I was not happy when I read this story:
It was recently discovered that four Ethiopian girls enrolled in Lamerchav Elementary School are learning in complete isolation from their peers.
They study in separate classrooms, have their own recess time and are even reportedly given daily cab fare so as not to ride home on the bus with other students.
I’m glad the Israeli media put a spotlight on this ugly case. Things like this should never happen, especially to children. The fact it took place at a religious school is another ridiculous aspect. What God are they worshiping there?
Idiots.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
The article doesn’t say what was going on there.
A few assumptions:
1. The girls are Ethiopian Jews who follow different religious traditions and hence are schooled differently.
2. The girls are children of immigrants and have a different curiculum. Perhaps they are learning Hebrew?
3. The girls are not (yet) Jewish and attend conversion classes.
4. The girls are currently tought in Amharic.
What reason is there to assume racism?
Andrew, none of the above are correct, I’m afraid. They know Hebrew (though their parents don’t know it well), were supposed to receive the exact same curriculum as the rest of the students, and were kept in a separate class (according to an interview with a school management member on Hebrew Ynet) because the school board wasn’t satisfied with their religious background(this is an elitist private school), and with their level of education (again, elitist private school). The prevalent reasoning was to keep the four girls isolated from the rest to make sure that they don’t cause any harm to the religious upbringing and high study standards of the other students. The fact that the students were also ‘forced’ on the school by City Hall was also mentioned, and that these students wouldn’t have been normally accepted into the school. They should have been grateful for even entering the school, as the man put it.
In short, it was total elitist racist BS. The four girls were treated as a burden from the start. The Ministry of Education found that the girls’ studies were made worse by the special separate class (as expected), City Hall has stated that any private school that doesn’t fully integrate Ethiopian students can forget about the extra funding that City Hall gives, and Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-religious Shas party stated quite clearly that this affair is blatantly racist in nature.
The case was a disgrace, nothing more. I can tell you as someone who went through the conversion process (mum’s mum wasn’t Jewish, and we were fairly ignorant of the Jewish faith at the time as it is) that being part of a religious community is an integral part of the process. This school, if anything, was *preventing* the girls from having such a community in order to ‘protect’ it. Hell, the Chief Rabbinate asked that Ethiopian students be directed to religious schools for just that reason, and to prevent the uncertainty that their parents were viewed with (the Ethiopian Jewish community has been totally isolated for over 2300 years, which led to some uncertainty as to whether they could be Jews without ever hearing that the Babylonian exile ever ended, and without knowing anything about 400 very important years for Jews and Judaism. Some catching-up is in order, at the very least).
I will give the school the following though: The special cab was funded by city hall as part of its attempt to give extra support to the Ethiopian immigrant community, it just didn’t quite work as planned with this particular school, to say the least. The parents of the girls were called separately because of their extremely limited Hebrew (or so the school claims), but I find that excuse questionable, and suspect that the school board didn’t want the parents to mingle with the parents of the other kids. An Amhari-speaking school representative or translator can be supplied just as easily in the main gathering as he can be in a special separate one. The school also claims that recess time was not separate, which I am inclined to believe. The school largely operated with what I’d call an ‘afterthought segregation’, in that the separate class was supposedly meant to help prepare the girls for the school’s norms, the separate parental gathering was supposedly because the school saw no benefit for parents that don’t speak any Hebrew to attend the main gathering and so on… But there was no way of calling it anything other than what it was with separate recess time.
The only good thing about this story is that it has caused a huge outcry. Andrew, unfortunately the reason for assuming racism here is that that is precisely what it was. It’s also, most likely, not the only case, and other examples of unfair treatment of Ethiopians have been coming to light over recent days and warranted a full discussion in the Knesset. Hopefully, the fact that this is now out in the open will prompt a proper solution to a problem that has, up until now, mostly been swept under the carpet.
My experience with a good part of our religious community is that they harbor all kinds of elitist and particularist perjudices. Many are heavily into family pedigrees etc. They are not just nasty to blacks (potentially), but to whomever does not meet their particular brand of pedigree.
The good news is that they were called on the carpet and put to shame as they should be.
Once again…at least there are mechanisms available to correct some of this kind of thing. But let’s face it…every group does some version of this kind of crap.
Here..Mahmood makes my point even better:
“Mona, gender apartheid is only one of many heinous discriminatory practices in the magic kingdom: religious, tribal, sectarian, racial and many other prejudices do exist and are propagated and even encouraged by religious clerics the efforts of whom are condoned by the ruling family.”
