Halukah distribution schemes excluded poor Sephardim who lacked religious scholarship

Evidence

The reality was that those who applied for jobs were often those who could not rely on charity for their livelihood. While the charity money for distribution among Jerusalem Jewry was getting smaller as the Jewish population grew bigger, it was not distributed evenly. Every community, based on its country or town of origin, had its own system. Among the Sephardim the gap between the better-off and the poor was wider than among the Ashkenazim, as the halukah money was given only to those who excelled in religious studies. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 586