Judaism takes a very different view of sex than much of mainstream culture in the U.S. Mischaracterization or misunderstanding of some of these differences may have evolved into some of the many anti-Semitic stereotypes (including conflicting ones…goes to show the solid reasoning behind stereotypes), but the general discourse among modern American Jews at least is, overall, pretty sex-positive. My views of sex were always a bit different, a bit more nuanced, perhaps, from my peers, so I went to the source: my mother. She’s a pretty unusual sort in her own right, and has diligently passed along some of our rule-bending values and family traditions I didn’t even know about. We’ll learn how her parents talked to her about sex in the ‘60s, her youth as a “flower child,” and how that informed her dealing with my own and my siblings' high school hijinks. Join me and my little old Jewish mother for some laughter and insight, and maybe even a fresh perspective of how sex, love, and responsibility for one another are a perfectly natural—and often wonderful—part of life.
GLOSSARY:
Kibbutznik: A resident of a kibbutz, a type of communal agricultural settlement founded in Israel at the beginning of the 20th century where members shared income, meals, housing, duties and decision-making responsibilities. Kibbutzim (the plural of kibbutz) have changed a lot since the first one was founded in 1909; there are only about 250 today with about 125,000 members, and individuals and families often have personal income and property.
John Birch Society: A far-right anti-communist group founded in 1958 by businessman Robert Welch, named after an American Baptist missionary and Army officer who was killed by the Red Army in China in 1945.
Tonsure: a hairstyle where a priest or monk’s scalp is shaved bare on top,
Other sources:
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