Apparently, kids across the country have recently developed a tendency to go down on one another in the backs of school buses. Here are a rabbi’s personal reflections on bringing Judaic principles to bear on the sexuality of young people, who view oral sex as a safe and consequence-free way of blowing off some steam (apologies for the half-pun.) Rabbi Gellman makes some interesting distinctions between what is unsafe and what is immoral, and some even more interesting distinctions between what is immoral and what is profane.

The article was posted on a humor list that I lurk, but I found it more poignant than anything else. Here, for example, is the passage of the Talmud that the piece ends with:

“Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man’s rib: Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.”

This is a lovely interpretation of the Old Testament; the scriptural origins of Eve are some of the most patriarchical in the Bible. It’s nice to know that even some early Judaic teachings had moved beyond the intent of those stories.

Related Posts:

• Overheard in New York (October, 2007)
• Review: Objectified (June, 2009)
• Demotix: Citizen Journalism (July, 2008)
• Review: Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (November, 2005)
• Turing’s Cathedral, Awaiting a Soul (October, 2005)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 6:48 pm and is filed under religion, society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.