An Elad family has had enough of the discrimination against Sephardim in the Beis Yaakov system and has turned to the Supreme Court in the hope of succeeding in registering their 6-year-old girl in a Beis Yaakov school in the city.
Justice Edmond Levi, who is Shomer Shabbos, has called on the school to accept the first grader, acknowledging the differences including pronunciation of Hebrew among Sephardim and Ashkenazim. He added “even if they give me 100 lashes” he is not capable of pronouncing Hebrew as the Beis Yaakov system does, but nonetheless the child should be accepted.
One of Jerusalem’s deputy mayors, Rav Shmuel Yitzchaki, has been particularly active in trying to end the known phenomenon of discrimination against Sephardim, admitting he has not been too successful. He lamented the fact that it has reached the proportion of a high court appeal, stating that he fully understands the family who is seeking a good education for their daughter.
In the Elad case, a gag order has been placed on the identity of the girl or her family, but it may be reported that her brother does attend a Sephardi school.
Justice Levi instructed the school to amend their charter and accept the student. Justice Kobi Vardi basically called on the school to do the same, adding if he is compelled to issue a judicial ruling, it will be costly for the school.
Rav Yitzchaki reported on Wednesday that there are still 25 first graders from Sephardic families in the capital who have not begun school due to the discrimination. He stresses the girls are frum “good frum homes, not problem children,” but nevertheless, they are not being accepted.
He added that he turned to Shas politicians and others, but no one appears too interested in helping the girls or creating a ruckus in the system. The rav told Kol Chai Radio that he has even attempted to reach Rav Ovadia Shlita, but nothing has changed realities and the girls are at home instead of in the classroom.
Rav Yitzchaki has been involved in fighting the discrimination for a long time, with very limited success, and he is waiting for “Mayor Lupoliansky in his glory to address the alarming issue” but for now, the mayor is remaining silent. Yitzchaki adds the solution he believes is an easy one – explaining if Jerusalem City Hall cuts off funding to the schools until they halt the discriminatory practice, he believes the fiscal pressure would compel a change in the status quo.
Chinuch Atzmai legal officials have opted not to respond to the report.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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29 Responses
I don’t understand. Why are there no sephardic schools for this girl? Why is she compelled to force herself into a Bais Ya’akov?
It is a shame that people still don’t get it. This child is a Jew and any jew must be treated with respect & love. The point is there is discrimination one jew against another.
Unless the school uses Yiddish and uses that as a criteria, it is fairly hopeless to expect a child to learn a Ashkenazi pronounciation when they are routinely speaking Israeli (sort of Sefardi) on a routine basis. Virtually all frum Israelis, including native speakers of Yiddish, and including those who insist they never use Ivrit for Divrei Chol, use Israeli when speaking (no distinction between aleph-ayin and kamats-pasach, ignoring the dagesh in saf,gimel and daled, always putting the subject before the predicate, etc.).
If the school is limited to girls whose families speak Yiddish at home, that should be a expalined. Why a Sefardi feels that the Ashkenazi schools are superior is beyond me, and unless preservation of Yiddish is the school’s sole purpose, why the school discriminates against Sefardim (and probably a lot of other people) is bizarre especially if the school is pro-zionist (i.e. accepts money from the government).
Emess, Unknown? Do you think that is what this is about? This is the kind of discrimination that we both know is rampant in yeshievish and chasidic worlds and has been for many years. The family is chareidi. They have a cheishelk to give their daughter a beis Yaakov education. They are God fearing and mitzvah doing, and the school couldn’t even come up with ONE plausible reason in court that she shouldn’t be allowed in the school. The fact is that the chareidi world can be infected with rishus like anyone else, and the kind of sinoh (at worst) or misguided holier than thou attitude (at best) is just a symptom. The biggest tragedy is that the little girl had to get the court to allow her the kind of frum education YOU obviously think only erliche ashkenazi families deserve. The second biggest tragedy is that the infection of rishus doesn’t come from outside influence; it is homegrown. I hope that our less frum brothers and sisters arent infected by us, or it will be an even longer wait for the geulah shelaimah.
