A Haredi girls’ seminary in Jerusalem is facing backlash for discriminating against Sephardi Jews [Getty]
A leading Haredi girls’ seminary in Jerusalem is setting up a separate educational track for students from a Sephardi background.
Beit Yaakov Darchei Rachel, a high school and post-secondary institution for ultra-Orthodox young women, reportedly created the separate programme after the municipality required it to admit Sephardi applicants who had previously been denied placement, according to Israel’s Channel 13.
The school’s director Rabbi Yechiel Michel Mendelsohn decided to separate the new students rather than fully integrate them into existing classes.
Students will reportedly have to enter the new classes through a distinct entrance, sparing condemnation from rights advocates and lawmakers.
Sephardi Jews originate from the Middle East and North Africa.
The move comes after around 440 girls were initially left without a seminary placement this academic year in Jerusalem’s Haredi education system, with 73 per cent of them Sephardi.
Only 22 per cent of seminary students in Jerusalem are of Sephardi background, the broadcaster reported.
In response, the Jerusalem municipality intervened to assign students directly to schools and ordered seminaries to accept them. However, leading Ashkenazi rabbis reportedly pushed back.
Rabbi Dov Lando, a senior figure in the Lithuanian Haredi community, held an emergency meeting last month instructing principals not to comply with the directive, Hebrew media said.
A spokesperson for the Jerusalem Municipality said that it was unaware of any segregated programme at Darchei Rachel, adding that all previously unplaced students had now been enrolled.
In 2009, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled against an ultra-Orthodox school in the occupied West Bank, ordering it to end discriminatory practices against Sephardi girls.
Parents and advocacy groups say racism against Mizrahi and Sephardi families remains deeply entrenched in many Ashkenazi-run schools.
In a statement to Channel 13, the Education Ministry said: “Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity is fundamentally wrong.”
Several opposition lawmakers have requested an emergency meeting of the Education Committee. Labour MK Naama Lazimi announced that the hearing will take place on 21 July, writing on X: “We must not allow this blatant ethnic discrimination to pass without accountability.”
In occupied East Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinian children continue to be denied education after Israel ordered the closure of six UN-run schools on 8 May. Israeli police shut down six schools run by the UNRWA in Shu’fat refugee camp and neighbourhoods of Silwan, Wadi al-Joz, and Sur Baher, citing the lack of permits.
Al Quds University remains the largest and the only Palestinian institution operating in Jerusalem, despite continued deadly Israeli aggression and pressure to leave the city. Palestinian students also continue to face increased employment and transportation challenges and discrimination.
