Dear S It is repulsive to discriminate against anyone because of their country of origin, ethnic group, etc. I hope I made no inference which may have led you or anyone else to believe that I have negative feelings towards Sephardim. I live with, pray with, learn with, work with Sephardim. Why not? They are wonderful Jews and the same descendants of Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaacov that I am. Hey, I even like Houmous! That was not my point. I was arguing against the misconception that the Ashkenazi pronounciation is in some way "wrong" or less acceptable. In fact, the Ashkenazi pronounciation of Hebrew has maintained more of the finer distinctions than the Sephardi one. Besides differentiating between 4 of the 6 Beged Kefet letters (whereas the Sephardi only distinguishes between 3, while the Yemenite does all 6), the Ashkenazi pronounciation has maintained a much clearer distinction in the vowels (Segol vs. Tzeirei, Komatz vs. Patach, etc.) than the Sephardi pronounciation. There seems to be support that the Sau was more of a Thau ("th") sound originally, which I can accept, but it certainly was not a "t" sound. Thus, if you want to write it as Beth, go for it, but don't argue against the validity of Beis and then tell me it should be a Bet.

Ashkenazis, who are nothing more than the descendants of Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 7th century, and don't have one drop of Isrealite blood in them, think that Separdic jews (real descendants of the Israelites) are not worthy of going to Ahskenazi schools? This is rich. What a "democracy". What a nation! Oh hear my words Israel! Thou art a wolf in sheep skins. Thou art a hate filled land of vipers. Whoa be unto thee! The time of the Judgement draws nigh! Wilst thou lose thou soul for the power of this world?

The Ben Ish Hai and Rav Ovadia amongst others have addressed these issues in their sefarim and you would do well to read them on the manner of pronounciation. The matter is not as you have inferred

and you people consider yourselves a light to the earth?

you seem to knowmuch about ancient hebrew phonology. as you have noticed from subsequent posts if is a touchy subject with some people. I had been taught that the current Israeli prnounciation was chosen because the Zainati family of Peekin . However I have also read that the Yemenites may have used a more authentic form. I have also heard that they may have been corrupted by arabic. Is it true that "vav" was a "w" sound? Can you direct me to any definitive books or sites?

THIS PROBLEM SOLVES ITSELF! THIS SCHOOL GETS NO MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT. HOW CAN YOU ASK THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO'S CHILDREN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER THE SCHOOL AND AT THE SAME TIME USE THEIR TAX MONEY TO REFUSE TO ACCEPT THEIR CHILDREN? SEE? IT IS AN EASY PROBLREM THAT IS QUICKLY SOLVED. IF THE BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO STOP SENDING MONEY TO THE SCHOOL LAWYERS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY FILE SUIT AND LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT GOES ON IN iSRAEL. PUBLICITY WILL ALSO HELP TO SOLVE THIS STUPID PROBLEM. SO, START THE SUIT TODAY!

Most of the posts following this article just show ignorance and hate. The award going to yakov Shani. Here are the facts : - ashkenazi and sefardi Jews differ in halakhic rulings and customs who came to existence after the Geonim era (circa 1000CE). Sefardi ruling are generally more leniant than the ashkenazi ones. For religious people, this Minhag issue is a daily issue. - following european emancipation of Jews, ashkenazi were divided by their answer to this new world and quickly created different groups during last century : liberal, conservative, modern-orthodox and haredi. Sefardim were not compelled to do so and kept the traditional Judaism. - In the last decades, all Sefardim left their "homeland" to settle in a place with an ashkenazi majority : israel, America or Europe. Facing the same new modern world, they did not create new answers but joined the ashkenazi groups already existing. - in every segment of the jewish people, from secular to Haredi, the sefardim suffer discrimination. European Jews look at them as inferior being the same way Europeans look at the Arabs. In the specific case of "Bais Yaakov" schools devoted to hassidic girls all other the world, the discrimination is clear. Hassidim of sefardic extract are new comers to the haredi way of life. They are seen as baalei teshuva, they have no hassidic genealogy and the worst : they have secular family members. The hassidic leadership is afraid that more than one third of sefardic students will give a bad reputation to their school and close the door. And the only solution is... Shas !!!

The main issue is indeed discrimination but all the other aspects are symptoms which combine to make the whole. The symptoms are outlined in my post # 13. The Hasidim and Haredim of Poland invented a new kind of Judaism, with new symbols, behaviour and a new language all of which have nothing to do with our forefathers. This Jew and this Judaism is to blame for much of the attitude of the world towards us. My great grandfather came to Israel at the turn of the last century, divested himself of his strange garb, refused to speak even one word of Yiddish, even when it caused him to suffer, rolled up his sleeves and started the process of rebuilding our devastated plundered and raped country. The continuation of the Galut, embodied within the garb, language and behaviour of these people is causing a rift within, the proof is in the blatant discrimination described in the above article to which we all refer. There is a problem, I have identified the symptoms. This is my truth and my opinion.

