Sabra (person)

In Modern Hebrew, the terms tzabar (SING; צַבָּר) and tzabarim (PLUR; צַבָּרִים) refer to any Jew born in Israel. Derived from the Hebrew name for the prickly pear cactus, which is commonly spelled sabra in English, the words had come into widespread use by the 1930s, when they were used to designate a Jewish person whose place of birth was located within the Land of Israel—corresponding with Ottoman Syria until 1918 (cf. Old Yishuv) and with the British Mandate of Palestine until 1948 (cf. New Yishuv)—though it may have appeared earlier.

Sabra is understood to be a term that is used to allude to the collective nature of Israeli Jews: it is a tenacious and thorny desert plant with a thick skin that conceals a sweet and soft interior. This description is the basis for the design of Srulik, a cartoon character that represents the average sabra and thus serves as Israel's national personification.^[1]

In 2010, over 70% of Israel's Jewish population was composed of sabras,^[2] with this figure increasing to 75% in 2015^[3][4] and to 80% in 2024.^[5]