Letter Number Two

[onionsoupmix]

Dear Mom,

I remember looking at the faded photographs too. I remember seeing the bearded rabbi and his pious wife and being amazed that they were related to me. I remember thinking that they looked peaceful and holy and that I should memorize every wrinkle on their smiling faces.

I also remember you were so happy when you found out we were

Comments

[anonymous]

I disagree. First of all, something like a quarter of the girls in the "Ashkenazi" school were Sephardi, and there were Ashkenazi girls in the "Sephardi" school. Sephardi and Ashkenazi parents went to jail together over this. I think this clearly points to the fact that the disagreement was religious rather than racial. Secondly, I believe reasonable people would want to send their children to a school where "everyone is the same" to a certain degree. One can disagree about what that degree (and as someone who obviously uses the internet, text messaging, etc I disagree with their level), but I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with my children going to school with non-Jews or people who weren't shomer shabbos, for example. Finally, reasonable people can decide to go to jail for their beliefs, even if they have small children at home. I'm not saying that I would make that choice. But what if it was the other way around, and the parents who went to jail were African Americans fighting for integration or civil rights in the 60s

[tesyaa]

The comparison to MLK is offensive. In any event, I don't think there would be as much outcry if the school wasn't state funded. Not that I think anyone should be a racist, but if you're going to be racist, be racist on your own dime.

So idiotic

[thehedyot]

This is the most absurd comparison I've ever heard, but it only highlights the point that Onionsoupmix makes. MLK and others like him were willing to suffer and be jailed in order to fight AGAINST racism and prejudice. But these disgusting chareidim have chosen to be jailed in order to defend their right to PROMOTE racism, or if you insist that it's not a racial issue, plain old prejudice.

What those leaders taught their children was that one must sometimes make sacrifices for justice. These parents are teaching their kids that they must sacrifice to maintain walls of hate.

[onionsoupmix]

I think this clearly points to the fact that the disagreement was religious rather than racial. So what? This is also pretty horrible. How would I look if I decided that I don't want my children going to school with anyone whose parent has a beard? Or keeps shabbos? Or eats cholov yisroel? I'd be called an anti-semite, at best. This is the same thing.

Secondly, I believe reasonable people would want to send their children to a school where "everyone is the same" to a certain degree. One can disagree about what that degree (and as someone who obviously uses the internet, text messaging, etc I disagree with their level), but I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with my children going to school with non-Jews or people who weren't shomer shabbos, for exampleThis is a lack of confidence in yourself as a parent. Do you really think that your parental influence is so limited that a child who is not shomer shabbos in your kid's room will make your kid go off the derech? If the our children are only able to appreciate the beauty of Judaism

[fetteredwolf]

I'm very familiar with schools like this because I was one of the people rejected from them, and what you are saying is just not true. The standards they set to get into the "maslul chasidi" are not just "be charedi". They also require your entire extended family to be charedi, to their specifications, and that you have the right "protekzia" from the right rabbis. If you don't study in the right kollel, forget about your kids being accepted to the right schools. (Or sections of the schools.)
And oddly enough, a majority of the people who are very religious yet couldn't get into the "chasidi" are Sephardi, creating a very clear, skin-color-based, division.
The saga of acceptance is one of the reasons I'm not Charedi today, yet I have to say that baruch Hashem it all worked out. I'm much happier being a PhD student at MIT than I would have been if I went to the school I wanted to go to back in high school.