To comment #1: Why does she have to go to a Sephardic school? Not every school is perfect for every child. This Beis Yaakov is taking public and private money to operate–they are supposed to be servicing the public. It’s absolutely disgusting they are rejecting this girl–A jewish girl!
#1 that is a sad, biased comment. Chaverim kol yisroel and she should not be discriminated against and forced into a separate system. Sephardim are just as Jewish as you are. Let’s see some ahavas yisroel.
Very strange story.
For too many Ahavas Yisroel has become Ahavas My Hoshkofa, and this applies not only to the Yeshivishe velt, Chassidim or even Askenmazim. It’s hard to see why anyone is surprised about the beis Yaakov story . . . the problem exists in most if not all frum businesses and schools in the NY area. Sad
#2 mordyman..I wanted to say something, but I believe you said it all, Thank you!!!!
Enough of this discrimination!!
I agree, why does she “have to ” go to an Ashkenaz school, but what if she does want to? Just because they didnt go through the shoiah, does not make their blood any less red than ours!
I hate this Sfardi-Ashkenazi thing.
Maybe the girls in Lakewood should try going to court also :)… Seriously though, this is discrimination at its worst. What kind of lesson are the parents teaching their children when they sit back and let this kind of stuff take place?
Ok, so allow me to shed some light on “The System” before all you Americans sitting comfortably at your computers, ready to mete out “justice” on something you don’t understand, get all hot under the collar. This is not about sin’as chinam, not about prejudice, and not the old American “blacks to the back of the bus” phenomenon. It is 100% true that Sfardi girls have a hard time getting into the so-called “better” Ashkenazi schools (and I’m only speaking for Yerushalayim here, I know nothing about the other cities, so I, for one, will not judge what goes on in a system that I don’t have first hand knowledge of [ahem, ahem!!]). It is also true that culturally, whether you like it or not, there are many, many differences in the MAJORITY (yes, majority) of Sfardi households when being compared to the standard, Ashkenazi chareidi families. It’s COMPLETELY different there than it is in America, where a large percentage of Sfardim have just integrated into the American chareidi system, and there really aren’t too many differences. Many of the Israeli Sfardim have VERY different standards of dress or speech, and TV’s, movies, and computers are not uncommon. While it’s true that just having a Sfardi last name will already put the school on guard about a family (and I’ll admit that it’s already a strike against the family, if that particular school has already been burned), in 75% of cases the family/girl being rejected is more out of incompatibility with the student/parent body than the Sfardi name. If the family has already been established as a torahdik, high standard family, that reputation will come before the name. My daughter had a fair amount of Ben-Haims, Zerubavelis, Farchis, etc. in her class from beautiful homes. The reality is that unfortunately, the Sfardi Bais Yaakovs will also attract another, much lower, element of society, and many Sfardi families are fed up with those schools and will want to register their girls in Ashkenazi Bais Yaakovs, notwithstanding the fact that their daughters will come home davening in a “foreign language (“AhraiYOYshvay Vay-SEchoh…”)”!!!! But it doesn’t always mean that those same families, who want their girls with frummer, more torahdik Ashkenazi girls, are ready to abide by the standards of the school! Again, in MOST cases it’s not just because they are Sfardi, but because the family and the standards of the household (computer games, tznius, more outside exposure etc.) are incompatible with the standards of the school. And, as impolitic as this may sound, in many cases, these very Sfardim do adopt a victim- attitude similar to that of the American blacks, where instead of facing reality and doing something to change, they will just cry “discrimination! racists!!” to get what they want. Believe me, the very sincere, frum, “put your money where your mouth is” torahdik Sfardim do not have nearly the same problems that the high profile ones have. Anyone taking an honest look at the Sfardim being rejected and the ones being accepted will see an immediate difference. And there ARE Sfardim being accepted, but not nearly as many as are being rejected. So here’s what I suggest: Let those being rejected take a good look at their accepted counterparts and see what they can do to ensure their daughters’ acceptance and integration into the Ashkenazi system. You can’t have it both ways.
