Sephardim of Sydney – Coping with Political Processes and Social Pressures

The Sydney Jewish community is dynamic and vibrant, with many communal, social and religious institutions. This book investigates the Sephardic community of Sydney - their history, their experiences as new immigrants in a host society after arriving from traditional Moslem cultures, as well as the changes they have undergone since they arrived in Australia. The Sephardic community comprises about 3,000 of the 40,000 Jews in Sydney, whose majority reside in the eastern suburbs, in Sydney's multicultural inner city "ethnic belt". Although the Sephardim share some cultural features with the Jewish majority, there are substantial differences: they emphasize their cultural heterogeneity. Their experiences are viewed through the prism of their relationship to both the Ashkenazim and the larger Anglo-Australian society. Their inability to assimilate into the Ashkenazi and Australian groups contributes profoundly to their poor self-image and to ethnic marginalization. A negative ethnic identity and self-rejection, enhanced by rejection from the Ashkenazim and Australians, has a major impact on their everyday life and their perception of their social standing, especially on the younger Sephardic generation.