חוויות של נערים מזרחיים שלמדו בישיבות אשכנזיות בישראל: היבטים זהותיים, חינוכיים וייעוציים

This research examined, through qualitative methodologies, the experiences of Mizrachi youth who studied in Ashkenazi yeshivas. In this investigation, twenty"Sephardi" members of the Haredi community, aged 30-42 years old, who studied at Ashkenazy Lithuanian yeshivas during the years 1993-2010 were interviewed. The data was collected through open-ended and semi-structured interviews from their current perspective as adults, retrospectively, focusing on the events and their experiences at the Ashkenazi yeshivas. From the interviewees emerged aspects related to their experiences as Mizrachi youngsters at the Ashkenazi yeshivas: having the sense of entering a new reality, called immigration, one that excluded their Mizrachi cultural experience and omitted their Mizrachi religious heritage. The diverse ways of coping with these experiences included the internalization of the Mizrachi inferiority narrative and the adoption of practices on the "Ashkenazyut spectrum". These experiences significantly shaped their identity as youngsters and as adults: As youngsters, they reported a blurring identity with many identity traps, as adults, they felt like holding a collection of identities or a consolidation of a new one. The present study contributes to the analysis of the identity challenges of the Mizrachi adolescents when facing the ethnocentric culture of the Ashkenazy institution, which they attended,and the examination of the quality of relationships between the educational staff,namely the yeshiva educators and them. In addition, the study underscores the importance of incorporating "educational counselors" in yeshivas, especially when identity conflicts emerge vis-à-vis the identity crystallization of the adolescents who attend educational institutions that are not in alignment with their cultural backgrounds. From the conclusions of the study, derive recommendations for further in-depth investigations of the different aspects of the topic related to the attitudes of the existing educational staff and the joining of additional educational professionals in the Haredi yeshivas.