{"id":29534,"date":"2018-06-29T03:49:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T10:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=29534"},"modified":"2018-06-28T10:24:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:24:16","slug":"metoo-and-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/06\/29\/metoo-and-education\/","title":{"rendered":"#MeToo and education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lu Winters, academic and student wellness counselor at King David High School. (photo from Lu Winters)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the fourth of a series of articles on sexual harassment and violence in the Jewish community, the Jewish Independent speaks with Lu Winters of King David High School, Elana Stein Hain of the Shalom Hartman Institute and Rabbi Carey Brown of Temple Sholom.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first step in reducing bullying and other abuse in schools is to work with the students, said Lu Winters, academic and student wellness counselor at King David High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cI build connections with students in class,\u201d she told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cAnd, with various groups in the school, I sometimes take them on trips. After the connection has been built, then the helping relationship can happen. It can happen one-on-one, in groups, in gender groups and through workshops.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt King David, I\u2019ve created a wellness program. Each grade receives a workshop, or two or three, depending on what\u2019s going on during the year, on specific topics that I think are age-appropriate. I wish I could do every workshop for every single grade, but then the academic part of school would fall to the wayside.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run workshops on topics like LGBTQ awareness; healthy relationships with your body; self-esteem; stress and anxiety; drugs and alcohol; choices and values; and sexual health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the start of the #MeToo movement, Winters has seen some momentum. People have a lot to say about the movement, she said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a specific workshop about it this year, but it\u2019s on my radar for next year. During our sexual health education classes, we do address sexual harassment and consent, including talking about the roles of everyone involved, people\u2019s faith, and making appropriate decisions for themselves at the right time … what to do if, G-d forbid, anything happens: who to talk to, what kind of support you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Elana Stein Hain, scholar resident and director of faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute. (photo from Elana Stein Hain)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the greater Jewish educational sphere, the Shalom Hartman Institute has produced a series of videos about related topics and examines how scripture has educated Jews on the subject over the years. Elana Stein Hain, scholar resident and director of faculty, has been leading the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do is essentially develop curriculum around challenges facing the Jewish people,\u201d Stein Hain told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cAnd I wouldn\u2019t even say it\u2019s about developing curriculum as much as developing conceptual frameworks for thinking about issues that arise. We\u2019re an educational think tank. We ask ourselves what issues are now facing the Jewish people and consider how to develop educational material that deepens how we think about these issues. Then, we speak with change agents in the Jewish community about some ways of thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stein Hain and her team began by looking for Torah teachings that address the topic of harassment directly. They came up with a three-part video series, which launched with a presentation that addressed the question of how, as a 21st-century teacher, you can educate people with our most sacred text and have the value proposition of our most sacred text being very important and continuing to give us the wisdom we seek, said Stein Hain. \u201cAnd, also, we address the absence or relative absence of women\u2019s voices and women as an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next video talk was by Dr. Paul Nahme, a member of the institute\u2019s Created Equal Team. He speaks on how definitions of manhood are dependent on cultural context.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this \u2018boys will be boys\u2019 kind of assumption and he says that, actually, there are places in Jewish tradition where that assumption had been challenged,\u201d explained Stein Hain. \u201cYoung men were being trained to not be bravado macho, arrogant and assertive \u2013 to instead be trained to think about what it means to have doubts, to need someone else\u2019s help. That was in contrast to what masculinity was understood to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last talk in the series was done by another member of the team, Dr. Arielle Levites, who discusses the portrayal of women in some Jewish traditional texts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a deep folk story about women who try to move beyond their station or to move beyond the assumptions of them being portrayed as monsters,\u201d said Stein Hain. \u201cAnd she relates that to the \u2026 women who come forward with claims of sexual harassment or sexual violence who become seen as the offending party, getting questioned and vilified in certain ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the videos can be accessed at hartman.org.il<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is really to get to the root of education,\u201d said Stein Hain. \u201cWe are glad that people are going to do trainings on sexual harassment, on mandated reporting and on how to respond in the moment. We\u2019d like to get to the root thought process of a culture that has come to this. And we want to learn how we can educate better, so we can have an adaptive change in the way people think, talk and act. Then, society and the Jewish community in particular can be built upon a different foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The educational realm within synagogues has also felt reverberations of the #MeToo movement, according to Rabbi Carey Brown of Temple Sholom.