I am preparing a lecture on "Historic controversies regarding Jewish Education" and one of the topics I plan to discuss is coeducation. While it is not hard to find responsa that prohibit boys and girls studying together, I have been unable to locate lenient teshuvot on the matter. Is anyone aware of Teshuvot which permit Coed education for children middle school age and older ? Thank You, Jonathan Hirsch http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19039#msg-19039 Sat, 25 May 2013 08:04:19 -0600 Phorum 5.2.19 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19090#msg-19090 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19090#msg-19090
There is a quote from Rav Mordechai Breuer from a letter he wrote to Dr. Marc Shapiro that reveals as much as it conceals --
"To what you write about R. Weinberg’s responsum about co-education in the Yeshurun organization, I might add that in the late fifties I wrote to R. Weinberg asking him whether his p’sak was applicable to the Esra movement in Israel in which I was active. He never replied, but sent word by a messenger encouraging me to continue my educational activity without swerving to the right After his death I discovered that he had asked two of his students in Montreux to draft a response to my letter. The drafts are in my possession. They contradict each other. One of the two authors now teaches at a yeshiva in Bene Berak."

Rav Breuer also states there that Rav Hirsch's school in Frankfurt had boys and girls in separate classes in the same building except for some short periods when the school began and when the school ended when classes were coed based on small enrollments.

Some people have asked me if I attended separate gender schools as a child, why have I taught in coed schools as an educator. My honest answer is that as much as I see problems with the model of coeducation, I see more problems with the system of shiduchim that exists for young people to meet each other.


In every Jewish high school I know of there are far more students who end up marrying someone they met in high school then there are in schools where students were forbidden from meeting students of the opposite gender. The singles crisis is real and there are just too many single 30, 40, and 50 year olds who would love to be married but can't find a spouse.

I believe the last Mishnah in Taanit supports this by calling Tu Be'Av the greatest holiday since single women and men met spouses on that day. One of the Mefarshim of the Mishna there states, "Lest you think this practice was immodest, would you like young people to turn old and grey before meeting someone they can marry?"

Shalom,

Elisha Paul]]> Elisha Paul Lookjed List Archive Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:06:36 -0600 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19063#msg-19063 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19063#msg-19063 [toravoda.org.il]
It is a fiercely argued defence of co-ed environments. Whereas I was less convinced by Amnon Shapira's arguments, there are some excellent points in Rav Elinson's and R. Eliezer Berkovitz's entries in the appendix section.

In a recent evening at Yeshivat Har Etzion for the shloshim of Rav Amital z"l, his student (Prof. Bar Asher) recalled that Rav Amital allowed his High-School students to attend Bnei Akiva, referring to it positively by the epithet "chevra shelema", rather than the more negative, "chevra me'urevet".

For an interesting anecdote about Rav Amital and contemporary tzeniut, see the opening section of this article (Hebrew)
[www.etzion.org.il]

Bivracha
Alex Israel
Alon Shevut, Israel
www.thinkingtorah.blogspot.com]]> Alex Israel Lookjed List Archive Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:34:25 -0600 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19061#msg-19061 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19061#msg-19061
Sara Weinstein
Efrata and Lifshitz Teachers Colleges, Jerusalem]]> Sara Weinstein Lookjed List Archive Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:15:45 -0600 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19059#msg-19059 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19059#msg-19059
The paper can be found in the Lookstein Library:
[www.lookstein.org]

Steve Bailey, Ph.D.
Quality Education by Design
www.QEDworkshops.com]]> Steve Bailey Lookjed List Archive Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:06:30 -0600 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19040#msg-19040 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19040#msg-19040 Yaakov Lookjed List Archive Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:08:59 -0600 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19039#msg-19039 http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,19039,19039#msg-19039 and one of the topics I plan to discuss is coeducation.
While it is not hard to find responsa that prohibit boys and girls studying
together, I have been unable to locate lenient teshuvot on the matter.

Is anyone aware of Teshuvot which permit Coed education for children middle
school age and older ?

Thank You,
Jonathan Hirsch]]> Jonathan Hirsch Lookjed List Archive Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:00:12 -0600