The court had required a compromise by August 25. I didn’t believe it would happen. But the educational ministry has ruled that the Bet Yaakov Hasidi, the girls’ school in Emanuel that refused to admit a group of children of sephardi background, will retain its license but lose all government funding. After one year, requests for funding will be considered.
Representatives of both sides, interviewed by Haaretz, are happy with the decision. But an article I read in Hashavua, a haredi newspaper, warned that the decision sets a dangerous precedent for all the schools in the chinuch atzmai system. If the government can stop financial support for one school, they can stop it for others as well.
The yeshiva high school system* in Israel is elitist. To get in you need a good report card, high test scores, financial means, and, often, “protekzia.” There are alternatives—private programs for kids who don’t fit in to the yeshiva high school system, and public religious high schools. But those alternatives may have something of a stigma attached.
The admissions process until now didn’t help matters. Each yeshiva high school or ulpana test for a fee. If you did well, the school called you for an interview. Once accepted, you paid a nonrefundable deposit to hold your place.
Every school had a slightly different process. Some schools tested at the end of fifth grade, others in the winter of sixth grade. Weaker students had an especially hard time, running from school to school and taking tests they have little chance of passing.
The new director of the religious school system in the Education Ministry, Dr. Abraham Lifschitz, is instituting a new system for the coming year. A standardized test will be offered to every sixth-grader in the religious elementary schools. The tests will be graded centrally, and the results sent to whatever schools you indicate.
There are several advantages to the system:
I discussed this with a friend who wondered if this system won’t create other problems. If parents can easily see which schools take kids with higher scores, it may increase elitism. On the other hand, every school places a different weight on each section of the test. Some schools ignore English scores, and pay attention mainly to gemara. At any rate, I think it’s best for schools to be open about their admissions standards.
If the system works well, the schools will feel pressure to admit students they might otherwise reject. According to Lifschitz:
“We are not asking the heads of the yeshivot and ulpanot to be completely heterogeneous. Rather, just to accept . . . a certain percentage of students who are not part of the school’s mainstream. These may be new immigrants via “Naaleh,” Ethiopians who until now did not attend, students with learning disabilities, or those not accepted because of a less religious background. Together with this, I don’t want to eliminate the exclusivity that the institution aspires to. Every school has its individuality and will continue to strengthen this.”
The date for the first test has been set for 20 Tevet 5771 (December 27, 2010).
Source: Makor Rishon, August 6, 2010.
*Yeshiva high school (yeshiva tichonit) is for boys in the religious Zionist school system. They offer both secular and religious studies, with several hours of Talmud study each day. The government pays for the secular studies and parents pay for the rest. Many offer dormitories. Ulpanot, the equivalent for girls, are not as competitive.
Tolerance in the Religious Zionist Community
More on Schools and Mixed Dancing
We’re less than a month away from the start of school. I have no idea whether my first-grader’s class will remain intact. I lost the book lists, which mysteriously disappeared after I put them in a folder marked “school.” A neighbor is holding on to a batch of books for my 11th grader, and I passed off another batch from my 9th grader. I told my kids that they’ll have to clean up their rooms before I buy more books and supplies. Wish me luck with that one.
Here are my tips for buying school supplies. Please share yours in the comments.
Looking forward to hearing more tips, including stores and brands that you like.
Related Posts
Accompanying Emanuel Fathers to Prison
Update: It looks like the story is not over yet. The rabbinic court said it did not receive notice that Lalom revoked his lawsuit. It criticized him for going to the secular court, and claimed that it never said there was racism. The letter can be seen here (Hebrew). I don’t know what the implications are. There is usually a lot between the lines in these kinds of rulings.
After three years, a 100,000-strong demonstration against integration in the girls’ school in Emanuel, and numerous statements from the haredi leadership about how it could never compromise on this issue, the daughters of the Slonim hassidim (Ashkenazi) parents in Emanuel will learn with Sephardi children in the coming year, including the ones who had not been admitted to the breakaway school.
Original post:Parents in Emanuel Sent to Jail for Two Weeks
The two sides agreed to abide by the ruling of a rabbinical court in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
A rabbinical court arbitrating between Yoav Laloum and the Slonim Hassidim of Emmanuel on Sunday ordered Laloum and his Noar Kahalacha NGO to withdraw the petitions they filed with the High Court of Justice, and prohibited ethnically segregated classrooms throughout the Independent Educational Center.
Laloum had petitioned the High Court against the segregation in the Beit Ya’acov school, and later against the parents, who were held in contempt of court for not obeying its ruling to return their daughters to the school once the separate tracks were reunited.
The verdict of the three-man Beit Din Tzedek Jerusalem, headed by Rabbi Avraham Dov Levin, stressed that “all the students in the Independent Education Center must be united together [in the upcoming school-year], unless this court rules otherwise.”
The rabbinical court also prohibited the Slonim Hassidim from inflicting any “verbal or physical harm” on Laloum.
Laloum confirmed to The Jerusalem Post late Sunday night that he would withdraw his petition against the parents if they acceded to the beit din’s terms, and pending the High Court’s acceptance of the overall deal.
The Slonim Hassidim had taken Laloum to Levin’s court after he claimed some 10 days ago that they had accepted funding from The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
On Sunday, perhaps following spiritual mentor Rabbi Ya’acov Yosef’s Saturday night announcement that he was ceasing his activities against ethnic discrimination in Emmanuel due to threats made against him, Laloum accepted Levin’s arbitration.
