Are some religious Jews bigoted against 'people of color'? Is it wide spread? Is it endemic and even institutionalized? I think the answer is clearly, yes... to all of the above. And the people of color they are prejudiced against are fellow Jews. Not secular Jews which would be bad enough, but Orthodox Jews. I am talking about Jews who tend to be a bit darker in their skin coloring because of their ethnicity, like certain Sephardim or Yemenites. Consider this article by Tali Farkash as published on Ynet:
On Shabbat I overheard a children’s conversation that I wished I had not. I passed by a Hasidic synagogue, whose name I won’t mention to avoid embarrassing it, when I overheard an honest conversation between two boys. They sat on the steps at the entrance to the building when the younger one, a cute boy with curly sidelocks and an innocent expression, turned to the older boy and asked him a question that threw me off balance: “Tell me, what are Yemenites?” The second boy, without thinking for even a second, answered: “Yemenites are worse than Sephardim, because they are browner”.
Pretty bad.
Ms.Farkash, a young Charedi woman, then goes on to tell us about her experiences growing up and attending Charedi Beis Yaakov schools. The impact such racist attitudes must be devastating on a young person who is just trying to be a part of the community. The sense they get from being looked at in this condescending way is that they can never quite be as beautiful as a ‘white’ girl. Often the prejudice that accompanies darker skin is that such people are considered of inferior intelligence. Can anyone imagine growing up in an environment where the unspoken attitude about a fellow classmate is that they are both ugly and stupid and are considered social outcasts?
Ms. Farkash points out it that it isn't only her peers that look down at Jewish ’people of color’. It is even adults who should know better: 'In the strictly-Orthodox world there are mature, educated people, rabbis and community leaders that think exactly this way.'
And what makes this worse is that that there is a severe case of denial about it. And it is a conscious denial. Whenever challenged about it, there is almost always an ‘explanation’ for the discrimination. For example in questions about setting a Shidach between a ‘white’ and a ‘person of color’ you can get excuses like, “It is a question of a couple’s compatibility in food and customs”.
There is always a reason given, but it is never the real reason which I believe is plain old fashioned bigotry.
As is the case with almost all bigotry it is usually the result of ignorance which can klead to insensitive and stupid remarks As in the following:
Today when I hear about a talented rabbinical judge who took a long time to become part of the system because “unfortunately” he was born to a Sephardi mother and Ashkenazi father- I go back in time. When a wicked woman, sorry but I have no other definition for her, who is not aware of my “brown” genes tells me about her new neighbors, and how relieved she is that “despite their ethnicity” they are neat and well-kept, I politely smile on the outside and want to throw up on the inside.
Lest anyone say that this young woman’s experiences are an anomally and that there is no prejudice on an institutional level, read this. Here’s an excerpt:
Last year, 221 pre-school girls, including Rachel, applied for the 1st grade at Beit Yaakov. Of the 93 Ashkenazi girls who applied, 90 were accepted (97 percent), while of the 130 Sephardic girls who applied, only 70 got in (54 percent).
How can people who are supposed to be Mamleches Kohanim V'Goy Kadosh be so stupid, insensitive, and bigoted? Is it going to take the secular Israeli courts to end it, or are we going to end it ourselves? I think the answer should be pretty clear.
