The whole purpose of the galut is to gather the sparks, i.e. making baalei teshuva and causing by our good example to make geirim. If that is HaShem's will how can any religious person's will be any different? The last thing we need is this stupid "I am holier than thou" between the different religious traditions. Dear Council, if the chinuch you provide isn't strong enough to withstand slight differences between different groups, than that is what you should be worried about. And if money is the problem (property worth less) what happened to to what the Torah says i.e. that mezonot is in the hands of HaShem (and determined on Rosh HaShana) and not in ours? Howcome you're not afraid that causing unnecessary hurt to a fellow observant Jew will bring repercussions that are much worse than a loss of couple grand?

You are right that becoming chiloni because of a few who think like this is madness... You can be a freelance Torah Jew letting truth be your guide and nobody else. As to whether this is true or not since you cannot always believe what you read... it would not surprise me if this article is saying it like it is. It is a well known attitude amongst these type of ashkenazim in Israel. Sephardim have a very hard time getting into their schools. They have a very small quota of sephardim after which they don't accept anymore. These people unfortunately, have their priorities all mixed up. They might be learning all day, but their selfishness shows that you can be a menuval birshut hatorah.

Nausea ad nausea. You've got to be kidding! I am an Ashkenazy Jew and truly, those bigoted idiots I just read about say they believe in G-d? HA! Those racist fanatics should be thrown out of Israel yesterday! How dare there be no law in Israel to prohibit such behaviour in the year 2006.

I came from a country where Jews were not permitted to buy land or houses or own a business without harassment and attacks by the community at large. But Israel is not the US, of course, and at no time would a Jew discriminate against another Jew. Since it would appear to me that the State is subsidizing such communities, it behooves the State to withhold funding from and services to places that harass and discriminate against others. Perhaps the ultras would like to begin their own pogroms. This is almost too disgusting to have knowledge of. And yes, this is racism no matter what the idiots in this particular community say.

what are you talking about?! the shulchan aruch is ashkinaz as are many other sfraim. what about the vilna gaon, chazon ish, etc...?? they aren't great rabbis or they aren't jews?! you need to become more informed before you post.

1. Aren't there laws against this? 2. I bet they wouldn't allow their children to marry one of 'them.' I'm an American Ashkenazi and my husband is Sephardi. 3. This kind of thing turns people of to becoming religious. 4. Shouldn't people be judged only on their level of religiosity, not where they came from? 5. This is disguising!

No religion is not the answer. If you feel you have nobody to answer to for your actions but your subjective self then the only flying you're going to do will land you beak first on the cement floor. On the way you will have 'innocently' dropped some muck on people's heads. Don't kid yourself buddy. Just as these people are slaves to their self interest so are you. The only difference is in its outward manifestation.

Maybe the true Jews in God's eyes are the Sephardim, and the imposters are the Ashkenazim and that is why they are persecuting the Sephardim - and they hate Christians and anything else that they can't label or doesn't fall into their mold. Either way, coming from America, not that America the thing that struck me most about this country its stronghold of racism. Where in Russia a Jew is labeled a "Jew" there, but when he immigrates and arrives in Israel, he is known here as being a despised and unclean "Russian". This doesn't happen all over, but I see it a lot. This nation is not a light to the other nations as God commanded. He took away their lampstand, but He will restore it also. He says to give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem a praise in all the earth.

I find it difficult to come to terms with people who behave like this. Like most Orthodox Jews they obviously believe that Mashiach's coming is imminent. Well, I have news for these people in Kiryat Sefer - while you behave in this blatantly racist manner you lessen the chances of Mashiach coming. The Nazis did not discriminate who was Ashkenazi and who was Sephardi and you have Chutzpah to do this!

The "high-spirituality" that these East-European-assimilated Ashkenazim worship is East-European elitest culture and their East-European-assimilated Yiddish language -- Eurolatry, not Torah. What those East-European-assimilated Ashkenazim reject is a more authentic and pristine expression of Torah from Har Sinai instead of Eastern Europe. Even more authentic than the Sephardim, the Bavli and Teimani Jews especially should place havdalah between themselves and those misled sanctimonious Ashkenazim guilty of khilul ha-Sheim. Paqid 16, The Netzarim Israeli Perushim-Heritage Jew Advocating Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il Ra'anana, Israel

concept of a town, village or other type of community which is exclusively for one type of person, and on top of that, for one sub type within the general order, is to say the least, abhorrent. It is anti Jewish, anti human and not acceptable. These people and these ideas must be expunged and extirapated from our society, otherwise we shall have no society at all. To all Sepharadim and to all Israelis who hold reason and logic above the nonsense of religion I apologize deeply for the misguided behaviour of these most irresposible members of our society.

The prblem with many baalei teshuva is that they have older kids who have not come along for the ride and reject their parents new found life style> they rebel and make their neighbors suffer, another problem is that the baalei teshuva have strange ideas and try to be more religious than their frum from birth neighborscausing friction. One rabbi suggested that baalei teshuva be quarantined ito their own neighborhood for a cooling off period. Once they have come down to earth and their wayward older children are gone then they can integrate into the frum community!

Anybody, Rabbi or otherwise, dressed in black or otherwise, who refuses to shake the hand of a woman, be it for modesty, whatever that means, or for impurity, is in my opinion the ignorant one, baseless ignorance, and a show of derision and contempt for half the human race. What is more it is exactly the half that should be exalted and respected and held on a special pedestal, as without them procreation means nothing, and we would not be. They bear the entire burden from the moment of conception till the day they close their eyelids. Shame on men who act in this way and believe in such nonsense. I hope I shall live to see the day that a woman will become President of Israel and she should stand in a ceremony and refuse to shake the hand of a man because he is "impure" or she wishes to be "modest". One human showing contempt for another is most ugly, especially when baseless.

should read, "triumph of dark over light". Sorry.

