The Immanuel Beit Yaakov controversy concerns the founding of a Hasidic girls' school in the Israeli settlement of Immanuel in September 2007.
The Hasidic school was founded and attended by members of both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities, with Rav Shimon Ba'adani as final Rabbinic authority. The Hasidic school was sued by Yoav Lallum, who does not reside in Immanuel, and his group "Noar KeHalacha", with assistance from the New Israel FundIn response, Lallum replied that the donation was received with the approval of the association's rabbis, and that "he will continue to act in accordance with the rabbis' instructions until the abuse that ultra-Orthodox Jews experthe Supreme Courtience when they enroll their children in an ultra-Orthodox educational institution." On another occasion he replied that this was due to an unfortunate lack of knowledge and the association disengaged from the fund as soon as the "Im Tirtzu" report on the fund was revealed. and the "Tmura" and "Achoti" organizations; the allegation—that this was solely an ethnic split between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. Rabbi Shimon Baadani, is the spiritual leader of the Yemenite community in Emanuel, all of whose daughters study the Hassidic class at 2010, most of whom are of Ashkenazi descent.
In a 2009 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, a claim was accepted regarding separation on the basis of origin between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi students at the Beit Yaakov girls' elementary school in Emanuel. Mizrahi students who studied with them refrained from sending their daughters to school so that they would not study with the rest of the Mizrahi students. There were huge demonstrations in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. A compromise reached between the parties led to the parents' release from prison, and with the approval of the Ministry of Education, a separate Hassidic school was opened for girls, which the state and local council prevented from budgeting That they meet the conditions of admission to the institution.
In June 2010, the fathers of the girls who attend the Hasidic school, one third of whom are Sephardi, were jailed by the Israeli Supreme Court for contempt of court. They were released before the end of their sentence when large-scale protests against what was alleged to be an inhumane and illegal incarceration swept the country. Secular journalist Nahum Barnea described the court decision as one "made not from the heart, nor from the head, but rather from the belly".
The Sephardi parents of the Hasidic school had presented an emergency appeal to appear before the Supreme Court. They point out that every family was invited to apply. Invitation to apply to either the original or Hasidic Beit Yaakov Their request to appear before the court was denied.
The court has since approved a separate school for the Haredi girls in the 2010–2011 academic year, albeit without funding.
Incident
Background Over the years, complaints have been received by the Public Complaints Commission, the Knesset Education Committee, and organizations such as the Association for Civil Rights and the Youth Proper Association, for discrimination against students from the Eastern community in ultra-Orthodox educational institutions. These complaints mostly referred to seminars, in which it was argued that there was a pre-determined quota by the school, which limited the number of students from Eastern denominations who could be admitted to it. Among other things, it was claimed that the discrimination was legitimized following the decision of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, who set a quota that requires seminary directors to accept Spanish students at least 30% every year, for affirmative action. And the percentage of students from the East did not exceed this percentage.
The Immanuel Beit Yaakov hosts a population of female students from both Ashkenazi and Sephardic schools of Judaism, with many of the parents of the Ashkenazi students coming from the Slonim Hasidic group.
Slonim educational institutions are open to all who agree to abide by their school by-laws.
In the fall of 2007 two new schools were founded: the Beis Yaakov Chasidi and Ohel Rachel VeLeah. The Beis Yaakov Chasidi consisted of first through eighth grades, and was placed in the vacated part of the original Beis Yaakov that had housed the high school until the high school got its own building in 2004. The Ohel Rachel and Leah, a Shas-Mayan Sephardic school, was located on the first floor of this new high school, had a first grade in 2007 (see Bass report, page 6 paragraph 12), becoming a fully graded school in 2009.
Rav Shimon Ba'adani of Bnei Brak was appointed as final Rabbinic authority of the Beis Yaakov Chasidi. In October 2007 he issued a letter that was placed in every mailbox in Immanuel forbidding the bringing of grievances to the media or secular courts. Rabbi Bar Lev of Immanuel states, "Ministers Pinchasi and Margi of the Shas party were concerned about reports in the media about alleged discrimination. As soon as they saw that Rav Ba'adani was the arbitrator of the school, they were satisfied with the situation and withdrew their investigation."
Media sources alleged that the founding of the Chassidic Beit Yaakov was solely an ethnic split. In Haaretz, from 2007 until after the fathers were jailed, nearly 30% of whom were Sephardic, the reports continued that this was solely an ethnic split.
