(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.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..