User talk:Alirosenblatt/sandbox

Article to Evaluate: Maghrebi Jews
Everything in the article is relevant, however, there are things missing. I was browsing a page about Jewish exodus from Muslim countries, and it had an entire section dedicated to Northern African Jewish exodus. That information, alone, was greater than the information on this page. To write an article about the Mahgrebi Jews, more has to be dedicated to what happened to them - why they left their homes in Northern Africa, where they ended up. Also, there could be more details on the individual countries in question, rather than generalizing.

The article is pretty neutral. This topic itself does not lend itself to much controversy, per se. There were some lines where the wording was a bit more biased than neutral. One line in particular stood out, and that was "Under Muslim domination..." a line which struck me because it carries such a bad connotation and could have easily been worded differently.

For citations, there is only one linked to an external source. There should be more citations that link to primary sources outside of Wikipedia. There are ample links to other wikipedia webpages, however, there external sources may offer more directly verifiable information. There are some terms and facts which are not common knowledge, though, and should warrant a citation or link. Such as the mention of the Punic settlements and the mention of a much greater immigration between 1391 and 1492.

On the talk page, there were requests for citations to verify some facts and other disputed facts. It is evident that there is more legwork to be done to bolster the article, add more information, and verify the facts.

The way we talked about the Maghrebi in class was in the context of other Jews in the Arab world. It is very different when you just look at one part of that community, you miss a lot of the context. In class, we talked about the Maghrebi Jews in the context of other Jews, showing the wide range struggle that Jews face in varying communities.

Article 1: Maghrebi Jews
This article has a lot missing. While browsing a page about Jewish exodus from Muslim countries, and it had an entire section dedicated to Northern African Jewish exodus. That information, alone, was greater than the information on this page. To write an article about the Mahgrebi Jews, more has to be dedicated to what happened to them - why they left their homes in Northern Africa, where they ended up. Also, there could be more details on the individual countries in question, rather than generalizing. There were some lines where the wording was a bit more biased than neutral. One line in particular stood out, and that was "Under Muslim domination..." a line which struck me because it carries such a bad connotation and could have easily been worded differently.

For citations, there is only one linked to an external source. There should be more citations that link to primary sources outside of Wikipedia. There are ample links to other wikipedia webpages, however, there external sources may offer more directly verifiable information. There are some terms and facts which are not common knowledge, though, and should warrant a citation or link. Such as the mention of the Punic settlements and the mention of a much greater immigration between 1391 and 1492.

On the talk page, there were requests for citations to verify some facts and other disputed facts. It is evident that there is more legwork to be done to bolster the article, add more information, and verify the facts.

Article 2. [|Women in Israel]
Right off the bat, there are facts listed in the introduction without proper citation. In the body, I see some words which are esoteric and deserve to be explained. For example, the article mentions "the haredim" without explaining to the reader who exactly this group of people is in Israel.

Content-wise, the background section on "Women's Rights" is very short. For a page dedicated to Women in Israel, this should be lengthened. When they move into explaining the marriage and divorce laws, they do not adequately address the pushback that these laws receive. I am aware of some ongoing efforts to fight the notion of getting a "get" from Israeli civil society.

The section on women in politics needs to be updated; right now it only goes until 2016 and I would imagine there have been some further revelations since then. Same with the section on public harassment. There are consistently incidents in israel targeting women in public spaces, and this section is too short to encompass this. Women's health is yet another section that is lacking; only 2 sentences.

Overall, I think the article lacks context. It is not offering context of women in Judaism and Islam and how that, subsequently, influences the political and social standings of women in Israel.

Article 3. Arab League boycott of Israel
This article needs additional citations. There is a flagged message at the top and a lot of discussion about this within the talk page.

I believe some background should be included on the global context during which these boycotts occurred - during the Holocaust in Europe.

This article should be updated to include modern day reiterations of boycotts targeting Israel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alirosenblatt (talk • contribs) 22:00, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Potential Contributions
'''A. Present-Day Jewish Populations in the region ''' 1. population in the region

2. population centers in the region

3. where did the Jews leave to - and what pushed them out

4. discussing controversies

'''B. Sections by Country ''' 1. Tunisian Jews

2. Algerian Jews

3. Moroccan Jews

'''C. Distinct Traditions of the Maghrebi ''' 1. Sephardi traditions

2. Traditions Specific to the region

'''D. Controversies with the Jews ''' 1. the Batto Sfez affair in Tunisia

2. Stereotypes of Jews in the Maghreb

'''E. Intergroup relations ''' 1. Relationships with the Arab/Muslim population

2. Relationships with the colonial powers - France, Italy, etc.

Article to Edit: Maghrebi Jews
The present-day Arab Maghreb Union countries.

Due to proximity, the term Maghrebi Jews (Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, Tunisian Jews, and Libyan Jews) often refers to Egyptian Jews as well. Maghrebi Jews (Hebrew: מַגּרֶבִּים‬ Maghrebim or מַאגרֶבִּים‬) or North African Jews (יהודי צפון אפריקה‬ Yehudei Tzfon Africa) are Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghreb region of North Africa (al-Maghrib, Arabic for "the west") under Arab rule during the Middle Ages. Established Jewish communities had existed in North Africa long before the arrival of Sephardi Jews, expelled from Portugal and Spain. Due to proximity, the term 'Maghrebi Jews' (Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, Tunisian Jews, and Libyan Jews) often refers to Egyptian Jews as well. These Jews, those from North Africa, constitute the second largest Jewish diaspora group.

