Jerusalem – Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar has issued a letter asking heads of religious schools not to discriminate children of Ethiopian descent, who wish to apply to their respective educational institutions.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
In his statement, Rabbi Amar noted that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Shas’ spiritual leader, approved his plea. The letter was also posted on Shas’ website.
Rabbi Amar’s letter states that “our sages of blessed memory have taught us that the land of Israel is redeemed in agony, it is true that the difficulties of aliyah are immense.
“One of the more immense difficulties is the feeling of discrimination, especially in children’s educational institutes,” he emphasized. “Apart from the grief it causes in the parents, it affects the children’s soul, which can cause bitterness.”
Rabbi Amar’s appeal came after he was presented with several examples of children being discriminated against by schools, based on the color of their skin.
In the spirit of the upcoming Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Amar has called the heads of the various religious schools to “search inside their souls”.
“Sadly, we hear about more and more cases in which schools reject children based on the color of thier skin, though citing a different reasons… A thousand excuses, no matter how well written or said, cannot change the simple truth, and will not helo anyone during judgment day,” said Amar.
“If they are weak, we must make them stronger through their studies. Please, do not sin against the child, because from each child a new world will rise. Our sages said ‘care for sons of the poor who the will read the Torah, for you will not know who will succeed.'”
MK Mazor Bahaina (Shas), said he hoped Rabbi Amar’s letter will end the what he called “blatant racism” and the shameful phenomenon of discriminating children based on their background.
Bahaina stressed that his comments were not directed at the heads of Ashkenazi institutes, since “we have the same difficulties with them, as everyone else… I don’t expect Ethiopians to be treated better than those of Moroccan decent,” he added, noting that his appeal is more directed at the Sephardi institutes, which are the subject of the majority of the complaints he receives.
The racism from Sephardi institues, according to Bahaina is the most infuriating. “Some places won’t accept you even if you did go through all the approved conversion channels. We are talking about the same people who were themselves mistreated and know something about discrimination.”
Bahaina hopes that Rabbi Amar’s letter, which is co signed by Shas’ spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, will “bring around the soldiers to follow their orders and not rebel against them,” referring to educational institutes who follow instruction from their spiritual leaders.
Bahaina hopes that the letter will end the discrimination, though he says that he will “continue to fight the phenomenon if it persists”.
Bahaina quoted the law, which states that “any educational institute that discriminates a person based on their background or skin color can be immediately closed down.
“We have no other Torah. We grew up on it for thousands of years, and a third of the Ethiopian community goes to religious schools. We will do all that we can, within the law, to make the institutions realize that it’s a mistake which will cost them dearly”.
And while they’re at it, how about an end to the discrimination against the children of baalei teshuva?
Yeah, and how about an end to discriminating against Jews of North African descent? Ad Matai?
I hope he’s talking only about those who have converted, not those who rely on legends about their people being originally from Shevet Don. The ones who converted properly, and were mekabel mitzvos before a beis din, are of course yidden like anyone else.
And what about the discrimination against Sephardi children by the Ashkenazim/Chareidim!
“not those who rely on legends about their people being originally from Shevet Don”
IIRC, that isn’t a legend, that was the psak halachah of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.
Maybe then sfardim should take the ethiopians? BTW, same goes for the Sefardim trying to get into Ashkenazi institutions. You can choose to serve in Israeli army instead of learning in a Yeshiva. You can spend your money on beautifully built community centers and white BMW’s for your leaders instead of melamdim’s salaries. It’s your business, but then don’t complain about admissions. You can’t have it both ways.
9:03 You are so way out of touch, probably hopeless
to Milhouse, you wrote —“I hope he’s talking only about those who have converted, not those who rely on legends about their people being originally from Shevet Don. The ones who converted properly, and were mekabel mitzvos before a beis din, are of course yidden like anyone else”—
You seem to think highly of yourself. This issue was debated by Many Gedolim , some were Posek this way and some that. There are no legends only Halachik problems. You are probably speaking out of lack of knowledge, so here are some details. It is almost certain that their ancestors are from Shevet Dan. The Ridvaz wrote to their communities Halacha hundreds of years ago. Till a few hundred years ago, they had a strong religious Jewish Kingdom. Then the Christian Ethiopians took over, giving them lots of trouble, and a ongoing war. Believe it or not, there were laws against Jews there as well, for example Jews were not allowed to own property.
It was during this time that they lost a lot of their culture and strength in religion, and thus major issues in their Gittin and Kiddushin, as well as many forced conversions to Chistianity. That is the main discussion regarding their status.
Gotta run now, but I can fill you in with some details later.
anon 9:03,
You very much remind me of the Seperate but-equal laws in the U.S. In what exactly do you differ from the KKK?
Don’t you want the Bes Hamikdash back?
“9:03 You are so way out of touch, probably hopeless”
Why?
