The Sephardic Labor Organization and the Status of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in the Yishuv

Abstract

The article discusses the Sephardic Labor Organization in Palestine which was active from 1940 through 1946 as the roof organization of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Tel Aviv and the Organization of Sephardi and Oriental Workers in Jerusalem. The aim of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Palestine as a whole and in particular, of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Tel Aviv was to improve the economic conditions of Sephardi and Mizrahi workers and to enhance their social and political status in the Yishuv. These activities reflect the status of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews as a hybrid group on the socioeconomic border between the Jews and Arabs of Mandatory Palestine. The article explores the processes which led to the establishment of Sephardi labor organizations, and which manifest the connection between patterns of employment and standard of living, and between ethnic identity and social status.