Parents outraged by 'inappropriate' school journal
Journal—sold for nominal fee to grade school students—contains comic depicting 'beautiful captive woman' dilemma of Jewish soldier forcibly taking gentile bride at wartime; parents now returning journals to schools en-masse; journal's contents are 'unsuitable for children of that age group, outdated,' says one parent.
Parents of grade school students in state-religious schools were outraged to find a comic depicting the Jewish law of concerning a "beautiful captive woman"—in which the woman is presented as a seductress and property—in the journal given to their children.
This journal, which was sold to students for a nominal fee, contains comic strips illustrating daily application of religious Jewish law, one of which showed a soldier taking a gentile woman captive.
The illustrations show a little girl presented as a "pretty gentile," while the soldier enumerates the conditions under which he'll be permitted to marry her, even if she doesn't convert to Judaism.
This so-called "beautiful captive woman" issue discusses a scenario in which a Jewish soldier comes across a captive woman during wartime and wishes to marry her.
The verse, taken from Ki Teitzei parashah (weekly Torah portion), accepts this situation at face value, as it was the custom during wars of that era. It then goes on to permit the woman a single month to mourn the loss of her family and adjust to her new situation.
The aforementioned portion caused an outcry among parents to children in state-religious schools, who said they'll return the journals.
"I have no idea who approved this travesty, but it's a garbled, racist, chauvinistic and irrelevant collection for grade school students, or any citizen of a western country for that matter," protested one mother on Facebook.
"First and foremost, this is not educational by any reasonable standard. It's too bad they don't focus on moral issues such as respecting your elders," she added.
Dr. Ilan Perez of Ra'anana, who has children in the 4th and 6th grades, was shocked to learn of the journal's contents, and announced he'll also be returning it.
"The contents are problematic, not to mention unsuited to children of grade school age. There are certain things that endeavored to provide solutions for complex situations in the past, but are no longer relevant in this day and age," he said.
Givat Shmuel Councilman Adi Gross said he'd received outraged comments from parents, and intends to demand the journals' removal. "Proper behavior precedes the Torah," he opined.
Following parents' overtures, the Ministry of Education's religious education director Abraham Lifshitz ordered to halt the use of the journals due to their contents' "incongruity for the age group."
The "beautiful captive woman" issue first made headlines about a year ago, preceding the appointment of Col. Eyal Karim to the position of IDF Chief Rabbi.
Karim was posed a series of questions by a religious website years ago, one of which was "Is an IDF soldier nowadays permitted to rape women during wartime?"
"In a state of war, conditions change and the Torah takes into account the fighting men's hardships," was Karim's reply.
Publication of the question and answer session raised a storm—also following further statement he made against recruitment of women into the army—and calls were made to block his appointment.
Karim hurriedly clarified raping is not permissible in the Torah. After apologizing, his appointment went through as planned.
