For Rabbi Yitsy David, growing up in a Sephardic home in Hendon was atypical of the north-west London experience. His Indian-born mother and Burmese father both descended from Iraqi Jews and moved to London in the 1970s. They spoke Hindi at home, and between them brought a rich culture, history and palate that reflected their roots.
Every Shabbat, his family home was “the place to be”. Friends would fight over his mother’s slow-cooked chicken dishes or spice-laden curries. “They were eating flavours they had never tried in their life, they loved it,” he says.
Still, Rabbi David felt “foreign” to mainstream British Jewry, more than 90 per cent of whom are Ashkenazi.
Responding to the call for more education of Sephardi and Mizrahi history at UK Jewish schools, Rabbi David Meyer, the chief executive of Jewish education group PaJes, says: “There is no question that this is an important area, and one that schools are endeavouring to address. One of the strengths of Jewish schools is the varied background of its students, and it is important that they are educated about their past.”
