Racism Soars to the Skies: Ashkenazi Parents Keep Daughters Home So They Won't Mix with Sephardi Girls
Racism is reaching new heights: Kikar HaShabbat has received a shocking story of injustice, where Ashkenazi parents refused to send their daughters to a mixed class with Sephardi girls on the first day of school. One father recounts, "They didn't send their daughters so they wouldn't study with too many 'frenkies,' they're willing to do anything"
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Every year with the start of the school year, stories of injustice emerge, just like the case we uncovered in Jerusalem over the past day (Tuesday).
In a Beit Yaakov school in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood, there's a class that's roughly half Sephardi and half Ashkenazi.
The mix of girls bothered some Ashkenazi parents who tried to change the class composition without success. When they realized the school year was about to begin with the same mix, they decided to take a drastic and quite cruel step.
According to information received by Kikar HaShabbat, the parents decided to launch a strike and not send their daughters to class for the opening of the school year.
The affected parents told Kikar HaShabbat: "My daughter came home from the first day of school and said something interesting happened, that all the Ashkenazi girls hadn't returned from vacation yet, and she noted how it's interesting that specifically the Ashkenazis didn't come back."
Another parent said: "My heart broke. This is a little girl, and I don't understand why she's even categorizing in her head that there are Sephardis and Ashkenazis, but apparently she reflected what was discussed at school."
"When I told her," another father described, "that it's not accurate they didn't return from vacation but probably they're switching classes, she burst into tears and said to me, 'I have good friends from there, why are they separating them from us? Did we do something bad to them?' And what exactly am I supposed to explain to her, that there's a serious phenomenon of racism, of heartless people, who to ensure their daughters don't study, God forbid, with too many 'frenkies,' are willing to do anything."
Another parent told Kikar HaShabbat: "I don't understand how the world isn't outraged by this. Why make such a wicked ethnic separation on racial purity? The story here is simple: There are parents who don't want too many Sephardis in the class, and for that, they're willing to commit an indescribable injustice. I expect all Shas leaders to go to war on this; this is a line that must not be crossed and no legitimacy should be given to it."
Kikar HaShabbat contacted the Independent Education system responsible for the school, and they chose to ignore the terrible story, responding: "Lie and falsehood. A group of parents left their girls at home in protest because we didn't allow them to transfer schools, and the matter is being handled by the regular attendance officer."
It should be noted that also due to racism issues, hundreds of girls did not start seminary this year (9th grade, part B) in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.
Yesterday, Kikar HaShabbat published a dramatic poll by the Super Data institute, according to which the majority of the Haredi public believes there is indeed discrimination in Haredi educational institutions.
In the poll, which included over 1,000 respondents, we checked what the Haredi public thinks about the discrimination and Shas's handling of the issue, after promises to pass the regional registration law that would solve the issue of discriminating against Sephardi girls in seminaries.
The poll shows that the majority of the public (84%) believe there is ethnic discrimination in Haredi educational institutions; only 13% answered there is no ethnic discrimination in the institutions.
Regarding the question 'Did the Shas party fail in preventing ethnic discrimination in the admission of girls to Haredi seminaries?', it turns out that indeed the majority of respondents—77%—believe the Shas party failed in handling it; only 10% believe Shas did not fail in handling the discrimination against Sephardi girls.
From the poll analysis, it emerges that among the Sephardi public—84%—more believe Shas failed in preventing ethnic discrimination in girls' admission to Haredi seminaries.
In the poll, the most burning question among the Sephardi public was asked: 'What sentence do you think best represents that Shas is not fighting for regional registration?'.
From the results, 29% believe Shas is not fighting for regional registration because it's not politically convenient for it; 28% believe Shas is not fighting because it doesn't want to confront the Lithuanian leadership; 20% believe it is not fighting because it's a silent alliance—Shas is silent, and the Lithuanians control; and 23% believe Shas has no real interest in regional registration.
Additionally, 52% of poll participants believe the term 'mentality' serves as an excuse for ethnic discrimination in seminary admissions; 37% did not agree.
As for the question 'Is there more ethnic discrimination in Haredi society than in non-Haredi society?', 74% agreed that indeed in Haredi society there is more discrimination; only 14% believe in the Haredi sector there is not more discrimination than the general public.