But no mechanisms
I stand corrected.
Utterly disgusting and shameful. As Howie said, the particularly religious Jews tend to be xenophobic and arrogant; the ultra-religious Jews tend to be much, much worse. Most groups have elitist tendencies… but this case makes me feel ashamed, and I am no closer to their community than these Ethiopian girls.
*shrug* The behavior of this school wouldn’t have been tolerated in most religious and ultra-religious schools that I know, particularly the large Sephardic school network that Shas supports, or those supported by the philantrope Levi Leviev. They have strict demands of the kids, often even of the parents, but this sort of behavior towards students… No, this is simply despicable. All religious schools worldwide have special religious requirements of the students, but these girls were never given a chance to fit in to the school norm.
you know, RK
from your comment it now looks like this … the City Hall has forced four ethiopian girls on an elitist school whose studies are geared for children with a strong background probably coming from educated middle class and high class families .. the school had no prior experience in integrating this kind of students …
judging by the fact that their parents don’t even speak hebrew, the girls were in no way prepared for the intensity of studies .. in an attempt to close the gap and to allow the girls to join the class later the school has set up of a special ulpan for the girls .,.. and the school even provided them with a special cab to bring them home (other students were probably picked up by the parents after classes)
in short instead of investigating how exactly the City Hall got this brilliant idea to enlist the four poor girls in such a school there followed a huge carnival of our martin-luter-kings and mahatma-gandhis … as nizo once said about me - like a shark he smells the blood … i can say this about out mahatmas too - like a fly they smell the shit
That may be, Nobody, but from what I gather this ‘ulpan’ (ulpan - commonly refers to language studies for immigrants, may refer to other catch-up classes) was a bit *too* lengthy, and the other kids had a bus to take them home. This is an elitist school, but not a rich kid school. As for the parents, back when I was in a snobby school in Ra’anana (*not* a pleasant experience) my parents came with everyone else, regardless of their language skills.
City Hall’s logic was simple, I suspect - school gets extra funding, school should pitch in when it comes to integrating Ethiopian kids, because the vast majority go to religious schools and there aren’t that many in the municipality.
That may be, Nobody, but from what I gather this ‘ulpan’ (ulpan - commonly refers to language studies for immigrants, may refer to other catch-up classes) was a bit *too* lengthy, and the other kids had a bus to take them home. This is an elitist school, but not a rich kid school. As for the parents, back when I was in a snobby school in Ra’anana (*not* a pleasant experience) my parents came with everyone else, regardless of their language skills.
well … i dont know if it’s enough to pass such a quick judgement … incidentally do you know if the school elaborated on what exactly the girls were lacking in skills that they had to be given a separate teaching in that ulpan …
as to your school and parents .. well, i bet your parents started speaking a decent hebrew on their second or third year in israel … probably not the situation with the parents of these girls…
No, the school did not elaborate on that. In fact, even the interview in question was done anonymously, as the school has issued no official statement whatsoever.
As for my parents, my father worked as a floor cleaner, and my mother as a vegetable packer in a factory, until around my fifth year in school. This was purely a matter of language, as both came from the Soviet Union with engineering degrees. My father still has only barely passable Hebrew, after living here for over seventeen years.
As for what was the matter regarding the parents of these girls, I’m not all that inclined to assume that they knew no Hebrew at all. These were young parents, who probably had their own ulpan studies. I think their lack of language skills was simply conveniently assumed.
As for my parents, my father worked as a floor cleaner, and my mother as a vegetable packer in a factory, until around my fifth year in school. This was purely a matter of language, as both came from the Soviet Union with engineering degrees. My father still has only barely passable Hebrew, after living here for over seventeen years.
really ?? i am surprised to hear this … i was somehow sure that your mom is a sort of eshet hail, one that can get along in the middle of a desert .. i dont remember how i have reached this conclusion … probably something in your comments ..
as to the school it’s also surprising .. you mean they did not give any explanations ???
