A growing controversy has erupted in Yerushalayim amid claims of severe discrimination in admissions to girls’ high schools, with some institutions allegedly refusing entry to Sephardic students based on their family background.
In an interview aired on Channel 13, L., a 13-year-old student who has been at home for six months after failing to secure a placement, recounted her painful experience: “I’ve been home since the exams, just waiting for something to happen.”
L. said she was subjected to invasive questions during the admissions process, including where her father davens and whether her brothers attend Sephardic or Ashkenazi yeshivas. Despite excelling academically, she was rejected after being told her family was “not suitable.” One high school even suggested she change her last name to sound “less Sephardic.”
In a shocking statement, L. recalled: “The principal told me I’m a ‘berachah levatalah’ and said that even if Rav Ovadia himself came, she still wouldn’t accept me.”
L.’s mother, Michal, confirmed that several schools pressured her to change her children’s surname to improve their chances of acceptance. “I changed the last name for two of my kids, and it worked,” she said tearfully. “They’re accepted, they’re happy — but it hurts me deeply that some of my children live with one last name and others with another. We’re the same family.”
Yael, another mother of two daughters left without placements, described the toll on her children: “The worst pain I’ve ever experienced is watching my daughter sit at home in silence. My older daughter has been without a school for six months, and because of that, I wasn’t even allowed to register my younger one. She got accepted to four excellent schools in Yerushalayim, but the Chareidi Education Department decided no.”
Yael criticized the broader system: “If someone wants to open an Ashkenazi-only school, they should make it private. As long as it’s funded by taxpayer money, there cannot be admissions based on ethnicity. Opening separate schools for Sephardim isn’t a solution — it just cements the discrimination.”
Another Sephardic mother shared her devastation: “My daughter is an outstanding student. I never imagined she wouldn’t be accepted. At the last minute, they told us she was rejected. We realized it’s because we’re Sephardic. Now my daughter refuses to leave the house. She cries constantly.”
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