I wanted to say it, I didn't have the balls.

1. We should be a light to the world , and we do a pretty good job considering all the ills that the rest of the world have heaped upon us and continue to heap upon us. 2. Racists, yes they are but they dont think they are. They follow the line that they look after their own first and theirs is the only right way. 3. Its why Shas came into being and why I laugh at the critics of Shas when it is clear that only Shas has been effective in fighting this situation. 4. There are many views on the Hebrew Phonology, many experts, many views, the Temanim,Mizrahim (Sephardim), Ashkanazim with all their variations all think the have the best claim. Nobody addresses the most obvious claim in its simplicity. The land of the Talmud is Babalyon -Iraq. The Iraqi Jews have the best claim of all.

To Reuven Brauner, whoever said 2 letters are the same and if you're referring to the "samech" and "sien" they are interchangeable.The shin and sien are counted as one letter. 22 letters in complete. everything else aren't the same . Not the Tav or the Tet either Your Sav is really pronounced "th". Every letter is different. regarding Jewish law according to the shulchan Aruch which all Jewry go by He himself said in Israel law is like me not like the ashkenaz. Obviously customs are different but if all the Israelis would follow the bet yosef and not the Rama i guarantee a lot more peace would be. This is the intention of shas as well.

...Teimani, if you really want to be specific. personally, I dont see what the problem is, other than bad exposure. everybody is willing to concede that sepharadim and ashkenazim practice different minhagim in various areas, and it is just not feasible for outsiders to demand that sepharadim be integrated into schools where they have 2000 years of different practices to cope with. it is for the same reason that you wont find ashkenazim in kisse rahamim or porat yosef--its just easier that way. (btw my family in israel votes UTJ)

News flash: principles of democracy aren't exactly the expertise of Israel's leaders, including its Supreme Court. Some of their comments on democracy make those who were raised countries where democracy is a tried and true tradition wince. And what's more, there can be no state that is both Jewish and democratic. Forced to choose between them, I choose a Jewish state.

Abraham and Sarah didn't have a drop of Jewish blood in them, either. Neither did Jethro, Tzippora the Wife of Moses, Rahab who married Yehoshuah Bin Nun, Ruth, The Prophet Ovadiah, Shemaya and Avtalyon (who ruled over the sanhedrin and educated Hillel and Shammai), Onkelos the master of the Targum, or the proselyte father's of the mighty tannaim Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Akiba. Not one drop of Jewish blood in either of them. And yet, they were among the most astounding Jews in all of history. How so? Easy: Jews are not a race. They are a tribe - indeed they are the anthropological benchmark of a tribe - and a tribe is not based on genes. Rather, related families, dependents, and adopted strangers who share a common occupation (judaism in our case) are all members of the tribe. Prophet Bob, I believe your a prophet. A prophet like Bilaam.

where did you hear this nonsense? Chazars and Ashkenazim are unlikely to have same origins. Ashkenazim are descendants of the Jews from Germany, while Chazars lived in a totally different area in the north side of Black Sea. Only Chazar nobility converted to Judaism, and so it is non-sensical to claim that Ashkenazim are their descendants-not to say that that may not be partly true. BTW, for you to know very many Jews, Ashkenazim or Sephardim share the same genetic markers. This is true of Cohanim for instance. We are all the same family whether we are descendants of Chazars or not. and I agree with David, we are a religion and a family, not a race, so who cares about the genes? We have very many converts among us who are righteous of the righteous, and this is all that counts. In terms of policies of the Ashkenazi schools, they are not to be proud of, but i am not one bit surprised. Haredi society is highly discriminatory against everyone who is not like them. Just in this case, this is one of their own, and so all the fuss is about that. The solution is very simple-Israeli government should not fund any school that discriminates against any child provided the child and his/her parents agree to abide by the school rules.

According to halakha, the father does give the minhag.

This woman, Roni Aloni, should be commended for her principles and especially for her incredible beautiful charactre traits. I don't care if she calls herself "not religious"> With people like her, the Meshiach cannot be too far. Roni should receive an award for her position and actions.

Who are you calling a commie? What about the schools they have on kibbutzim? The schools paid for by overseas groups like w.i.z.o.?They have better facilities and teachers than public schools. No one should teach politics in school.I think that having a memorial day for rabin should not be allowed in schools.They should not allow noar avod into schools nor chabad.There should be no political posters or stickers placed on school property. Besides that you get out of here you are too stupid to understand my talkback!