For Immediate Release
New JIMENA Studies Reveal Progress and Persistent Gaps in Sephardi and Mizrahi Inclusion Across Jewish Schools and Camps
While 79% of faculty in New York report say they’re comfortable teaching about other cultures, only 31% feel confident in their knowledge of Sephardi and Mizrahi history—and just 17% say their schools offer opportunities to learn more.
Nov. 6, 2025 – Amid rising enrollment of Sephardi and Mizrahi children in Jewish day schools and camps in Los Angeles and New York, two new JIMENA-commissioned reports reveal both promising inclusion efforts and striking disparities. Faculty data show that while 79% of educators say they’re comfortable teaching about other cultures, and half (50%) believe their curriculum represents diverse voices, only 31% feel confident in their knowledge of Sephardi and Mizrahi history and culture. Even though 71% say they want to learn more, just 17% report that their schools provide opportunities or training to do so.
Parents echo similar experiences. Sephardi and Mizrahi parents feel less understood by school administrators and less comfortable sharing feedback or concerns. Many also say their children learn little about Sephardi or Mizrahi history, laws, and customs compared to higher scores for general “diverse cultures” content. These findings reveal a consistent pattern: while inclusion of Sephardi and Mizrahi voices is emerging in some areas, much of Jewish education still centers Ashkenazi norms by default.
The studies also highlight the positive ways that schools and camps have incorporated some learning about Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews and infused Sephardi practices into tefillah and holiday observance—with opportunities to do even more. Key findings include the following:
- Over the past few decades, schools and camps in these cities that were founded by Ashkenazi Jews have become populated–to varying extents–by the children and grandchildren of immigrants from Israel and other countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
- In LA, most of the Sephardi/Mizrahi families that choose day schools are Persian and Israeli, with smaller populations who have ancestry in Morocco, Iraq, and elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East.
- In New York, “there’s no one kind of Sephardic,” as a number of interviewees conveyed; there’s Syrian, Yemenite, Bukharian, Persian, North African and subgroups within some of these groups. These various minority groups exhibit diverse norms in relation to authority and socioeconomic statuses, all of which influence their interactions with schools.
- Schools and camps take different approaches to inclusion, focusing in different ways on Sephardi halacha, holidays, history, and culture, and accommodating diverse political orientations.
- In many New York schools, the default mode of religious instruction and practice remains Ashkenazi, reflecting the majority background of faculty and leadership, and the schools’ historical origins. Some schools offer occasional Sephardic minyanim or bring in Sephardic rabbis for special occasions. Some efforts are made, such as providing Sephardic siddurim or organizing events highlighting Sephardic food or holidays, but these are often seen as token gestures rather than consistent, meaningful expressions of inclusion.
- Prayer and Torah reading are major areas where Sephardi content is infused in Los Angeles settings, often at the initiation of Sephardi students. Some schools have Persian and Moroccan clubs, and others offer travel experiences to Jewish communities around the world.
- Teachers and staff have been offered minimal professional development around Sephardi/Mizrahi inclusion, and many are interested in trainings and resources.
- Parents and teachers mostly evaluate social dynamics and inclusiveness positively in Los Angeles. An area of unresolved tension between Sephardi/Mizrahi and Ashkenazi families and staff is political ideology, especially around gender, often requiring institutions to choose inclusion of one group over another.
- In New York, Sephardic/Mizrahi students and families often form distinct groups within schools, particularly when they form larger communities. This segmentation can lead to a lack of full integration with Ashkenazi peers. Sephardic/Mizrahi families often feel less empowered or knowledgeable about how to advocate for their needs within the school system.
“There are both successes to point to and some significant gaps to still fill to help day schools and camps fully include Sephardic and Mizrahi families,” said Sarah Levin, Executive Director of JIMEMA. “We want to work with community, school, and camp leaders to do this in thoughtful, respectful ways so that every child sees their traditions, history, and modern day cultural norms reflected in these spaces.”
The New York assessment was funded by UJA Federation of New York and received IRB approval through Yeshiva University, was authored by Elana Riback Rand, PhD, and Rosov Consulting. The Los Angeles assessment was funded by the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and authored by Sarah Bunin Benor, PhD. The studies offer recommendations for schools and camps to take steps to increase inclusivity, including:
- Incorporate Sephardic Content Across the Curriculum: Schools should proactively include Sephardic history, customs, and halakhot throughout the curriculum, not just as isolated events.
- Increase leadership and faculty/staff diversity: Schools and camps should recruit more Sephardi/Mizrahi administrators, faculty, and staff to “even out” the imbalance in schools and camps with large Sephardi/Mizrahi populations. This will also help with representation in some schools’ and camps’ curriculum and religious life.
- Fostering Social Integration and Addressing Cultural Divides: Schools can organize cross-cultural events, such as Friday night dinners, where students from different ethnic groups are encouraged to interact. These events should be structured in a way that fosters dialogue and connection across cultural lines. Schools could also create buddy programs pairing Sephardic and Ashkenazi students to help break down social barriers.
- Establish Regular Sephardic Minyan and Rituals: Rather than limiting Sephardic minyanim to once a week, schools could offer daily options or rotate Ashkenazi and Sephardic customs more regularly, when the numbers allow.
- Consider Sephardic halacha learning tracks: Schools that teach halacha should consider separate Sephardi and Ashkenazi tracks in some grades and/or combined classes where they learn about each other’s halacha.
- Minimize Ashkenormativity and infuse Sephardi nusach, including through multi-nusach siddurim: If a school or camp (that decides against separate minyanim) uses and teaches Ashkenazi nusach, they should do so explicitly, not by default. They should consider teaching Sephardi variants and giving students options for learning Sephardi nusach – both the prayers and the melodies – in or out of school.
Added Levin, “These studies were designed to lead to real actions, real change on the ground. The recommendations are certainly attainable and will pay important dividends for future generations as our places of learning and engagement better reflect the full breath of the Jewish people.”
These reports come on the heels of NYU’s release of the JIMENA-commissioned study, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in the United States: Identities, Experiences, and Communities, which included case studies of the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community, the Queens Bukharian Jewish community, and the LA Persian Jewish community. For practical next steps, JIMENA is encouraging school leaders to access our Sephardic and Mizrahi Education Toolkit.
