December 15, 2025

Increasingly, Sephardi and Mizrahi children are enrolling in Jewish day schools and camps in Los Angeles and New York. As a new study commissioned by the nonprofit JIMENA, Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, shows, these institutions are responding with inclusive programs – but there are still improvements to be made.

According to the study, 79% of educators report feeling comfortable teaching about other cultures, but only 31% feel confident in their knowledge of both Sephardi and Mizrahi culture and history. Even though 71% say they want to learn more, only 17% report that their schools provide training or the opportunities to make it happen.

Executive Director of JIMENA Sarah Levin said that they decided to commission the study because, “We wanted a deeper, more nuanced understanding of what’s working in Los Angeles and what still needs improvement when it comes to including Sephardic and Mizrahi families in Jewish day schools, camps, and religious schools. Our goal was to identify real needs, challenges, and opportunities so JIMENA can design interventions that are data-driven and as impactful as possible.”

The New York assessment was funded by UJA Federation of New York and received IRB approval through Yeshiva University. It was authored by Elana Riback Rand, PhD, and Rosov Consulting. The LA assessment was funded by the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and authored by Sarah Bunin Benor, PhD.

“With this new data, along with findings from the larger demographic study, we’re now able to partner directly with schools, synagogues, camps, and other institutions on integrating the recommendations found in the reports,” said Levin. “We want to help them better understand and serve Sephardic and Mizrahi community members. Our hope is that these recommendations translate into meaningful change on the ground.”

In LA specifically, the study revealed that most of the Sephardi/Mizrahi families that choose day schools are Persian and Israeli, with smaller representation of Jews who have ancestry in Morocco, Iraq, and elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East. Often at the initiation of Sephardi students, prayer and Torah reading are major areas where Sephardi content is infused into the education. Some schools host Persian and Moroccan clubs and offer travel experiences to Jewish communities around the globe.

However, the study also showed that Sephardi and Mizrahi parents feel less understood by school administrators – and they are less comfortable giving feedback and sharing their concerns. Many also reported that their children learn little about Sephardi or Mizrahi customs, history, and laws compared to higher scores for general “diverse cultures” content.

“There is a large gap between the percentage of students and the percentage of teachers who are Sephardi or Mizrahi,” said Benor. “I hope schools will hire more Sephardi/Mizrahi teachers and administrators. I hope tefillah and bnai mitzvah training will combine Ashkenazi and Sephardi nusach. And I hope the curricula at schools and camps will incorporate more content about the past and present of Jewish communities around the world.”

This study is very personal for Levin, who grew up in the early ‘90s in a very Ashkenazi community in Chicago.

“It wasn’t until I went to overnight camp and participated in Israel programs that I met other Sephardic friends, which, honestly, was probably an anomaly at the time,” she said. “Even though we were a minority, even in camp settings, it felt great to finally be in a more diverse Jewish environment. The best counselors at my camp were Persian brothers who everyone adored.”

According to the executive director, having leaders from Middle Eastern backgrounds enriched the camp experience for her, and likely, for everyone. Additionally, there was a small group of French Jews with North African roots, along with Sephardi Israelis, who came to her camp.

“My hope is that every school, camp, and youth program creates similar opportunities for Sephardic and Mizrahi kids.”

“It was the first time I wasn’t the only one with this identity, and it filled me with pride, especially when the Sephardi kids were reading from the Torah and naturally stepping into leadership roles,” she said. “Looking back, I can see how those experiences helped me understand how special my identity is and, probably subconsciously, motivated me to pursue this work. My hope is that every school, camp, and youth program creates similar opportunities for Sephardic and Mizrahi kids, spaces where they feel a deep sense of belonging while remaining fully integrated into the broader Ashkenazi community.”

Pomona College has reached a voluntary resolution agreement with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center), and Hillel International following allegations of antisemitism. In April of 2024, the Brandeis Center, Hillel International, and the ADL filed the federal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education, accusing the college of “permitting severe discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

In a statement, G. Gabrielle Starr, president of Pomona College, said, “Many Jewish students experience anti-Zionism as an attack on their Jewish identity, ethnicity, religion and/or ancestry, which means these students experience anti-Zionism as antisemitism. It is my hope that the steps we are committing to will also enhance our ability to effectively identify and address other kinds of shared ancestry discrimination. Hatred takes many forms, and understanding its complexities is key to confronting it.”

“Hatred takes many forms, and understanding its complexities is key to confronting it.” G. Gabrielle Starr

Before the complaint was filed, Pomona College took steps to improve the situation on campus, most of which have now been formalized in the resolution agreement. These measures include adding shared ancestry as a category in the College’s harassment policies; updating time, place, and manner policies to be consistent with Pomona’s educational mission; developing College-sponsored programming to promote dialogue across difference, as well as a better understanding of the history, challenges and experiences of those who trace their ancestry to the Middle East; and publicly advocating for deeper engagement with Israeli educational institutions, and when they are able, with Palestinian educational institutions as well.

“Antisemitism has persisted for thousands of years, and this settlement is not a one-size-fits-all toolkit,” Starr stated. “It’ll be up to our community to put it in place—and to live it.”

According to the ADL, after the October 7 massacre in Israel, members of the faculty and student groups loudly supported Hamas’ attacks, blaming the victims in Israel, and making a shrine that honored the Hamas terrorists.

After filing the lawsuit in 2024, Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights, said that Jewish students at Pomona, along with Occidental College in California, were “hiding in their dorms and avoiding their own campus rather than risk verbal and physical attacks… Pomona and Occidental know full well this is happening.  But instead of enforcing the law and their own policies, they are caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students.  Antisemitism left unaddressed will not go away.  It will only snowball and escalate until the problem is faced head on as the law requires.”

The ADL’s website stated that at first, Pomona’s administration did very little to remedy these issues. “But as the situation deteriorated, President G. Gabrielle Starr eventually began to respond.  But despite her laudable, albeit belated efforts to address growing antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on campus, Pomona failed to eliminate the hostile environment, in part, because the opposition from pro-Hamas students and faculty had already grown too strong.”

A Jewish sophomore at Pitzer College, which is under the Claremont Colleges umbrella with Pomona said, “From my perspective as a Jewish student leader, the Title VI settlement signals progress toward a healthier campus culture.”

Josh Marx, a sophomore at Pomona, welcomes the resolution agreement.

“This new settlement is a huge positive for Pomona College and all of its students,” he said. “It creates space for more constructive dialogue by creating a baseline of Antisemitism education for all and required identification at protests. It will create a structure to mitigate the effects on antisemitism on Jewish students, without infringing on any student’s rights.”

In a statement on the Brandeis Center website, Deena Margolies, a staff attorney for the organization, said, “What makes this agreement so important and so strong is that they have agreed to adopt a comprehensive set of reforms to address not only the anti-Semitism on their campus but the anti-Zionism and enhance protections for Jewish and Israeli students on their campus.”

She continued, “At the same time, they also address free speech, academic freedom, and the distinction between protected expression and prohibited discriminatory conduct. So, it will give a lot of guidance to the campus community.”