Only after Haaretz conducted a direct interview with one of the imprisoned fathers, an article in June 2010 concedes: "a third of the group ... are Sephardic themselves."Yair Ettinger, Imprisoned Immanuel Father: 'Our Children Will Study This in History Books' Haaretz 22 June 2010
Supreme Court documents alleged that this was solely an ethnic split.Supreme Court document 6 August 2009 Again, there was no trial, no cross examining the defendants or plaintiffs.
The New Israel Fund, which assisted the prosecution, claimed on its website and that of its grantee organizations, that this was solely an ethnic split: "The students have been physically separated within this school based solely on ethnicity."
Allegations in the media arose in 2007 about the physical separation of the new school from the old. Attorney Mordechai Bass notes on page 7 of his fifteen-page report: "The yard surrounds the school from four directions, and the girls (from both schools) are able to see and play with each other. The (media) portrayal of two completely separate sections of the school yard ... is not true."
Allegedly, the Chassidic school built a fence in the play yard; cement walls in the corridor; using separate staff rooms; different dress codes; etc., essentially splitting the school in two.Ruling 1067/08, No'ar KaHalakha v. Education Ministry et al. , Judge Levy Article 2
The Chabad-Lubavitch girls' school was founded in the late 1990s. Many residents of Immanuel send their children to national-religious schools in the neighboring towns of Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, and Shavei Shomron; to Hasidic schools in Bnei Brak; to vocational schools in Petah Tikva, etc. Thus, there is a wide variety of choices in education for families who live in Emanuel.
Discrimination allegations
Before the Chasidi school was founded, outreach programs designed to get all the Beis Yaakov parents to take upon more strict observance, and thus circumvent the need for a new school, had been attempted.
Ethnic self-concept of the parents of the Chassidic school
When Yaakov Menken asked Rabbi Zaide (who is a member of the Slonimer Chassidic sect) about the ethnic composition of the Chassidic school, he responded, "... every time someone asks this question, I feel sick. Am I supposed to investigate whose parent is this or that?" He could not understand why anyone would have a problem with another child in the classroom that wasn't well-founded on grounds of religious standards.
At the end of the 2007 school year, construction work began on the Beit Yaakov school in Emanuel, which belongs to the independent education stream, which included plaster walls in the school corridors and the teachers' room, black fabrics covering the windows and separation fences in the yard. Separate facilities. The uniform was also changed to differentiate between the students of the two schools, and it was argued that the break hours were also adjusted so that the students from the two majors did not meet. The Hassidic major, most (73%) of Ashkenazi descent.The percentages are based on the hypothesis in the report written by attorney Bass Officially, the old school principal also served as the new school principal. In both majors, about 215 students studied, in grades 1-8.
In a later examination (by Mordechai Bass, as described below), it was found that the Independent Education Center ordered that the management of the two majors be shared, and that the pedagogical environment - including the teachers' room, curriculum, school hours and breaks - be shared by all students. The school, but these guidelines were not complied with.However, in a letter to the Ministry of Education dated September 23, 2007, the Independent Education Center confirmed that it knew about the separation process and refrained from taking practical action to prevent it.
Some of the parents of students of Mizrahi origin, who opposed the separation, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education in August 2007, stating that the separation was against an ethnic background and a general ethnic conflict in Emanuel, and that the separation discriminated against girls of Mizrahi origin. The parents' opposition was led by Ezra Gershi, who was later elected chairman of the council in Emanuel. MK Yaakov Margi, who then served as chairman of the Shas faction in the Knesset, also joined the appeal. Shlomit Amichai, to the independent education center to cancel the separation in the school and return the situation to its normal state within a limited time, with the warning that if the instruction is not carried out, the revocation of the school's license will be considered.
In a report submitted by Bass to the Ministry of Education on March 2, 2008, he described the chain of events against the background of the special social situation in Emanuel. In this speech and in the modesty of some of the school's students, this group of parents approached the independent education administration on the subject, which agreed to establish a separate department in the school, but opposed the establishment of a separate school, and demanded that the school administration be common to both departments. And the curriculum will be shared.According to the report, there was in fact a complete separation between the two majors, a separation that included the administration, the teachers' room, the uniform and the breaks in the yard. The report cites a letter from the Independent Education Administration stating that the actual separation was known to her, but she refrained from taking action to stop the separation.
On page 2 of the Bass report: "The percentage of Ashkenazi families in the original school is 23%, and in the new (Chasidi) school, 73%."(Footnote at bottom: "Such figures are not totally accurate—firstly, the schools do not note the ethnicity of their students in the registration—and This is a good thing! Secondly—this figure was ... partially based on the tenor of the family name, which can also be inaccurate.")