The rabbinical court, like the High Court, prohibited dividing the school.
It’s interesting that the Slonim Hassidim chose this rabbinical court, yet it still ruled against them in the end.
The mothers, who never arrived at the jail, are still in contempt of court.
Earlier on Sunday, the High Court of Justice put off issuing its ruling on whether to imprison the mothers from Emmanuel. It will reach a decision on the matter during a closed hearing on Tuesday.
In its announcement, the court stressed that despite their claims, the parents were well aware of the verdict ordering them to prison issued last Tuesday, and “despite them being provided with many opportunities to fulfill it without coercion, they acted in various ways to thwart [the ruling].”
The court also noted that it took into account requests from parents to cancel or postpone their imprisonment, but fined each of them NIS 5,000 for filing those requests on Friday, after they were supposed to have turned themselves in on Thursday.
You may also enjoy:
Marriage in the Religious Zionist Community (Series)
Update below, and more here: Settlement in Emanuel Bet Yaakov Segregation Dispute
The parents of the “Beit Yaakov Hasidi,” a breakaway girls’ school in the small West Bank town of Emanuel, were found in contempt of court last month for refusing to send their children to an integrated school. They have been sentenced to prison for two weeks, starting tomorrow. The case involves about 40 couples, of whom both parents will be incarcerated.
When I spoke with a mother from Emanuel a few months ago, she insisted that there was no racism because there were children of sephardic [North African] background studying in the break-away school. She claimed that the reason for the separate school was an influx of newly-religious parents into the community. The lifestyle of the newcomers [who were almost exclusively of sephardic origin] did not meet the religious standards of the existing parent body. When the original parents tried to force the newcomers into separate classes, the court ruled against them. The parents set up a separate school, which was also declared illegal. So the original parent body, which consisted of both ashkenazim and sephardim, went on strike. At the time of our conversation, the woman’s daughter and the other girls were studying secretly with a private teacher. When the court later learned about this arrangement, they fined each parent NIS 400 a day.
It’s distressing that parents are less concerned with what their children are learning than with whom they are learning. School choice should mean that parents choose a school based on convenience, curriculum, quality and educational approach. It shouldn’t mean that a group of powerful parents get to decide who is in and who is out. Parents who want complete control over who their children learn with should not expect the government to pay for it.
Still, the parents in Emanuel should not go to jail. They had agreed to withdraw their children from school and educate them at their own expense, unlike other Beit Yaakov and “chinuch atzmai” schools that are partially funded by the government. It’s awful, but where will it end? There are hundreds of home-schooled children in Israel, and the government isn’t sending their parents to jail.
One of the fathers, who is of sephardic origin and has been found in contempt of court, spoke on the radio this morning. He plans to bring his month-old baby to jail with him and his wife. I don’t know who will be watching the other children. This will not make a pretty picture. While I’m not naive enough to believe that this isn’t a case of ethnic discrimination, the court has gone too far and this decision is sure to backfire.
Photo from Channel 10 via Jpost.
Update Sunday evening, June 20, 2010:
It seems a compromise has been reached. Both sides have agreed to arbitration (borrerut) by a Jerusalem rabbinic court, and the civil suit will be withdrawn. The girls will all learn together, and if there are any problems with specific girls, the rabbinic court will deal with it. This is what my husband heard on the news and Rafi confirmed it. The only links I have seen so far mention the withdrawal of the suit by the sephardi Lalom, but the bigger news is the huge concession on the part of the chasidim. G-d willing, I’ll post links tomorrow.
Let’s hope that there are no lasting negative effects on the children of Emanuel.
Related:
Principal Threatens Student with Social Isolation
Rafi left the following comment on the story of the principal from Beit Shemesh who threatened a student with social isolation:
It is sad that this is happening, and I don’t understand why the parents insist on sending the kid to this school that doesn’t want her. Whatever the reason is, right or wrong, why not just send to another school? There are so many, why davka (specifically) the one that refuses to take you?
I don’t blame the kid, and the school’s behavior is revolting, but some blame must be laid at the feet of the parents as well. Maybe it really is not the right school for this kid and they are simply insisting for stupid reasons.
Parents have all kinds of reasons to send to a particular school. The argument—that parents should not send a child to a school where she is not wanted—must be rejected out of hand. If we accepted this logic then American public schools would still be segregated. Children with physical and mental disabilities would never go to a school with “normal” children. And so on and so on.
Let’s give these parents the benefit of the doubt and assume they considered all their options. Let us also assume they are prepared to give her the emotional support she needs to deal with the situation. After all, who is to say she wouldn’t face a similar attitude in any haredi school she tries to attend? From what I recall of the story, the girl was rejected from several schools. This one is her neighborhood school, which is why it was instructed to take her. Perhaps the parents don’t want to make her travel.
Even if my assumptions are incorrect, what about the next child who receives an unjust rejection? Should her parents also slink away and find another school?
Accusing parents of harming their children, making trouble, or not knowing their place, are classic methods of diverting attention from the issue at hand. Note how the principal blames the mother for the whole situation, including the strike, and asks twice, “What kind of mother [are you]?”
Anything is “kosher” as long as it gets parents to back off.
Twitter links powered by Tweet This v1.7, a WordPress plugin for Twitter.
