Miriam, I have missed you. I went to your other blog but it is now private(blackfirewhitefire.blogspot.com). I wanted to know your feelings about this story - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_segregated_school. As an American black jew living in Isreal your opinions would be invaluable to me. Traci
I'll try to break it down w/o making a judgement call **gulp** lol.
So there are two big types of Jewish groups: Ashkenazi -those from European countries and Sephardi -those from North Africa, Spain. Many 'dark' Jews have been lumped into that category as well, but truly there are many subgroups.
In the Ashkenazi world, life was more strict. There were more hate crimes, pogroms, etc. So the people formed a tighter knit group and excluded outsiders. Thus, that group got divided into three categories: the reform -those who don't really believe in the Torah being from G-d, the conservatives - those in the middle. And Orthodox -those who are strict on following the Torah, believe its from G-d, etc.
So for the Ashkenazi world its easy to know where to go. You want a school for your kid, you take them to your denominational school (reform, cons. or orthodox).
BTW -Ultra Orthodox can be put in to the orthodox category.
Now, the sephardim -mostly of whom come from Muslim countries, didn't have as much need to subdivide themselves. So, a "reform" Sephardi girl would attend the same synagogue, school, etc., as a "conservative" Sephardi girl. Same goes for the "Orthodox" Sephardi. I put those terms in quotes because, those divisions don't exist for Sephardis.
Now, when a Sephardi girl wants to go to an Ashkenazi ULtra Orthodox school, the Ashkenazim don't know what type of girl she is. Is she like them? Is she reform? Who knows. The reason they are afraid to take them is if all the Ultra orthodox kids don't have tvs in their homes, and one Sephardi girl starts telling them how fun it is to have one, the whole fabric that they are trying to create for their girls is messed up. Or if she doesn't eat only kosher, or if she dresses w/too much eye candy, etc. You get the picture. Thus, many Ashkenazi schools tend to resist them.
Other schools try to accommodate a percentage. But when the quota has been fulfilled, the left out Sephardi parents may cry "racism!" to muscle their way in.
My feelings: Personally, I would not send my children where they are not wanted. Even though I used to be ultra Orthodox (now I'm trying to be label-less) I homeschool and avoid that mess.
So now the Supreme Court got into the picture and decreed that this girl must be allowed in. Everyone is in an uproar now because this court -which is not religious, mostly secular- is trying to dictate what ought to be for the religious community.
Everyone is protesting! Sephardi, Ashkenazi, etc. The less gov interferrence, the better. People are trying to find out who took it to the secular courts. Usually things are handled insularly by the religious's own courts.
Scandalous.
There is prejudice and ill will between the two main groups, but nobody likes it when the seculars get involved.
(interestingly, I'm still waiting for a statement by the chief Sephardi Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, on the matter.)
One more detail: the various Ashkenazi schools may sometimes use tracts. One tract to accommodate the secular kids who go to that school. Another tract for Sephardi where they learn their own culture (the praying is slightly different from Ashkenazi, also history, culture). And then yet more tracts for Ashkenazim. Again at times these tracts may be filled and there is no more room in that particular school.
The "pretigious" schools usually have the problem of many students trying to enter and being turned away.
3 comments:
Miriam,
I have missed you. I went to your other blog but it is now private(blackfirewhitefire.blogspot.com). I wanted to know your feelings about this story - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_segregated_school. As an American black jew living in Isreal your opinions would be invaluable to me.
Traci
Hi Peacemaker,
I'll try to break it down w/o making a judgement call **gulp** lol.
So there are two big types of Jewish groups: Ashkenazi -those from European countries and Sephardi -those from North Africa, Spain. Many 'dark' Jews have been lumped into that category as well, but truly there are many subgroups.
In the Ashkenazi world, life was more strict. There were more hate crimes, pogroms, etc. So the people formed a tighter knit group and excluded outsiders. Thus, that group got divided into three categories: the reform -those who don't really believe in the Torah being from G-d, the conservatives - those in the middle. And Orthodox -those who are strict on following the Torah, believe its from G-d, etc.
So for the Ashkenazi world its easy to know where to go. You want a school for your kid, you take them to your denominational school (reform, cons. or orthodox).
BTW -Ultra Orthodox can be put in to the orthodox category.
Now, the sephardim -mostly of whom come from Muslim countries, didn't have as much need to subdivide themselves. So, a "reform" Sephardi girl would attend the same synagogue, school, etc., as a "conservative" Sephardi girl. Same goes for the "Orthodox" Sephardi. I put those terms in quotes because, those divisions don't exist for Sephardis.
Now, when a Sephardi girl wants to go to an Ashkenazi ULtra Orthodox school, the Ashkenazim don't know what type of girl she is. Is she like them? Is she reform? Who knows. The reason they are afraid to take them is if all the Ultra orthodox kids don't have tvs in their homes, and one Sephardi girl starts telling them how fun it is to have one, the whole fabric that they are trying to create for their girls is messed up. Or if she doesn't eat only kosher, or if she dresses w/too much eye candy, etc. You get the picture. Thus, many Ashkenazi schools tend to resist them.
Other schools try to accommodate a percentage. But when the quota has been fulfilled, the left out Sephardi parents may cry "racism!" to muscle their way in.
My feelings: Personally, I would not send my children where they are not wanted. Even though I used to be ultra Orthodox (now I'm trying to be label-less) I homeschool and avoid that mess.
So now the Supreme Court got into the picture and decreed that this girl must be allowed in. Everyone is in an uproar now because this court -which is not religious, mostly secular- is trying to dictate what ought to be for the religious community.
Everyone is protesting! Sephardi, Ashkenazi, etc. The less gov interferrence, the better. People are trying to find out who took it to the secular courts. Usually things are handled insularly by the religious's own courts.
Scandalous.
There is prejudice and ill will between the two main groups, but nobody likes it when the seculars get involved.
(interestingly, I'm still waiting for a statement by the chief Sephardi Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, on the matter.)
One more detail: the various Ashkenazi schools may sometimes use tracts. One tract to accommodate the secular kids who go to that school. Another tract for Sephardi where they learn their own culture (the praying is slightly different from Ashkenazi, also history, culture). And then yet more tracts for Ashkenazim. Again at times these tracts may be filled and there is no more room in that particular school.
The "pretigious" schools usually have the problem of many students trying to enter and being turned away.
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