You're just not Jewish *enough*

[faceless]

Jewish school 'racially discriminated'
Dozens of faith schools face rewriting their admissions policies after a controversial Supreme Court ruling.
By Graeme Paton,
Education Editor
16 Dec 2009

Most Jewish schools in England will be forced to tear up existing entry rules after the court upheld an earlier judgment that a school in north London racially discriminated against a boy. He was rejected from JFS – formerly the Jews’ Free School, in Brent – because his mother was not born Jewish.

The school went to the Supreme Court after three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled in June that the admissions rules were unfair. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court failed to overturn the decision. It is thought the ruling will force most of the 38 Jewish state schools in England to rewrite their admissions policies. Legal experts told the Telegraph that the ruling would not directly affect England's 6,700 Anglican and Roman Catholic schools. But it will inevitably focus attention on the admissions arrangements of all faith schools which have been criticised in the past for lacking transparency.

Lord Rodger – one of nine Justices who heard the case – said the decision meant “that there can in future be no Jewish faith schools which give preference to children because they are Jewish according to Jewish religious law and belief.” “Jewish schools will be forced to apply a concocted test for deciding who is to be admitted [that] has no basis whatsoever in 3,500 years of Jewish law and teaching,” he said. “The… decision leads to such extraordinary results, and produces such manifest discrimination against Jewish schools in comparison with other faith schools, that one can’t help feeling that something has gone wrong.”

After the hearing, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was “extremely disappointed by this decision”. It said it would lobby for a law change to allow Jewish schools to apply admissions rules based on the faith of children’s parents, which was a “fundamental right for our community”.

But the move was welcomed by groups opposed to faith schools. Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chairman of Accord, which lobbies for a major overhaul of faith schools entry requirements, said: "We hope this ruling will serve as a wake-up call to faith schools by showing that religious admissions rules must conform to the law of the land, though we will continue urging for all faith schools to stop discriminatory policies entirely. Taxpayer funded faith schools should serve not just themselves but also the community around them.”

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said after the ruling: “This is an important verdict. The commission believed that it had to intervene in order to preserve the same protection against racial discrimination for Jews as for anyone else – not least at a time when anti-Semitic groups are active across Europe. The decision of the court achieves that end; and it confirms that no school will be allowed to discriminate based on the ethnic origin of an individual.”

A boy – named only as M – was rejected because his mother was not born a Jew. She converted to the faith but this was not recognised by the Office of the Chief Rabbi. It is a basic principle that a child is not recognised by the OCR and other bodies as Jewish unless his or her mother is Jewish. JFS argued that its admissions policy giving preference to Jewish children when the school was oversubscribed was lawful because it was based on religious and not racial criteria.

Two legal experts told the Telegraph that Christian faith schools would largely be unaffected because they admit on the grounds of pupils' practising faith – normally whether the child has been baptised or is a regular churchgoer – not parental circumstances.

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I went to a Catholic 'faith school'. But the only real difference that I could notice between it and any other school was that the R.E classes had slightly different content. There was no requirement for any pupil to be Catholic, or even Christian. So, for this school to refuse admission because the boy's mother is only a convert and not born into it is just plain wrong.

What do they think will happen if the children spend their time with non-Jews?

[Skylace]

Knowing the Orthodox Jewish Schools over here I can tell you there is a difference. You are expected to dress a specific way, eat only kosher foods (even if you're a teacher who isn't Jewish), there are prayers, and a lot of other different things. That being said, I've never heard of them refusing a child who isn't Jewish. The kid would just be expected to follow the school rules which have a lot to do with the Jewish faith.

[Stones]

[SpursFan1902]

[faceless]

If it wasn't a state-funded school I'd not be bothered. They have to teach the national curriculum, so the classes should be the same for every pupil.

[pirtybirdy]

The state funds religious schools in England? As far as I knew, religious schools here are considered private schools because they don't collect funds from the government. They collect a yearly tuition. My cousin had to pay tuition for her kid to attend Catholic school. I don't know what the rules to get it were though, as naturally I wasn't arsed to know at the time. lol!

[Skylace]

You're right Spurs. In Judaism it's passed on through the maternal line (which is why I am not considered Jewish even though my Opa was). In the stricter areas of the Jewish faith, converts are not considered truly "Jewish" and the descendants are not considered Jewish until many generations later. So since this childs mother was a convert, and being Jewish is passed on by the mother, he isn't Jewish.

When I was taking my Hebrew lessons I was told it's usually around 10 generations, of course keeping record that long Oi!

Pirty-it is a bit odd that the government funds religious schools. I know it's not that way here. I worked in the British school system but not in that sector, so I am not knowing. However, my brothers-in-law and sister-in-law all went to Catholic school there and that was a government funded one.

[SpursFan1902]

Such a foreign concept...government funded religious schools. It is kinda hard to wrap your head around since we are taught from a young age "separation of church and state"...

Since I went out and picked my own religion (my mother was Lutheran, my father, Methodist - I found no comfort in either), I did a lot of research on other religions. Had I not decided on Wicca, I really found alot of what I was looking for in Judaism, especially when I went and talked to Jewish friends of mine about their faith. Their eyes lit up and they got big smiles on their faces. They were warm and embracing and would have loved for me to join them. It is a very understanding faith. Plus the food...I may have to start researching again!!

[faceless]

[Skylace]

I agree face. The idea basically came from that the Jews are also a people and not just a religion. Not all Jews view it this way. Especially the reformed Jews. But since for so many centuries it was actually a race that is where it developed. Another reason why Christianity was considered very different when it was starting out.

[faceless]

yeah, I was just considering the impact Christianity must have had at the time if the only other option was to wait X generations before your descendents were accepted. No wonder it took off like it did.

[Skylace]

There were actually big debates when Christianity was starting out in regards to that. From conversion to which holidays would come over etc. Of course, from all the different branches of Christianity I see over here, I think the debates still continue

[Bat]

A couple of days a week I pick up the kids from the JFS and I have to say that they are the best behaved out of all the school kids on my route. Oh if they were all Jews what a happy bus driver I would be.