Settlement in Emmanuel Bet Yaakov Segregation Dispute

Accompanying Emanuel Fathers to Prison

Update: It looks like the story is not over yet. The rabbinic court said it did not receive notice that Lalom revoked his lawsuit. It criticized him for going to the secular court, and claimed that it never said there was racism. The letter can be seen here (Hebrew). I don’t know what the implications are. There is usually a lot between the lines in these kinds of rulings.

After three years, a 100,000-strong demonstration against integration in the girls’ school in Emanuel, and numerous statements from the haredi leadership about how it could never compromise on this issue, the daughters of the Slonim hassidim (Ashkenazi) parents in Emanuel will learn with Sephardi children in the coming year, including the ones who had not been admitted to the breakaway school.

Original post:Parents in Emanuel Sent to Jail for Two Weeks

The two sides agreed to abide by the ruling of a rabbinical court in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

A rabbinical court arbitrating between Yoav Laloum and the Slonim Hassidim of Emmanuel on Sunday ordered Laloum and his Noar Kahalacha NGO to withdraw the petitions they filed with the High Court of Justice, and prohibited ethnically segregated classrooms throughout the Independent Educational Center.

Laloum had petitioned the High Court against the segregation in the Beit Ya’acov school, and later against the parents, who were held in contempt of court for not obeying its ruling to return their daughters to the school once the separate tracks were reunited.

The verdict of the three-man Beit Din Tzedek Jerusalem, headed by Rabbi Avraham Dov Levin, stressed that “all the students in the Independent Education Center must be united together [in the upcoming school-year], unless this court rules otherwise.”

The rabbinical court also prohibited the Slonim Hassidim from inflicting any “verbal or physical harm” on Laloum.

Laloum confirmed to The Jerusalem Post late Sunday night that he would withdraw his petition against the parents if they acceded to the beit din’s terms, and pending the High Court’s acceptance of the overall deal.

The Slonim Hassidim had taken Laloum to Levin’s court after he claimed some 10 days ago that they had accepted funding from The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

On Sunday, perhaps following spiritual mentor Rabbi Ya’acov Yosef’s Saturday night announcement that he was ceasing his activities against ethnic discrimination in Emmanuel due to threats made against him, Laloum accepted Levin’s arbitration.

The rabbinical court, like the High Court, prohibited dividing the school.

It’s interesting that the Slonim Hassidim chose this rabbinical court, yet it still ruled against them in the end.

The mothers, who never arrived at the jail, are still in contempt of court.

Earlier on Sunday, the High Court of Justice put off issuing its ruling on whether to imprison the mothers from Emmanuel. It will reach a decision on the matter during a closed hearing on Tuesday.

In its announcement, the court stressed that despite their claims, the parents were well aware of the verdict ordering them to prison issued last Tuesday, and “despite them being provided with many opportunities to fulfill it without coercion, they acted in various ways to thwart [the ruling].”

The court also noted that it took into account requests from parents to cancel or postpone their imprisonment, but fined each of them NIS 5,000 for filing those requests on Friday, after they were supposed to have turned themselves in on Thursday.

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