"Yedidi" Shalom, "shalom"!
First I do not understand how a modern "Broad minded" liberal school (the fact that you have a female Talmud Teacher) can ask such a query?! Would this school ask the same question if a married "Tanach" teacher does not go to the "Mikveh" which a more severe transgression. We are not allowed to intrude into the teacher's apartment or bedroom.
The school should only honor the request of the teacher if she wants to tell the parent body or simply live. If the teacher is a capable warm and caring teacher, the school should do everything of its capability that she stays as a Talmud Teacher. Good Talmud Teachers are simply hard to find. If changing the class of the students may hurt the teachers feelings, we have no right to do this! Are "Mitzvot Bein Adam Lechavero" not applied to teachers??
If "Chas Veshalom" the teacher is fired or there would be major changes in her position, this would be an educational disaster. The students would receive the message that Gay Jews are not part of the community. How would the gay students in the school feel (there are definitely gay students in the school), that they have no part with the Jewish community? What message would the heterosexual students acquire? As mentioned in the article " communicating to those children that they cannot be a full part of that community is irresponsible and dangerous".
This teacher can contribute a once in lifetime educational contribution that gay members of the community are full-fledged members like anyone else, and nobody (even parents) has the right to harm, insult, or hurt their feeling in any way. As mentioned in the article " It is urgently necessary for all members of this world to contribute to making the Orthodox identity a healthy one for the LGBT people who want to keep it. Otherwise, this community is setting up many queer people who grow up in it for a lot of suffering."
No student will change his/her gender and become gay because the teacher is gay. Whoever is not gay does not change his/hers gender, the gay community has terrible hardships and we do not have to add another hardship to this Talmud teacher.
Dr. Tzvika Kanarek
Talmud Teacher
Lifshitz College,
Jerusalem
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2016 07:58PM by mlb.
