Basically, a lot of Sephardim do use reform/conservative/orthodox as a barometer, but that’s mostly in America, and mostly due to the fact that we are by far the minority among American Jews. American Ashkenazim of different splits won’t talk to each, so in order for to get taken seriously in discussions, we had to take on such titles, and it’s been incredibly damaging to our subcultural heritage.
These branches all evolved out of disputes in the Ashkenazic community following the Enlightenment in Europe. Some Jews thought that with modernity, reason makes religious belief obsolete, why forcibly separate from a society that we can mostly assimilate in to, ect. That was the start of reform. Then, some Jews recoiled in response, saying if anything modernity allows us to practice in the open and get access to education and work without sacrificing our faith and identity, God gave us these commandments at Sinai, ect, thus the start of the Orthodox movement. A bit later, a group from reform got uncomfortable with how far the movement was going, that increasingly the ‘changes’ seemed to be just ways to jab at the orthodox and not be based in anything, so they created their own community, the conservatives, saying we can keep the spirit of tradition without throwing away our connections to the outside world. From there over time other groups split off from within those groups, ect.
This didn’t ever happen for Sephardim. It just didn’t. Sephardim have always historically been much more flexible. We operate at the communal level. The synagogue has a certain way of doing things, and you hold yourself atleast at the level while there, but outside of the public eye, it’s between you and God. We assume you know your comfort level, you have your reasons, and all that is asked in return is that you none of the individuals try to force the communities hand.
That is, until a few decades ago when we were forced to “adopt” Ashkenazic labels in order to be taken seriously.
Sephardic divides have almost always been regional, small cultural tints based on whether we happened to be from the Netherlands or from Egypt, from Iraq to Portugal. When we got scattered out of Spain, we had the first divide, east and west. West Sephardim mostly went to Spanish colonies, the Netherlands, Portugal, or eventually England. East Sephardim were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire and settled across MENA, usually in separate places from Mizrachim (and some will also recognize a separated category west of Libya, Migrabim).
When these divides were artificially forced on us, it really broke our communities. I’m not being tongue in cheek. Some synagogues now incredibly judgmental, when we never were before.
Another factor is ashkenazim view this stuff all tied up linearly. Someone who is loose with Shabbat is blind to be loose with kashrut is bound to not daven is bound to not light candle ect, as if it’s a sliding scale where the orthodox are the most observant on everything, conservatives are medium, and reform barely. Sephardim historically were much more of a quilt. A Sephardic man might not care at all about Shabbat, but will hold stricter kashrut than orthodox do. He might not keep kosher, but he davens and learns with more spirit than anyone in his generation. That’s how we rolled for 1000s of years. Now, At least in America, we are fighting a two front battle and we are loosing, and the price is our culture and our identity. We are fighting to not be assimilated into American culture and loose tradition, and Arthur same time were fighting to not be assimilated into Ashkenazi culture either.
Rabbi Marc D Angel, who has his problematic views but are beside the point here, wrote down a saying in a essay about this exact topic, which states “a Sephardic man who marries an Ashkenazic woman, he will work with her to create balance in traditions when raising their children, even though he does not have to. They will create an atmosphere of Jewish learning that neither one could fulfill on there own, because their household will be a unique synthesis. An Ashkenazic man who marries a Sephardic woman? Not only will their children be ignorant of their mothers heritage, but the man will force her to forget too, as if he was a Christian and she was a forced convert. He will stamp out the soul of her ancestors because he thinks his superior, and then he will tell the other men he got lucky and found a wife with such dark skin and exotic hair.”
Now, I am not hating on ashkenazim. I’m Morley protesting the imposement and subsequent cultural destruction.