Heh, I think that discussion we had about women in ultra-Orthodox communities was what gave the wrong impression. As for the school, they didn’t give any official explanation as far as I know.
no .. i think it was when we were talking about drugs and parties … LOOOL
Have you been mixing your ADHD medicine with anything, Nobody?
no … i dont mix it with anything .. because i dont take my adhd medication .. i only take this anything else
but dont you remember ??? i think it was wahhabite russia .. when you said that your mom is a bit like me … she had a course in political science at the uni .. instead she was partying all the time .. then she would go to exams and pass without having ever opened a book
Yeah, now I remember. But all that meant was that she could feed the teachers the predictable Communist BS. Having a father who was a social democrat with a sense of humor probably prepared her quite well.
well.. i can only hope that at least now your mom is doing fine and has a decent job
Nah, mom never managed to get a job in her profession. She took some programming courses, but that didn’t help much either. So when dad found a job in Tadiran’s telecomm department (Tadiran had one back then) that paid five times the amount they earned combined in their crap jobs, she became a housewife.
So when dad found a job in Tadiran’s telecomm department (Tadiran had one back then) that paid five times the amount they earned combined in their crap jobs, she became a housewife.
oh .. it’s even better than having a decent job .. i hope that one day i will finally start taking my adhd medication, get my acts together and become a houseman too ..
Nobody -
Every man’s dream…
There’s this guy in Israel, goes by the name of Goel. He’s got a cultist arrangement thing - he has 70+ wives who believe he’s the Messiah or somesuch. So they work and give all their money to him; he just fucks them and gets stoned all day long. Oh, and plays computer games with his hordes of children.
i know many people, rakun, who seems to have started implementing this solution but they could not move beyond the first stage, means the first wife … some claim that even one wife is more than they can handle and after children come most of them turned into a mere shadow of themselves …. though i do agree that the original concept is absolutely brilliant
Raccoon you’re joking about this Goel guy right? Damn!
Roman, interesting story man.
As for the case, it’s utterly disgusting but the fact that the Israeli media blasted the spotlight on it says a lot so the whole spectacle is ultimately a good thing.
Drima -
I am dead serious. He was a frequent customer of my best friend - buying xboxes and games and such
It’s good to be the Messiah!
Raccoon - he’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy
BTW - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3482551,00.html
Although I still think that this could have been handled much better - by the school and by the city in general - without the need to invoke even accusations of racism.
RK
now the school responds to the accusations
In a letter sent to the Petach Tikva municipality, principal Avraham Garnevitch explained that the school’s administration chose not respond to the publications in the media, “because the passionate attacks left no room for real and logical explanations.
“Defending oneself and providing answers in the midst of a lynch campaign while nobody is interested in hearing out the facts, is completely useless,” he wrote.
In the letter, Garnevitch stressed that the school chooses its students based on religious criteria, while the ethnic background plays no role in the selection process. He noted that about half of the school’s students were of Sephardic background.
Referring to the affair involving the Ethiopian girls, Garnevitch explained that they were put in a separate classroom in a bid to help them advance in their studies, and particularly improve their reading and writing skills, before they could join their homeroom class.
Source
I’m certainly more willing to consider your theory now, Nobody. Perhaps this *was* blown out of proportions (that wouldn’t be that surprising). Still, I’m not left with the feeling that the school acted entirely properly here.
i think it’s all very predictable … israeli self criticism has since a while turned from being constructive into self destructive … it no longer serves any other function but demoralizing and confusing the public … the media and blogsphere are packed with preying mahatma-gandhis who think that by constantly inciting the already neurotic public they exercise some spiritual function of making the world a better place …
the coverage of the economic situation is a good example .. we have a very strong economy that’s doing exceptionally well .. we have some very concentrated social problems that need pinpointed technical solutions … instead the media is constantly trying to create the impression as if anything is falling apart .. and then of course the solution is offered, some sweeping solution like: market economy is no good, we need to go back to the days of mapai …
criticism is pointless if it does not know to be specific … it becomes self destructive if it does not allow the society to capitalize on achievements while addressing shortcomings with precision … but this is exactly what’s happening … the media and intellectual circles have turned themselves into a machine for generating mass hysterias … the latest scandal is a good example of just this…
I think RK’s earlier explanation is still more likely to be true than Nobody’s. I remember that there were huge problems for mizrahim getting into some of these schools. The Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox don’t want their kids to be around mizrahim and Ethiopians, it’s very simple. With the Ethiopians there is an added factor, as some of them are considered by the ultra-Orthodox to be converts, and most of them do not want their kids to marry or be around converts.
you know what makes me sad?all jews i mean white one they were asulted ,killed and burned etc for the last million years. now they are racist.it is realy funny,most western European they call them dog, for God sacke how in the world almost some nation was abused and threat like dog ? today racist by those who dosent have power.
i’m christian but sometimes i think like this Israeles they need more like Hiteler.
Leave a Comment