AND I’LL ADD THIS AS WELL: Americans in Yeruchalayim have begun to encounter the exact same “discrimination.” (My Sfardi neighbors used to joke with me about this all the time!) But the same will apply to them. No one gets rejected ONLY because they are American. Look to see what your accepted counterparts are doing right to facilitate their kids integrating into the system, and try iy yourself before you go “shrei och un vei” that you were rejected. Is it the length of your shaitel? Your adamant holding-onto your kids being “American” and not “too Israeli?” Then don’t complain when the Israeli schools hold that against your kids. You can’t have it all ways. Either you “shtell tzu” to the society that you’re trying to get into, or stop complaining. It’s got to be on their terms, not yours.
But, alas, this is all very theoretical to the majority of readers out there, because it’s much more fun to sit back in our comfortable computer chairs and judge the societies we understand nothing about…
I’m Sefardi, and where I come from there is no discrimination whatsoever. Why does this problem plague Israel more than anywhere else? Speak to any Sefardi parents and they will tell you the hell they’ve been through with the education system. How come this is almost exclusively an Israeli issue?
Mi Keamcha Yisroel.
sbztcyy:
How can you be real israeli charaidi if you are working and have internet? Perhaps it is easier to hide internet, but not skin color?
sbztcyy – you write well, but it’s not strictly true.
The system DOES go by the name irrespective of how wonderful the family is. Very fine friends of mine recently had terrible trouble getting their excellent son into yeshiva. His Mother is English, Ashkenazi; her parents live up the street; his father’s an Avreich; davens in an Ashkenazi chutznik minyan; no dvds, no radio, nothing. The only problem – a sephardi name. One Rosh Yeshiva even had the audacity to tell the wife that the family name wasn’t good for “shivuk” – marketing.
Eventually – broken – the husband was convinced by the Rabbanim in our town, to change his name – so now the poor man – who’s had the same family name for generations has been forced to become another xxxxberman, in the hope that his next son will have an easier time.
I repeat – this family is BROKEN from the ordeal. It’s a miracle they are still frum.
shalom in Israel– there is certainly truth to what you’re saying, but I can’t agree with it in its entirety, namely that “The system DOES go by the name irrespective of how wonderful the family is.” Sometimes it can be true, but not 100% of the time.
Again, I can’t answer for schools around the country, but I do have an American friend in Beitar whose exasperated (sfardi) husband (who learned in Ashkenazi yeshivos in America his whole life) came home one day and exclaimed, “That’s it! We’re changing out name to Berkowitz!!” Because he was told that the cheder he wanted to switch his son into had already filled their quota of Sefardim. So yes, it can happen, but again, let’s take a good look at the Sefardim who HAVE made it into the system (and let’s be intellectually honest here, there are plenty of them). They are beautiful, noteworthy, families who have great kids and are raising their kids with proper chinuch and hashkafos. Are there Ashkenazim who should be thrown out or not accepted? Absolutely. Do they stand more of a chance because their names are ****stien or ****witz? Probably. But the bottom line is that the schools have had a better track record with the middle of the road Ashkenazim than the middle of the road Sefardim, and the Sefardim DO have to prove that they are bringing something of value to the table (ie, good chinuch, middos, tzniyus, torah, absence of outside influence, etc) if they want to integrate into Ashkenazi chareidi society. Once more, I only speak for what I have been exposed to; my friends and neighbors who HAVE been accepted into the schools are exemplary, wonderful families who I am proud to call my friends. I can not claim to be surprised with which of my neighbors have been rejected. Maybe that’s just my neighborhood, I don’t know. The differences are GLARING.
By the way…”yichusdik”
Aside from your sounding like you have a world-class chip on your shoulder, your post makes you sound judgmental, narrow minded, and simply anti-semitic. You don’t know the girl, her family, or the details, yet you’re so quick to rant about “yeshivish” and “chassidish” injustice. If that’s not close minded sin’a, I don’t know what is. If you’d peek out of your cave with an ayin tovah, you’d be alot happier.
sbztcyy is very correct in his analysis, the fact that sometimes undeserved discrimination happens is unfortunate, but nothing in life is perfect.
Systems in chinuch almost by definition are not perfect, because true chinuch is “l’na’ar al pi darko”, so how can it be systematized?
But he’s right about the fact that when the schools do accept S’fardim, they often get burned by the toughness and unwillingness to “shtell tzu”.
