabs, especially atHaifa in 1100. Many were massacred or captured during theSiege of Jerusalem (1099) to the Crusaders.[12] At Ashkelon, 1191, many Jews were forced out by the crusaders, with some moving to Jerusalem.[10]
During theMamluk period, the Jews generally saw a decline in status and demographics.[13][better source needed] Jews started to move out of small villages and into larger ones[10] such as:
Safed,Tiberias, and the area that surrounds them saw an increase in population, in 1500 it is estimated that over 10,000 Jews were living in the Safed Region.[10] Jews started to move towardsetrog exportation and rabbinic studies.[citation needed]
In 1492 theAlhambra Decree and in 1497 King Manuel I Decree converted or expelled all Jews fromIberia. Many of these settled in the 2 main cities of the Galilee,Safed andTiberias, notable Jewish Scholars such asYosef Caro settled inEretz Yisrael. This had two major outcomes: the adoption ofSephardic practices,[14] and the start of a golden age of Jewish life inPalestine. This golden age happened almost exclusively in theFour Holy Cities :Jerusalem,Safed,Tiberias, andHebron. Along with the Musta'arabim adopting some Sephardic practices, they also intermarried extensively with theSephardim. In some respects, the Musta'arabim in the four holy cities ceased being a distinct group; only in rural areas such asPeki'in did the Musta'arabi Jews remain dominant.
The main Jewish population center moves away from the Galilee and towards Jerusalem.[10] Still, the Ladino-speaking Jews dominate Jewish life. New arrivals from theBalkans,North Africa, andIraq also cementedSephardic traditions over those of the Musta'arabim.
The arrival of mainlysocialist andsecular Zionists from Eastern Europe angered the Arab-Islamic ruling class. Relations between theOld Yishuv and theNew Yishuv also suffered at times. Musta'arabim either joined sides with the Zionists, fighting inHaganah orIrgun, or left the Ottoman Empire entirely, joining the waves ofSyrian Jews emigrating toAmerica.[15]
The Musta'arabim have assimilated into mainstream Sephardic Israeli life and it is unknown how many Israeli Jews of Musta'arabi descent there are. In America, they follow the general Syrian traditions, and have mainly settled inNew York,California, andWashington.[citation needed]
The Aleppo Musta'arabim in Syria originally had a distinct way of worship, set out in a distinct prayer book calledMaḥzor Aram Soba. This ritual is thought[16] to reflectEretz Yisrael rather than Babylonian traditions in certain respects, in particular in the prominence ofpiyyut (seebelow).[17] In a broad sense, it falls within the "Sephardi" rather than the "Ashkenazi" family of rituals, but has resemblances to non-standard Sephardi rites such as the Catalan[18] rather than to the normative Castilian rite. It also contains some archaic features which it shares with theSiddur of Saadia Gaon andMaimonides' laws of prayer.
The following are some of the differences that stand out in the Maḥzor Aram Soba.
A facsimile edition has recently been published by Yad HaRav Nissim, using pages from the best surviving copies of the 1527 edition.[citation needed]
After the immigration of Jews fromSpain following the expulsion, a compromiseliturgy evolved containing elements from the customs of both communities, but with the Sephardic element taking an ever-larger share. One reason for this was the influence of theShulchan Aruch, and of theKabbalistic usages ofIsaac Luria, both of which presupposed a Sephardic (and specifically Castilian) prayer text; for this reason a basically "Sephardic" type of text replaced many of the local Near and Middle Eastern rites over the course of the 16th to 19th centuries, subject to a few characteristic local customs retained in each country. (SeeSephardic law and customs#Liturgy for more detail.)
InSyria, as inNorth African countries, there was no attempt to print a Siddur containing the actual usages of the community, as this would not generally be commercially viable. Major publishing centres, principally Livorno, and later Vienna, would produce standard "Sephardic" prayer books suitable for use in all communities, and particular communities such as the Syrians would order these in bulk, preserving any special usages by oral tradition. (For example, Ḥacham Abraham Hamaoui ofAleppo commissioned a series of prayer-books from Livorno, which were printed in 1878: these were "pan-Sephardic" in character, with some notes referring to "minhag Aram Soba".)
