Five hundred Sephardic elementary school boys protested Monday in Jerusalem a bureaucratic decision that has kept them from being able to learn in their school building. The students gathered in Safra Square, seeking to call attention to the fact that they no longer have a place in which to hold their classes.
One of the walls of the 15-year-old Ohr Shraga Talmid Torah has collapsed – but according to Yeshiva World News, the city has not allowed the institution to repair the building, which has been designated as a “preserved structure.”
Since the building is now considered dangerous, some 500 children are out on the street, with no classrooms.
“Send the mayor home!” shouted the children during their demonstration, brandishing signs that bore slogans critical of city officials. “Resign!” After reading psalms and other prayers, the boys – ages 3 to 13 – pulled out soccer balls and started a game in the City Hall promenade.
“The city won’t let us rebuild, and they aren’t offering any other alternative,” a parent commented. “We are not Ashkenazim… City officials do not pay attention to us.”