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| By: Israel Insider staff and partners |
| Published: February 11, 2007 |
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"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.
According to Ynet 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 girls, 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.
"[...] 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."
Read the rest on Ynet. |
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