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Rabbi Carey Brown of Temple Sholom. (photo from Carey Brown)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI have seen an incredible amount of conversation among rabbis about this issue,\u201d said Brown. \u201cSome have been from within female rabbinic circles of women … some confronting it … things that people had kept within themselves for years or decades … and, now, gaining the courage to talk about it \u2013 everything from struggles to trying to understand the situation insofar as its professional implications for female rabbis … major discussions are being had on the topic at our annual conferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the congregation, I haven\u2019t had any individuals come to talk to me about personal experience,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I have had a sense that women are feeling more free to bring up topics having to do with abuse, with safety, within the congregation, [at the] board level or [from a] staff perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

A couple of months ago, the synagogue\u2019s Men\u2019s Club had a program on the #MeToo movement and sexual harassment in the workplace, including panel discussion on the topic in which Brown participated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really glad they took the initiative to have this program,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThis didn\u2019t come from the rabbis; it came from their leadership wanting to have an opportunity to talk about it. The conversation was really good and those who attended were very engaged and didn\u2019t want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown spoke about the Jewish perspective, discussing its tradition of values and ideas around sexual harassment, as well as her own personal experience with harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked a lot about consent,\u201d said the rabbi. \u201cA few different pieces of Talmud were discussed. We looked at this one that was about what happens if a man \u2013 one who counts money for a woman from his hand to her hand in order to look upon her \u2013 even if he has accumulated knowledge of Torah and good deeds like Moses, he will not be absolved from punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about how, if someone even has a good reputation in the community, is known for their knowledge, good deeds and business … if they are abusive or using their power in a way that puts someone else in a position in which they are abused and powerless … our tradition says that, no, that is not OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abuse can be as simple as the way one person looks at another \u2013 if there is a misuse of power or position to objectify someone, Jewish tradition says that is not acceptable, stressed Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about how we need to stand up when someone is being objectified, abused or put into a difficult situation,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is part of our Jewish imperative \u2013 not to look away. It is part of what the Torah teaches us: that we can\u2019t be indifferent and we must act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, Brown has had inappropriate comments directed at her. She said, \u201cI\u2019ve received comments like, \u2018You don\u2019t look like a rabbi\u2019 or \u2018If my rabbi looked like you, I\u2019d have gone to shul a lot more when I was younger,\u2019 or comments on my clothing and hair, and such.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned at the event with the Men\u2019s Club that my experience, both in Vancouver at Temple Sholom and in Boston, has been that the longer that I am the rabbi of a community, the stronger the relationships. And, I feel some of those things begin to fade away … within the regular, active population of the synagogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often when I\u2019m in a new environment with people who don\u2019t know me \u2013 at a shivah minyan, a wedding or something like that \u2013 my antennae go up. I\u2019m very aware that it\u2019s very likely I\u2019ll get comments that are really inappropriate or that I have to psyche myself up a little bit to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m at a shivah minyan, I\u2019m there to comfort the bereaved. I\u2019m generally not going to confront in that situation,\u201d she said. \u201cI will take it with a grain of salt and maybe grumble about it to a friend. But, sometimes I\u2019ll say, \u2018That\u2019s not appropriate.\u2019 Sometimes, I\u2019ll hear things like, \u2018I\u2019ve never kissed a rabbi before.\u2019 And, I\u2019ll say, \u2018Well, we don\u2019t need to kiss.\u2019 I\u2019ll push back a little bit to establish some boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lu Winters, academic and student wellness counselor at King David High School. (photo from Lu Winters) In the fourth of a series of articles on sexual harassment and violence in the Jewish community, the Jewish Independent speaks with Lu Winters of King David High School, Elana Stein Hain of the Shalom Hartman Institute and Rabbi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[7772,5667,8228,3076,8229,2243,1559,1047,8230,915,1325],"class_list":["post-29534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-metoo","tag-carey-brown","tag-created-equal","tag-education","tag-elana-stein-hain","tag-harassment","tag-kdhs","tag-king-david-high-school","tag-lu-winters","tag-shalom-hartman-institute","tag-temple-sholom"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}