The Jews lived in multiple communities in North Africa for over 2,000 years, with the oldest Jewish communities were present during Roman times and possibly as early as within Punic colonies of the Ancient Carthage period. Maghrebi Jews largely mixed with the newly arrived Sephardic Jews, beginning from the 13th century until the 16th century, eventually being overwhelmed by Sephardim and embracing the Sephardic Jewish identity in most cases.

The mixed Maghrebi-Sephardic Jewish communities collapsed in the mid-20th century as part of the Jewish exodus from Arab countries, moving mostly to Israel and France and merging into the Israeli Jewish and French Jewish communities. Today, descendants of Maghrebi-Sephardic Jews in Israel have largely embraced the renovated Israeli Jewish identity and in many cases intermix with Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jewish communities there. Some of the Maghrebi-Sephardic Jews (literally Western Jews) also consider themselves as part of Mizrahi Jewish community (literally Eastern, or Babylonian Jews), even though there is no direct link between the two communities. They have similar histories of Arabic-speaking background and a parallel exodus from Arab and Muslim countries: the Mizrahim left nations of the Middle East, and the Maghrebi-Sephardics left nations of North Africa in the mid-20th century.

Early History

El Ghriba synagogue Some Jewish settlements in North Africa date back to pre-Roman times, possibly correlating with the late Punic settlements in the area.

Earlier mentions of Jewish presence go back to Cyrenaica, a Greek colony of eastern Libya and home to an early Jewish community. Notable Cyrenaic Jews of that era includes Simon of Cyrene mentioned in the New Testament. After Jewish defeat in the First Jewish-Roman War in 70 CE, Roman General Titus deported many Jews to Mauretania, which roughly corresponds to the modern Maghreb and many of them settled in what is now Tunisia. These settlers engaged in agriculture, cattle-raising, and trade. They were divided into clans, or tribes, governed by their respective heads, and had to pay the Romans a capitation tax of 2 shekels.

During the Kitos War, Jews must have suffered losses, but they continued to thrive in parts of North Africa that were under the Late Roman Empire. After 429 CE, with the fairly tolerant Vandals, the Jewish residents of the North African province increased and prospered to such a degree that African Church councils decided to enact restrictive laws against them. Berber lands east of Alexandria were relatively tolerant and were historically very welcoming for Christians and Jews during the Roman Empire notably. After the overthrow of the Vandals by Belisarius in 534 CE Of the Roman era, Justinian I issued his edict of persecution, in which the Jews were classed with the Arians and heathens.

A community settled in Djerba island off the coast of southern Tunisia during the Roman period. Mainly composed of Cohanim, they notably built the Ghriba synagogue with stones coming directly from Jerusalem. 'La Ghriba' is still to this day annually visited by many North African Jews.

Under Muslim domination Jewish communities developed in important urban centers such as Kairouan and coastal cities of Tunisia, in Tlemcen, Béjaïa and Algiers in the Central Maghreb as far as in the extreme Maghreb (modern Morocco) especially Fes and in the Atlas Mountains among the Berber populations. The relationships between Muslims and Jews in the Maghreb were relatively good thanks to the Al Andalus peaceful era, until the Almohades which persecuted non-Muslims to a large extent during their early reign. Later Jews were relatively well treated by the Berber Muslim dynasties namely Merinids, Zianides and Zirides.

In the seventh century, the Jewish population was augmented by Iberian Jewish immigrants, who, fleeing from the persecutions of the Visigothic king Sisebut and his successors, escaped to the Maghreb and settled in the local Byzantine Empire. The much greater immigration of Sephardic Jews took place between 1391 and 1492, by the Alhambra decree edict of expulsion, and persecution in Spain and Portugal.

Fez and Algiers respectively in Morocco and Algeria became important Sephardic rabbinical centers, well until the early 20th century, when most Jewish populations settled in Israel, France, Canada and Latin America.

Recent History World War II and the Holocaust On the eve of World War II, 400,000 Jews lived in the Maghreb, and each country treated their populations differently throughout this time.

Algerian Jews (around 35,000) had been granted French citizenship by the Cremieux Decree in 1870. France's Vichy Regime, then, oversaw the Jewish community in Algeria during World War II, and put anti-Semitic measures into place, stripping Jews of their rights, forcing them to wear identification markers, and putting quotas on admission to primary schools.

Tunisia was the only country with direct contact with the German army; Germany occupied the country for six months from 1942 to 1943 until the Allied forces captured it back. Under German occupation, the Jewish population, then 89,000, endured the Nazi regime and were subject to harsh treatment.

In Morocco, there were anti-Jewish laws put into effect and at least 2,100 Jews were interned in work camps.

Emigration Tunisia was a French protectorate since 1881, and the country fought for independence in 1956, after which many of the 105,000 Jews within the community emigrated. In recent decades, the Jewish community continued to shrink as many emigrated to Israel, France, and other countries.

After Morocco declared independence in 1956, most of the 225,000 Jews in Morocco emigrated to Israel, France and Canada.

In Algeria, the National Liberation Front fought and won independence from France in 1961. After Algeria won independence, the Jewish population of 140,000 began a massive and definitive exodus mainly to France.

From Murder and Mayhem to the Tanzimet, Constitution and Revolt