Yaki Reisner, who heads the panel of matchmakers on the television show "Vort," has acknowledged that the treatment of Sephardi Jews in chareidi society is "not something to be proud of." His comments follow a public outcry over a preview of an episode about matchmaking between Ashkenazim and Sephardim in the chareidi community. The episode is due to air on Sunday evening, November 15.
In public remarks, Reisner said that whatever the chareidi community's many virtues, the gap between Jews of European (Ashkenazi) and Middle Eastern and North African (Sephardi) descent is a painful issue that cannot be ignored.
"The chareidi public is a public full of values, Torah, charity and kindness," he said. "On the issue of Sephardim and Ashkenazim, I don't think it's something to be proud of."
Reisner pointed to well-known problems in the chareidi education system. These include admission quotas in yeshivas and the difficulties Sephardi girls face every year in gaining places at chareidi girls' seminaries.
He also shared a memory from his own school days. "You can't ignore the fact that I had a class I studied in, a relatively junior class, and there was a teacher where you could see that the Sephardi students sat further back and the Ashkenazim further forward, and all sorts of other things that we live with," he said.
Reisner said that some people try to explain the situation through differences in mentality or Jewish law. Even so, he said, bringing the issue into public debate is a positive and necessary step. "I'm completely at peace with this issue being raised for discussion. At the very least, it needs to be discussed," he said.