Most Americans would imagine that if one finally gets accepted into a hard-to-get-into place, he would be machni’ah a little and try not to make waves, bur it often turns out otherwise. I don’t know if it’s victimhod or cultural mores, but it’s a fact.
As for the poster wondering why the Sfardim want to go to Ashkenazi schools (which are no great treat, btw), there is a famous story of a Sfardi bochur who wanted to get into a certain “top” Ashkenazi yeshiva, when the R.Y asked him, “why do want to learn here?, He said, “Because ani rotzeh Yeshiva Ashkenazit!”
Answered the RY, “V’Gam Ani!”
A little mean, but captures the dilemma very well.
Ah gut yahr, shana tova.
sbztcyy, You are correct in assuming that I am being judgemental. Of course I am. And I’ll tell you why. Every aspect of chareidi life as it is currently constituted involves making a judgement on your fellow Jew. Want to get into a school? Let’s judge your name, your skirt/sleeve length, your acquiesence to authority. Want to make a shiduch? Let’s judge your health, your yichus, your father’s bank account. Want to get cholilo vchas a real job, let’s judge you as unable to sit and learn- no zitsfleish. Want to know where to shop? let’s judge if there’s a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe z’l in the wiondow. Want to know whether to zug gut shabbes to a passerby? Let’s judge if he is wearing a Kipa sruga or she is wearing rachmono letzlan a hat with some hair showing.
You know what, though? there are still some places where this kind of assumptionist tzidkus is frowned upon. Boruch Hashem I know gerer, lubavitcher and bobover chasidim who don’t judge, they just love their fellow Jew. Boruch Hashem the people who Rav Noach Weinberg has influenced (He should be well) by and large don’t act this way. Boruch Hashem Individuals from all streams of chareidi life sometimes buck the trend. Most, alas, are too intimidated to get out of the judgement game. Maybe the chip you see on my shoulder comes from a wearines with a lifetime of watching this perpetuate itself, and a deep sadness that we have learned so little, we who should be the first to learn, about true ahavas Yisroel and bringing the geulah.
And by the way, sbztcyy, recognizing evil within a context of so much potential for good is often easier than doing so elsewhere. The chareidi world should know better. So when I point out that there is rishus involved, I am not absolving any other element of Am Yisroel from its own responsibility for its own infection, its own blindness, its own intolerance.
I wish that I was just ranting, but my experiences within our community tell me otherwise. There is a real problem, and we have been hiding our heads in the sand about it for decades. If this was an isolated incident, the particular circumstances of this particular girl would matter more. Indeed, there were six more students who were rejected at the same time for the malignant crime of hasving gone to the wrong pre-school.
I hope that I have answered your questions thus far without anger or rancor. As for your assertion that I am in some way “anti-Semitic”, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. If you did, you would know how ineffably absurd your assertion is. The only other person who has ever called me an anti-Semitic was a Palestinian who was trying to convince me that Palestinians are Semites too. So you are in good company. I hope you are comfortable there. If I did offend with my “judgement”, I ask mechila from all here. Hopefully I’ll have started a trend for Elul.
Money talks as always!!!!
Get them in the wallet,if that is the only way to stop discrimination, what a pure boosha…
sbztcyy -you are right about many Sephardi families, but it still means that the “Vaad Ichlus” – acceptance committees – be it in a community or school, are just being downright lazy.
In the case of my fried, if they had bothered to check they would have heard nothing negative whatsoever about the family, and in fact only positive.
So tell me – was it correct that your friend had to change her name to Berkowitz? Is it fair that my friend had to change his name to xxxxberman?
I do not believe that this is what Hashem wants from us – perhaps I’m old fashioned!
Lets see, Rabbis in Israel who have halachik jurisdiction in Israel can cause the girls schools in Lakewood NJ USA to shut down until all girls are accepted. But these same Rabbi’s have no say in the school policy of their home turf. What is wrong with this picture.
Any so called Yeshiva which will not accept a student based on their minhagim should be banned and no student should be allowed to attend that school. We are talking educating a child in the essence of our service to Ha-shem and these school little people and arrogant people who have a little bit of power abuse it in the adminstration of the Yeshivas. These are not people to trust the chinuch of your child too, and any school which behaves this way is not a proper school for your child.
