ASHKENAZI JEWS

Ashkenazi Jews: translation

(pl Ashkenazim)

   Jews of eastern and central European extraction, Ashkenazi Jews were the main components of the first waves of Zionist immigration (see ALIYA) to Palestine, where they encountered a small Jewish community that was primarily Sephardi (see ORIENTAL JEWS) in nature. The Ashkenazi Jews had fled from the Jewish ghettos of Europe (including Russia) and sought to build a new society, primarily secular and socialist in nature. They formed the bulk of the political and military elites during the Yishuv and in the formative years of the state.