Sex-ed between Talmud and Gemara
Don't bother looking for sex-ed in religious schools' curriculum, it isn't there. But a new organization plans to change all that, bringing youths in touch with sexuality in the one place it was always taboo
"The girls get a short talk about femininity, but the boys don't even have explanations about the difference between men and women, much less about relations between the two sexes," says Dr. Ariel Pickar, a member of a special team belonging to Kolech (Your Voice), a religious organization responsible for a new school program designed to bridge the sex-education gap for religious students.
Ynet has learned that the program, titled 'Gender and the Family in Judaism', has already been recommended by the Ministry of Education.
Its designers say in advance that it was written from a feminist but orthodox viewpoint, and touches a range of subjects: Gender, relationships, sexuality, the family unit and family planning, parenting and reproduction.
'Radicals in the eyes of our public'
Dr. Hannah Kehat, also a member of the sex-ed team, is currently one of the founders of the Hartmann High School for girl, which will open next year and where the sex-ed syllabus has already been factored in to the curriculum.
At the Hartmann School for boys teachers have already begun preparing for the program. Kehat says that the idea came to her during her conversations with female students who were disappointed with what they had been taught in school on matrimony.
"There's a great void, a lot of confusion over a woman's standing and the changes the Jewish and religious family unit is going though," says Kehat. "There is no empowerment of the female identity, no tools being given to deal with the conflict between religion and sexuality. No true preparation for a relationship and family life and sex.
"These issues need to be dealt with correctly to produce a mentally sound adult who is at peace with his or her body and sexuality. All of this is sorely lacking, there is only a very conservative approach that leads to antagonism."
Dr. Pickar says he is aware that the tone of the program – advocating both feminism and equality between the sexes as well as an Orthodox viewpoint – may be difficult for some to accept.
"We understand that our perceptions are very radical for the religious public," he says, "but even if the more conservative crowd chooses not to adopt this program, there is a considerable number of religious schools who are interested in this approach of equality."
'And he shall rule over thee?'
The first part of the program deals with the book of Genesis and the creation of Adam and Eve, offering two models of the Talmudic interpretation. The first is the more traditional view, according to which Eve was created from Adam's body, so that we would not be alone.
The second focuses on the verse "male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:27). "There is a Talmudic interpretation that the first being had two faces, male and female, back-to-back but one being. God split man in two and brought them together face to face," says Pickar, "only our generation had the privilege of nurturing this model, this model of equality."
"We do not claim that the whole of Judaism is based on equality, but that there are positions of equality in it and are interested in presenting this as a possible perception in Judaism," says Pickar.
Picar focuses on the verse 'and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' (Genesis 3:16).
"This verse was meant as a curse, as a punishment for Adam and Eve, but this is not what should be in a corrected world," he says. "In a corrected world there isn't this curse and this is what we should strive for. Like the curse 'in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children' (Genesis 3:16), giving birth today is far less dangerous and painful than it was in the past. And so this development towards the equality of women, this is the liberation of man and we must assume that this is what God intended – the release of the woman from the curse."
Pickar says he believes that the differences between men and women come from social conditioning.
"Women give birth and men do not, and this is a biological fact. The meaning of this in the traditional view is that the woman must stay at home and raise the children. But this is something that can change; it is not an edict of fate.
"There are differences between the sexes, of course there are, but these differences in and of themselves do not dictate a singular view of the situation. Society and culture are what instill meaning into the differences and this is something that evolves over time."
