The Orthodox Union's Conversion to Christianity

My detached academic side always finds it interesting to watch the time delay between the trends and ideas emerging in American religious life and the way they get picked up and adapted by those in the Jewish world. And yet when I read this week about the Orthodox Union’s pathetic attempt to mimic the most fundamentalist elements of the Christian right in creating a campaign for sexual abstinence, all I could do was shack my head in disbelief.

Before continuing I want to be clear that I actually agree with the website’s basic message: teenagers by and large are not ready for and would do well to desist from having sex. (My own personal position on the matter of sexuality is much closer akin to the views expressed by Rabbi Irving Greenberg, who stresses the tzelem elohim, the Godliness and Holiness, of the human body). That said, I would disagree with virtually everything else on the website.

Luckily the website has been wildly condemned drawing criticism not only from liberals, but from many in the Orthodox community. My friend and sharp Jewish commentator Josh Yuter has done a fine job at pointing out some of the disturbing internal elements of this sophomoric piece of religious kitsch. He notes that the website:

a) Compares those who engage in pre-marital sex as equivalent to animals
b) That teenagers have inferior minds
c) Compares rape victims to vegetarians in that both can desist from their desires and lusts
d) Most importantly that the piece manipulates Torah sources, which misread the Jewish position on everything from women to sexuality to the role of ritual baths

Likewise, those such as Rabbi Waxman notes on this blog, note the problematic scientific research employed by the website and those who maintain such positions.

My problems with the website are, however, more general and political. Specifically, I am not sure who this website is directed at.

Relative to America at-large there is no teenage pregnancy or AIDS problem in the Jewish community let alone the Orthodox community!!

So who on earth is this website trying to speak to?

Would the OU deny condoms to Chinese women who have millions of abortions every year? Would the OU proclaim their abstinence only message to an Africa being ravished by AIDS? Would the OU object to condoms be given out to the over 25 million people infected by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Unfortunately, the piece expresses the worst of Orthodox myopic thinking. The truth of the matter is that Judaism has so much to teach America and the world on the issue of sexuality. Unlike the Catholic Church, Judaism has and continues to promote a very healthy understanding of the human body and sexual activity. It’s a shame the OU has ignored all of that and has become so.......Christian.

Read the Full Debate: Should We Teach Abstinence to Teens?

• Rabbi Waxman: The Seduction of Abstinence


• Rabbi Grossman: Safe Sex for the Soul?


• Rabbi Waxman: Teen Pregnancy & Aids--Not a Jewish Problem?


• Rabbi Stern: Rabbi Waxman, That's Not What I Meant