Yichusdik claims: “Every aspect of chareidi life as it is currently constituted involves making a judgement on your fellow Jew. Want to get into a school? Let’s judge your name, your skirt/sleeve length, your acquiesence to authority.”
I’ve always noticed that they who have the biggest chips on their shoulders and have all of this hateful chareidi bashing are very similar to those who sit back and love to bash YU. The biggest similarity is that all of their bashing is so embarrassingly uneducated and based on third hand misinformation. How many times have you been to Lakewood? Rechov Sorotzkin? How many yeshivish kollel yungerleit have you sat down with to talk to. I can guess the number. THE BIG FAT ZERO. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be talking like this.
Furthermore, you’re absolutely correct in saying that if you want to get your kid into a good school you will be judged on your tzniyus level and willingness to bend to authority. OF COURSE! G-dfearing and torah abiding Jews need to be machnia themselves to Torah authority, emunas chachamim, daas Torah, and Rabbanim in order to succeed. Torah is not subjective or pick and choose. (But don’t feel bad, you’re not the only one who couldn’t deal with that. Korach couldn’t either.) And if one’s level of tzniyus is not on par with the school’s, why would he want to send his kid there, and why in the world should they accept him?! Just because there are kids there who have internet access that the school doesn’t know about? What does that have to do with anything???? Oh, so maybe you’re saying that because there are parents that don’t belong there and slipped in because they hid what they do wrong, ok, so let’s take in EVERYONE who refuses to abide by our rules and wants to do their own thing. ???!!!!???!!!??!!
As this story is going to be pushed off the website, for lack of space, I have opened a forum on this subject, under “in the news” in YW’s coffeeroom (direct link: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/judgement-in-elad-beit-yaakov-accept-sfardim)
Coffe Room link: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/
SBZTCYY, I like your train of thought. To quote one of your own posts, “intellectually honest.” Looks like that’s what’s lacking most here on these posts!!
BIGKHUNA says,
“Any so called Yeshiva which will not accept a student based on their minhagim should be banned and no student should be allowed to attend that school.”
No, no, no!!! Don’t any of you get it??? There are loads of Sephardi kids in our schools here in Israel. But they, as “TURKEYNECK” so correctly pointed out, are machni’a themselves to the system without all the high profile noise the rejected ones are making. (For example, if I decided to send my daughter to a chssidic school, should they accept her, even though I do not wear that garb, I do not conduct my home in a chassidic manner, my wife covers her hair differently, and my daughter dresses differently than they do? I think everyone here would agree that it would be silly for them to accept her unless we were ready to conform somewhat to their cultural and hashkafic expectations). These kids are not being rejected based on minhagim, but based on the way the family conducts their affairs and their actions. The biggest proof that this family was not mat’im for the Ashkenazi Bais Yaakov system is that they took the school to the Supreme Court!! Is that the way a respectable religious Jew acts? Israeli Ashkenazim don’t, and unfortunately, the Sephardim have a track record of calling the police, the courts, and any other authority to get their way, instead of acting appropriately. (Please don’t get defensive or offended by this; it’s a fact and a normal way of life here where we live. Very par for the course.)
YICHUSDIK, you would do alot better if you would first take the time to learn and understand our system before you sit there and bash it, erroneously assuming that you do understand.
I had a teacher who once told us, “Sometimes people try to act so ‘so-called open minded’ that the only thing that was accomplished was that their brains fell out in the process. But they were never really thinking to begin with.”
***The biggest proof that this family was not mat’im for the Ashkenazi Bais Yaakov system is that they took the school to the Supreme Court!! Is that the way a respectable religious Jew acts? Israeli Ashkenazim don’t, and unfortunately, the Sephardim have a track record of calling the police, the courts, and any other authority to get their way, instead of acting appropriately***********
As a resident of the holyland, and children & grands in many educational systems there including chinuch atzmi, bais yakov and private, there is much MISinformation being spread by those who ‘know their communities only’.
1. Ashkenazic charedei use the Israeli legal system as frequently as anyone if not more, BUT it’s usual for business and housing complaints, beis din against a neighbor who ‘stole’ some assumed space in the bldg, or tax concerns. Maybe they do NOT need to fight for their childrens education as Seferadim do.
