<HTML>Barbara Freedman goes to the heart of the problem, which is the difficulty
of grappling with the dissonance between our community values and the real
lifestyle of many of our students and their families. That is why few
Judaic studies staff are willing to speak to students on sex education,
because they are unwilling (sometimes unable) to relate to the reality of
the information either necessary or requested. I see this as another
example of the extremely worrying gap between professed public values
(e.g.: Plain mineral waters with multiple hechsherim) and real practice
(most Orthodox travelers make realistic salad-based choices when far away
from home). My example is perhaps one of the most innocuous. So, many
schools pass the sex ed. over to guidance or biology, with a supplemental
'derasha' from Judaic studies. The solution required is deep and perhaps
relates to the fact that much of contemporary halacha and religious public
policy has its sources in the Yeshivot and not in the community rabbinate.
Paul Shaviv, Headmaster
CHAT - Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto
200 Wilmington Avenue,
Downsview, Ont M3H 5J8</HTML>
