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Nathan Jeffay

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Nathan Jeffay,

Nathan Jeffay

Opinion

Charedim are multicultural too

Separating Ashkenazi and Sephardi schoolchildren may seem bigoted but it has merit

May 27, 2010 13:59
2 min read

It was the other West Bank separation barrier. In 2007, the strictly Orthodox Beis Yaakov School in the settlement of Emanuel on the West Bank started teaching Ashkenazi and Sephardi pupils separately - with a plaster wall between them. Last year, the High Court decried the "discriminatory aims of those who initiated the separation" and ordered its end.

The wall came down, but the separation persists. Ashkenazi pupils now study in a new school, established in contravention of education ministry rules. In recent weeks, the ministry ordered the new, pirate school to close and all of its pupils to study together. Attempts to mediate a solution between the ministry and proponents of segregation seem to have foundered.

The hopes and expectations of Charedi parents for their children's education are very different to those of a secular or modern-Orthodox parent. The most important thing in strictly Orthodox circles is that their children will learn to pray and read the Bible and other religious texts - and do so in their own communities' traditional Hebrew pronunciation.

One of the key rules of the Ashkenazi stream in Emanuel was that prayers and studies "are conducted in the holy tongue" (ie Ashkenazi pronunciation). Contrary to some press reports, Sephardi pupils who wanted to join the Ashkenazi stream could do so if they abided by this and if "parents will ensure that, even at home, the students will become accustomed to praying as they do at school".

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