“9:03 You are so way out of touch, probably hopeless”
–Why?—
Here is a little bit why, for starters. The issue with Ashkenazim in Israel is like this: (in Israel only) They hate Sepharadim. Period. They won’t accept them to Preschools, into Neighborhoods, look down at them and despise them. This is mainly the cause of the Zionist’s attitude and the left of Israel towards the Sephardic Jews when they First arrived in Israel.
If a Sepharadi wants to get into a Ashkenazi Yeshiva and he is up to par, there is no Jewish excuse not to accept him. Yes his parents are not blond, he prays diferently and likes different foods, but in Judaism that doesn’t matter. There is no Reason to have to open seperate Yeshivot for different backgounds, maybe open a school for Berlin Descendents, Frankfurt Descendants, warsaw Descendents etc?
Your comment about BMW is again out of touch, Chacham Ovadia Yosef’s car is donated by BMW itself, and renewed every 3 Years. And Yes the Sepharadim have a much higher respect for Rabbis, and that should be a good thing. It seems that this concept was lost in the many persecutions in Europe.
The Sepharadim have many of their own Schools, many of them very fine. But here is the problem, the society has caused such a situation that makes you feel third class if you go to a Sephardic Yeshiva. This causes the Sephardic boys to try all they can to get into an Ashkenazic Yeshiva, and only the ones that failed go to Sephardic ones. This obviously leaves them A bit on a lower level.
As for what you mentioned–You can spend your money on beautifully built community centers and white BMW’s for your leaders instead of melamdim’s salaries.–
Again way off. Did you know that 75% of the Ashkenazi Yeshivot in Israeli are Supported by Sephardic donors? Living in Brooklyn I see plenty of Ashkenzi Rosh Yeshivas sucking up to Sepharadim for money but interestingly the opposite is very rare. Much of this money I feel is stolen money, as most would never give a dime if they only knew the attitude of the Ashkenazim in these same Yeshivot.
Another point, the Ashkezazim, have created a society where only their style of learning is considered really learning, all else is worthless in their eyes. This causes the Sepharadim to feel less worthy and for some reason actually believe this and try to imitate their cousins from Germany. Why? I’m not sure, but very possible. that it’s caused by different personalities.
“Just thinking”, these are all legends; they were never Jewish, they’re not from shevet Don. The Radbaz didn’t write to them, he just wrote about a slave that was purchased in the market who claimed to be from them, and all he had to go on were the same legends, for which there is no evidence at all. Eldad Hadani was a Karaite fabrication. These people have no Jewish traditions that are not found in the Christian scriptures; they are simply Christians who stopped believing in the New Testament. Their own story of their origins doesn’t mention Shevet Don – they claim to be descended from a son that Shlomo Hamelech supposedly had with Malkas Shvo; in the Tanach there’s not even a hint that anything happened between them, let alone that they had a son!
“Millhouse”
you can see some info. here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews,
though that’s obviouly not so accurate, but for staters.
I am talking more of the Rabbinic View then the Scientific View. I have seen in many earlier sources reference to the Ethiopian, take this for example, in the debate between Yehoshua Allorki and an apostale, brought down in Otzar Vikuchim of J D. Eisenstein, he mentions as a fact that there are Jewish Kingdoms in Ethiopia. He mentions it just to prove a point, and it is clear that it was known as a fact then. this is was written in the early 1400s.
A very well researched book on their traditions and ancestry by the Chief Rabbi of Netanya, Harav Shelush. He backs this by many many Rabbinic sources. It is a great book, though I don’t have it in front of me.
As for the Shevet Dan part, that is definetely arguable, but keep in mind we don’t either know what shevet we came from, so their lack of certainty is no matter.
I have spoken to many an Ethiopian from the old generation and it seems, they kept almost all the Mitzvot of the Torah. How do you explain their holiday commemorating the divorcing of non-Jewish wives, it is something we don’t even have, being mentioned only in Ezra?
It is silly to argue this, as many great people have wrote and debated this, to dismiss a whole side of the argument as a legend, is quite foolish
Is it too hard to say that they too are Jews? Be kind.
Millhouse, have you seen the Ridbaz? I have seen it many years ago. When the Falashas started arriving in Eretz Yisroel, the Gedolai Yisroel debated this issue. There is a Teshuvah from Reb Moshe on this. A historical fact is that 150-250 years ago many of them died al kiddush HaShem not wanting to convert to Christianity. That in by itself requires us to treat them with kid gloves. Especially those who have gone through “giyur lechumrah” we owe it to them and HaShem to be mekayem the posuk “veohavtem ess hager” you should love the convert. It hurts me to hear that they are discriminated in Eretz Yisroel, it is Elul almost Slichuss, so let’s be mekabel on us to love Falashas, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Chasiddim, Litvakes, Polishe, Ungarishe, and Yekes. All our gedolai Yisroel have said, that this is the reason we are still in golus. Ve-ohavto lera-acho komocho, plain and simple.