New code aims to prevent sexual harassment in religious schools
Takana Forum releases new code of rules prohibiting teachers from meeting alone with students of opposite sex, among other things
Takana Forum, an organization that handles cases of sexual harassment within the religious community, has released a new code of rules to be followed by the religious education system.
The code includes rules prohibiting teachers from meeting with students outside of the schools, or if they must, an object must be placed between them in order to create a barrier.
For example, the code dictates that a personal conversation between an authority figure and a student of the opposite sex should take place only in the school, during working hours, and while other people are present in the building. It also determines that a personal comment about the modesty of a girl's dress should be given by a female.
Takana also determines that special counselors should be appointed in order to deal with problems of a sexual nature within the educational institutes, and whenever an authority figure recognizes such a problem the student should be referred to a counselor of his or her own sex.
The forum also recommends that the institutions take "preventative measures" such as annual lectures about sexual harassment in which students can participate in a discussion teaching them about their options in case they are sexually harassed.
'Word of God in doing right'
The ethical code refers to the work of the Takana Forum members, and determines that "one should never cover up any wrong-doing on the grounds that exposing it will lead to blasphemy. Just the opposite, the word of God is in doing what is right." The members are also encouraged to file orderly criminal complaints against the offenders.
"The code is not a substitute for the laws preventing sexual harassment, but rather a supplement for these laws, and symbolizes their adaptation to the social framework of the religious public," the forum states.
Takana was established with the aim of "developing a model for dealing from within the religious community with trauma of a sexual nature imposed by an authority figure on those under his supervision or influence." After studying the issue from its legal and religious perspective, two years ago the forum's members began to deal with complaints of sexual harassment that came from within the religious education system.
The forum's secretariat receives the complaints and decides whether they are suitable for discussion within this framework. When a case is found suitable the secretary appoints an assembly that is composed of a rabbi, an educational advisor, a professional therapist, and a legal consultant, in order to handle the case.
During recent months the forum has attempted to assimilate the new code by conducting various courses, in an effort to raise the religious community's awareness to sexual harrasment and the need to deal with it.
The course includes workshops and lectures about subjects such as the body, sexuality, relationships between the sexes, and characteristics of sexual harassment from psychological, religious, ethical, cultural, and legal perspectives.
