Reproduction is basic biology -- a legitimate part of the sciences. Teaching about preventing pregnancy and STDs is a thinly-veiled liberalism that has nothing whatsoever to do with preventing sexual assault, incest or rape. Teaching about preventing pregnancy and STDs is a conspicuous assault on young girls' modesty in areas that are best left to their personal physicians and current moderate Orthodox pre-marriage practices.

semi-educated frumme bigots, that unscrupulously use the services of "professional" ladies when it suits them, but insist on false "purity" for their daughters.... yikes....

only a differential of 13% now between secular and religious educated Israelis good news

that a substantial number of orthodox men go to prostitutes ? Did you go into brothels to check or interview prostitutes? If you didn't, you would better not accuse a whole segment of the population of being unfaithfull to their wives. This is plain stupid slander

Are the 'pros' you refer to in Year 7? The article is about whether children should learn how to prevent pregnancy and STDs in Year 7 or Year 10. Mothers hope that children that age are genuinely pure. There's nothing false about it.

In the Haredi sector, mothers are often provided with educational materials to use with their ten year old daughters to explain how they are maturing. I have taught hundreds of Year 6, 7 and 8 Haredi boys and I can't see why they would need to know how to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Our boys, like our girls, are aware of the halachos of Yichud and Negia. Boys in this age group are far less mature than girls in terms of relationships, and can wait til year 10 to learn how to prevent pregnancy and s.t.d.s.

It was a type error the difference is still narrowing and it is very good news !!

Without the Haredim getting a solid education in secular subjects including the option to go on to college, who do you think will have the needed education to run the country when the Haredim population growth rate makes them the majority? If your cultural norms don't change and change fast, Israel is doomed.

Excerpts in Holy Scripture writings give you the notions of some sexually related material and these words can be heard and recognized as early as elementary school. For the defense and ultimately well being of children due to cases of even abuse, it would be helpful for them to have some general understanding for their ages as they progress and timing of said things through their ages. Of course, it would be all in the cause of what you would believe would be on the honorable and righteous. Liberal views these days can be dishonorable and unrighteous. The original standards and customs with the good intentions should always be paramount and they are even shared beliefs.

It does not require a phd to see that sex education encourages sex in young people. Today's secular and non Jewish world is the most sexual active since the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Religious do not want this to happen with their children and so sex is a non subject until the child becomes engaged to marry upon which time it becomes an important subject teaching all that is necessary for the new bride and groom to know to conduct themselves in purity. This method has protect our people for centuries and especially during this time of sexual excess. Niether the nations of the world nor the secular Jews see much happiness from their children who they have allowed sexual excess and taught how to prevent families from coming into being.

How does sexualizing children at an earlier women protect girls?????? How is delaying sex ed disprespectful to women? The modern world sexualizes children at increasingly younger ages. Look at MTV, for example, or Miley Cyrus's infamous performance, complete with pigtails and teddy bears. There's a difference between innocence and prudery. Let children be children for a little while longer!

Today a report issued that secular Israelis in US have assimilated totally ten times as fast as American Jews as a whole intermarry and disconnect from Israel and as Jews.

Regardless of whether they are zionist or hareidi, Israeli or living in the diaspora, Orthodox Jews have a clear track record of being highly competent and successful in sexual matters, unlike their secular cousins. Indeed, one often hears secular Israelis complaining about the demographic implications of the Orthodox ability to produce children, as they desire, relative to the inability of the seculars to do likewise (regardless of motive) - not to mention the hilonim's endless complaints about their sex lives and whining about their self-inflicted sexually transmitted diseases.

True, the chapter was taken out of my daughter's textbook. HOWEVER, all the information about reproduction, hormones, body changes, etc. was is very clearly presented to the girls from an appropriate, religious viewpoint, by members of the school staff. They do get the information. As for STDs, sorry, I didn't get that info as an eighth grader in public school in the States and neither does my 12-year-old need to know here, at this point.