Comments on: Agudath Israel Leader Asks Israeli Ambassador to Meet on Emmannuel Situation

By: Effie

Effie — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:07:58 +0000

My brother is Charedi and moved to Israel a year ago; his 9 year old son who went to Mir in New York was rejected from Yeshiva after Yeshiva for the same reason; the roshei hayeshiva first asked him; why do you not send your kids to a sefaradi yeshiva and then they said we do not accept sefardi kids. Wake up! there is a real problem with discrimination in the charedi community in Israel. When I heard about what happened in Emmanuel I was not surprised. When people claim “its not a matter of racism as there are %35 sefaradi girls in the school dosen’t it bother any one that such a round number is being peddled? My brother found out himself when trying to get his girls and sons in Yeshivas that there are definite quotas in Yeshivas for accepting sefaradim. %35 seems awfully strange, why not %37 or %39? Why are such numbers even kept? They are obviously tracking their ethnic makeup very well for a school that claims no discrimination!

By: galicianer

galicianer — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:56:08 +0000

When was the last time the “not-racist” court ruled in favor of religious people?

By: mw13

mw13 — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:34:34 +0000

#3 – There is no racism in Emanuel. What happened was that the Slonimer Chassidim did not want to send their daughters to a school that was attended by girls that did not not have the same religious standards. Because these girls happened to be Sephardim, the Israeli High Court said this was racism, and did not allow the Emanuel parents to send their daughters to a different school. Now the Gedolim have led us in protesting the secular Israeli High Court deciding what schools chaeridim must go to.

#5 – Of course we must cater to the spiritual needs of Baali Teshuvah. Nobody is denying this. However, we cannot compromise on the chinuch of one group in order to further the chinuch of another. The Charaedim and the Sephardim both have unique chinuch needs, and this is precisly why they were seperated in the first place. If we try to educate two totally different types of girls in the same classroom, we are setting ourselves up for total failure.

By: kosherkid

kosherkid — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:18:34 +0000

chiefrabbi,

They had no problem with accepting Baalei Tshuva who committed to the rules of the school. They had a problem with accepting those who didn’t agree to the rules of the new school, of whatever ethnicity and religious background.

By: chiefrabbi

chiefrabbi — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:53:01 +0000

#4 from your own words it appears that it is not a lie. It’s just that we don’t agree on how to handle children of חוזרי בתשובה. I don’t expect that everyone will agree with me, nor do I care to have a popular opinion. The fact is that we now have a very large population of חוזרי בתשובה who have spiritual needs. We need to address this. Not the Supreme Court, not the Israeli Government, but the people who keep the מצוות need to advocate on their behalf. If this was addressed early on, then this would not have happened. Trying to tie my opinions to the liberals is absolute nonsense. ואהבת לרעך כמוך is not a liberal position. מה דלך שנאי לחברך לא תעשה is the minimum requirement to fulfill this מצוה.

By: Fearless Lion

Fearless Lion — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:49:41 +0000

To #2: You keep on falling for all the liberal lies. There was no Mechiza in school, it was 2 schools on seperate floors in one building! Yes, 2 schools, 2 schwduled, & 2 corriculoums. And Yes, with seperate entrances, with a solid gate in between. That is how seperate schools run, otherwise you are stepping on each others toes.

By: Baal Boose

Baal Boose — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:04:08 +0000

Rabbanim are of course always right.
Thereofr will someone please explain why it is okay to reject people based on sfardi/ashkanaz ?

By: chiefrabbi

chiefrabbi — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:38:11 +0000

So what’s the Agudah’s position on putting a wall down the middle of a school and a fence down the school yard? When you stare a great injustice in the face and you don’t know why it’s happening to you, do what the שבטי י-ה did. Say אבל אשמים אנחנו! Recognize that חוזרי בתשובה are people too. Perhaps the daughters of these people the students in the בית יעקב don’t meet your requirements, but don’t put up an iron curtain telling them that they are forever different than you. ט’ באב is around the corner perhaps a play on the words of one of the קינות may be appropriate here: תקנא לציון קנאה גדולה, ותאיר לרבתי עם מאור נגהך! In addition to expressing your outrage, show us the light. This injustice cannot stand.

By: samech tet

samech tet — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:25:11 +0000

oh please. let’s not make this a start for aguda getting involved in Israeli politics, be smart, keep away