2. Insular, small, closed, ‘we have the truth’, Charedi communities have the most problems intergrating Ashkei & Sefradi together. Bigger cities (Petach Tikvah, Netanya, Teveria, etc.) do not share this worldview and have found the tools to somewhat live together.
3. Charedi children who have American/South African/French/Canadian parents (forget baali tshuva, another story all together) need to PROVE themselves (Why sbztcyy?)to be accepted. Gdforbid your daughter went to Camp Bnos or Shira for the summer, what tumah that will bring to the school!!! (no joke!)
If the girl comes to school with an unapproved knapsack that was bought at Amazing Savings in Monsey (1/3 of the $$ sold in Israel), with a lunch bag that is insulated – Sinful!!!
4. Many Sefradic fathers have opt to enter the working field after learning, and this is a THREAT and FEAR in the Bais Yakov system.
5. A neighbor tried to purchase an apt in Ramot 3 or 4, he is a fundraiser for an American Yeshiva who owns an attache case and lap top, he was disqualifed since it will be a THREAT to the kehilla.
We should feel secure enough in our TORAS (TORAT!!) HASHEM to welcome and intregrate with all our brothers and sisters.
ALL THE WAY. Golden City.
SBZTCYY, Sorry to disappoint you. IF my own firsthand experience isn’t enough for you, My brother in law embodies Lakewood, where he learned for many years, and became a musmach. He was a talmid of R’Yaakov Kamenetzky zt’l. R’Yaakov was quoted once as saying “Loving your fellow Jew is a mitzvah in the Torah, and in addition it’s a segulah that if the love is given according to the Torah it will bring its recipients closer to Torah and to Hashem.” The judgement he was talking about is in short supply nowadays. Being Don L’chaf z’chus, and making a place for eager students who want to be within the hashkafic environment in that particular school, not outside it.
My nephew will b’ezras Hashem be getting his smicha soon. He’s learning in lakewood. Just for perspective, My cousin’s son is starting the smicha program at YU-RIETS this fall. My roots are from both chassidish and Yeshivish families and I am familiar, intimately so, with the nature of chareidi life, both in the past and now. I’ve sat down with my nephew, with sons of friends, with my own peers who studied in Beis Medresh there.
I’ve taught in a chareidi school, lived in a chareidi neighborhood, learned with a yeshivish chevrusa, written for a chareidi newspaper, and worked in my father’s (a’h) store dealing with a largely chariedi clientele. I’ve even raised money for a chareidi educational program in Israel. I don’t know how many times I’ve been on Rechov Sorotzkin. DO you mean by Kiryat Itri? By Mattersdorf? In the Belz neighborhood? By Bais Yaakov??
I completely agree with you that someone who puts themselves within the chutzos Hatorah is obliged to listen to the authority of the rabonnim. (Not the balabatim, mind you, or the tznius committee hoodlums, but the Rabbonim and those they designate). What I expect is that schools will judge favourably and give opportunities to people who earnestly want to follow their derech, not refuse to take them a priori because of a chashash of what might be or a simple sfardi name.
“Torah is not subjective or pick and choose.” You’re right, it isn’t. Since it all derives from Veohavto lereacho komocho anyways, let’s start with that mitzvah. And within the firmament of Torah you will find elu voelu divrei elokim chayim. Too many have forgotten that.
Torahpal, I think I had the same teacher. The saying is familiar. But I wish i could say honestly that all of the apparent wrongs that this story brought to the forefront were honest mistakes, or overzealousness in protecting the virtue of our families and communities. If we are not prepared to work to have a positive Hashpo’oh on those who are not quite on the derech, or even to take their children into the one place where they will get that Hashpo’oh, what does it say about our confidence in what we are teaching our kids, and have been for decades? what does it say about our confidence in our own education that our parents sacrificed for? What is a positive frum life for if not to have an influence on your fellow Jew? How can we tell people to become baalei tshuva, learn with them, encourage them, watch them grow in Torah, and then tell them – Oh, sorry, your daughter can’t go to the school we’ve been asking you to emulate, because she has non frum Grandparents or cousins, or she has spent too much time playing piano, or violin, or flute until now?
Why?