As details of the oral tradition faded from memory, the liturgy in use came still nearer to the "Livorno" standard. Nevertheless, a distinction persisted between the "Sephardic" rite (based on the Livorno siddurim) and the "Musta'arabi" rite (basically similar, but retaining some features derived from the older tradition).
In the early years of the twentieth century, the "Sephardic" rite was almost universal in Syria. The only exception (in Aleppo) was a "Musta'arabi" minyan at theCentral Synagogue of Aleppo, but even their liturgy differed from the "Sephardic" in only a few details such as the order of the hymns on Rosh Hashanah. Some differences between the two main prayer books published in Aleppo in the early twentieth century may reflect Sephardi/Musta'arabi differences,[20] but this is not certain: current Syrian rite prayer books are based on both books.
Approximately 30% of theMahzor Aram Soba is composed ofpiyyutim.
The use ofpiyyutim, which was very prominent on the holidays andShabbat, was not limited to the Syrian Musta'arabi community, but occurred in most Jewish communities. The earliestpiyyutim however, were “overwhelmingly [from] [Eretz Israel] or its neighbor Syria, [because] only there was the Hebrew language sufficiently cultivated that it could be managed with stylistic correctness, and only there could it be made to speak so expressively.”[21] The earliest Eretz Yisrael prayer manuscripts, found in theCairo Genizah, often consist ofpiyyutim, as these were the parts of the liturgy that required to be written down: the wording of the basic prayers was generally known by heart. The use ofpiyyut was always considered an Eretz Yisrael speciality: the BabylonianGeonim made every effort to discourage it and restore what they regarded as the statutory wording of the prayers, holding that "any [hazzan] who usespiyyut thereby gives evidence that he is no scholar".[22] Accordingly, scholars classifying the liturgies of later periods usually hold that, the more a given liturgy makes use ofpiyyutim, the more likely it is to reflect Eretz Yisrael as opposed to Babylonian influence. This, if correct, would put theMahzor Aram Soba firmly in the Eretz Yisrael camp. However, thepiyyutim in theMahzor Aram Soba resemble those of the Spanish school rather than the work of early Eretz Yisraelpayyetanim such asEleazar Kalir: for example, they are in strict Arabic metres and make little use ofMidrash. Also, they are generally placed in a block at the beginning of the service, like today'sBaqashot, rather than expanding on and partially replacing core parts of the prayers.[23] Accordingly, the prevalence ofpiyut does not of itself establish a link with theold Palestinian rite, though such a link may be argued for on other grounds.
Following the dominance in Syria of the Sephardic rite, which took the Geonic disapproval ofpiyyut seriously, most of thesepiyyutim were eliminated from the prayer book. Some of them survive aspizmonim, used extra-liturgically.
The Syrian Musta'arabim have completely assimilated with the Sephardic Jews and are no longer a distinct entity.[citation needed] Certain families identify as "Sephardim" in the narrower sense, and are distinguished by their practice of lighting an extra candle onHanukkah. (This is said to be in gratitude for their acceptance by the older community. It is not shared with Sephardim in other countries.)
According to Joey Mosseri, a Sephardic historian living in the Syrian Jewish community inBrooklyn (USA), the last time the Musta'arabi liturgy was officially used was until 1930 in theGreat Synagogue of Aleppo.[citation needed] Hacham Selim Za’afrani, of Aleppo, led services in the Musta'arabi Jewish rite, until his departure to theIsrael in the early 1930s. After his departure, there is no known public usage of this liturgy even in Aleppo itself. Today, Syrian Jews, with the exception of a few individuals living inDamascus, live outside of Syria, and do not distinguish between Musta'arabi and Sephardic Jews.