Kayaks. Forbidden
Photo: Hagai Aharon
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow
Photo: Gabi Newman
The summer season is about to begin, along with some unique halachic issues: Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva, has ruled that a man must not work as a lifeguard in a swimming pool where women bathe or in a kayak rental facility where visitors arrive in their swimsuits.
A reader of the yeshiva website, seeking the rabbi's opinion, said he was considering working at a kayak facility in the Jordan River as an instructor who helps visitors get into the water and explains how to use the canoe.
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He also wondered if he could work as a lifeguard in a swimming pool where women bathe. He said he had searched the Internet for answers, but could only find questions by women asking if they are allowed to bathe in a pool with a male lifeguard.
Rabbi Cherlow responded that by doing so, he would be crossing a red line. "Working with kayaks means being in a very immodest place all day long," he explained. "This isn't a matter of likelihood but a matter of certainty, and it's just like going to a mixed beach."
The rabbi added that the same applies to a lifeguard in a place where there are women.
The response was published on the Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva's website.
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