The Ashkenazi Revolution

1897A completely different type of man, than Avraham Abaas, is ProfessorAndré Chouraqui, a scion of a line of Sephardo-Mizrahi rabbis, anaccomplished man whose days were spent not among the simple Sephardo-Mizrahi people, but within the walls of universities and institutions ofhigher learning. Chouraqui became famous in the State of Israel as Ben-Gurion’s advisor in matters of the integration of exiles, as an aid to Ben-Gurion who disagreed with him and became his adversary. Later in thisbook, we shall speak more of this skilled and devious man, the adversarialadvisor and the explosive speaker. For now we’ll concentrate on oneaspect of Chouraqui’s personality, the aspect of the demonic hatred towardAshkenaz that seethed within him. It is fairly certain that Chouraqui is oneof the flash points of the Sephardic tragedy, and of the devil’s dance ofAshkenazi-Sephardi relations. Had Chouraqui lived in the days ofMaimonides, it is likely that his name would be woven among the line ofgreat men who represent the glory of Spain. However, Chouraqui lived inthe twentieth century and therefore he was fated to have the bitter task ofrepresenting the ignorant Sephardo-Mizrahi people that stands at the doorof Ashkenaz and demands aid for the unfortunate. Chouraqui’s situation issimilar to that of James Baldwin, the famous Negro American author, wholives in two worlds and does not find satisfaction in either of them.Baldwin is attached to the intellectual, Anglo-Saxon, world, in whoselanguage he writes and to whom he appeals. But he hates this world for itsabusive treatment of Negroes. In an inn of simple Negroes, James Baldwinfinds comfort for his hurt emotions, but this environment cannot satisfy hisintellectual cravings.The proper place for André Chouraqui, in the State of Israel, is thecathedral of the university, an institute for the splendor of Sepharad, whichcomes to bury this splendor under the Ashkenazi elite. In his sitting uponthis throne, Chouraqui turns into an integral part of the great fellowship ofAshkenazi scientists who deal with the wisdom of Sepharad. However,Chouraqui’s political thread is too strong for him to be a man of thecathedral. He stands at the forefront of the aggrieved hordes of Sepharad,