In Israel today there is a trend towards extremism in the religious community and the isolation of the religious camp from the mainstream of society.  Many contemporary rabbis and educators tend to ignore difficult educational issues while Halachic authorities avoid important social questions relating to life in a modern world. In current religious Zionist education, and in the colleges for teacher training, the tendency to adopt Haredi educational models is spreading: the values of democracy are pushed aside, and human rights are trampled, all in the name of religious values.

In the last several years there has been a growing trend to separate boys and girls in religious elementary schools; sometimes as early as kindergarten.  This trend is another expression of religious Zionist education’s break with the modern world.  Gender segregation is becoming more and more common in religious educational settings; the process is currently occurring in many youth groups and is already complete in settings such as high schools, colleges, etc.

This segregation has educational, psychological and social implications which will be discussed during the conference.  Segregation is seen as a means of forcing conservative and modern orthodox families out of the religious education system.  Those in favor of segregation will point to the many studies showing its benefits, however, most of the studies relate only to older children and one cannot compare what is happening with second graders or pre-schoolers to tenth graders.  Nor do trends in other developed countries reflect the need or desire for gender segregation from such a young age.

In addition, the evening will look at how Jewish religious law views the need for gender segregation in education.

The conference in Hebrew will be held in Givat Shmuel

For more information: http://toravoda.org.il/he/node/2509