Avraham Ashkenazi Avraham Ashkenazi Avraham Ashkenazi (1813–1880) was a Sephardi chief rabbi (Rishon LeZion). Rabbi Ashkenazi was born at Janishar, near Salonica, in 1813. Aged fifteen, he was taken by his father to Jerusalem, where he studied rabbinical literature in the various colleges. The Turkish rabbis, in consulting him at the age of 35 on matters of religious law, addressed him as "Gaon." He authored several responsa and novellae. In 1850, he was appointed "dayyan" (religious judge) of the Jewish community of Jerusalem with the support of both Sephardim and Ashkenazim. In 1857 he became the "Av Beth Din" (chief judge) and
Racism in Israel where Sephardi and Mizrahi students were sometimes excluded or segregated. In 2010, the Israeli supreme court sent a strong message against discrimination in a case involving the Slonim Hassidic sect of the Ashkenazi, ruling that segregation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi students in a school is illegal. They argue that they seek "to maintain an equal level of religiosity, not from racism". Responding to the charges, the Slonim Haredim invited Sephardi girls to school, and added in a statement: "All along, we said it's not about race, but the High Court went out against our rabbis, and therefore we went to