Living in the USA, I can tell you firsthand, that the Litvishe element here has the same level of arrogance.

I state that Yehudei Sepharad are decent human beings, decent Jews and deserve an apology for all the injustices they have suffered in the past and continue to suffer at present at the hands of the Jews of Ashkenaz. The very words, eda and migzar should be banned from the lips of politicians and shunned by all people of a reasonable persuasion. Legislation should be introduced to outlaw any attempt at communal segregation in our society. Woman only shops, Haredi only communities, men only buses or women at the back of the bus, are all anathema to reasonable humans, reminiscent of other places and other times, representing a stain on humanity. We all derive from Judea and Samaria, my ancestors sojourned in Russia, others in Morrocco, but our origins are one and the same, as is our destiny.

I happen to open yesterday one of the letters of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Where the Rebbe writes to someone to treat Achainu bnai hasfardim with equal respect. That was the Context. It looks like there was a problem of this nature back then to. Baruch Hashem in Crown Heights where I live and for that matter (in all Lubavitcher neighborhoods) there is no such problem. Remember there is a lot we can learn from the sfardiom and there is a lot that that the sfardim can learn from the ashkenazim. Aizehu Chochom Halomed mikol adam.

chuhan harouch is sepharade is by rabbi J.CARRO OF SPAIN

Eyal, Join us Sephardim. Forget these losers. We have better food, better pronunciation, better melodies, a better culture and greater Sages. In fact, they cannot even move three steps back without referring to the religious anthology of the Sephardim. Oops !!! I guess this make me sound racist as well. Thats why I love Rav Ovadia, he really knows how to stick it in to these guys.

Hi Nikos, as you know racism is a problem in Greece as it is in the whole world - I presume you have unwanted gypsies and imigrants not to mention Albanians. I wont judge you by the fascist elements of your country so please don't judge us by this radical (small) minority. These ultra-orthodox threaten israel from within just as Islamic fascists threaten us (and the whole West)from without. We could use your support in the EU rather than your judgement. Let's work together to stop all fascism.

"3. disgusting and disgraceful. these people need to be stopped. these ashkenazi haredim are an embarassment to all jews and to medinat yisrael. they don't serve, they don't work, and they're discriminating racist ways are appalling." "5. askenazims this lot are not jewish at all they are not semites they are from eastern europe ." "6. Looks like these ashkenazim have already... decreased their own spiritual level with all of this horrible sinat chinam." "38. Maybe it's the other way around Maybe the true Jews in God's eyes are the Sephardim, and the imposters are the Ashkenazim and that is why they are persecuting the Sephardim " "49. Eyal 11 - Become a Sephardi not a Chiloni Eyal, Join us Sephardim. Forget these losers. We have better food, better pronunciation, better melodies, a better culture and greater Sages. In fact, they cannot even move three steps back without referring to the religious anthology of the Sephardim. Oops !!! I guess this make me sound racist as well." YES, IT DOES.

Almost all of the readers who have posted here are outraged at this alleged discrimination and make mention of sinat chinam. No one pays attention to the fact that Ynet tends to be "creative" in its news reporting. Here is one way you can tell that this story is probably not true: it does not quote one named individual. Rather, the article bases its allegations upon quotes from, "a top go-getter at Kiryat Sefer" and "one of Brachfeld's residents." This is just one of many signs that this story's factual basis differs from the one reported.

How many Haredim (Ashkenaz or Sephardi) live in Ramat Aviv Gimmel? Probably a lot fewer than in Kiryat Sefer.

There are always going to be people from all ethnicities and nationalities who divide and sub-divide themselves along whatever lines, coming up with reasons why some don't want to associate with others. I've found this in the Latino, Korean, Chinese, Arab, and black communities just to name a few. Go to Lebanon and listen to how people from Oman and Syria are ridiculed; speak Cantonese to a Mandarin speaker and see what kind of response you get. Yep, we all do it. This is neither new nor unique to the Jewish community. Let's remember that the overwhelming majority of Jews believe in, and practice, unity. At my own local Chabad for example, there are more Sephardim than Ashkenazim, and everyone has a great time together. Far more representative of these folks around Rav and Shmuel street are Israeli cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv and the rest of Jerusalem where Ashkenazim and Sephardim interact positively all the time. Let's focus upon that. PLEASE, let's not let this group in Jerusalem cause further divisions amongst us.

This is yet another prime example of the ultra-orthodox intolerance. These people are beynd contempt. If they want to live in a ghetto, so be it. Wall their towns in bar them from traveling in and out and bar any supplies from reaching them. See how long this exclusionary mentality will last when they run out of food and fuel. They are disgusting!

These people make the Taliban look like amateurs.

Hey Reuven, did you actually add a comment amongst all those requotes. In some places thats known as plagiarism.

#1 a complet perversion of Judaism. #2 living in the dark ages. #3 something needs to be done to stop them. #5 not jewish at all they are not semites #6 This community should be disbanded. #8 Disgusting bunch of losers #9 It's just not possible to hate these people any more than I do already. #29 Let us get rid of this place and the things that live there. #33 Those racist fanatics should be thrown out of Israel yesterday!