Report on Teen STDs
- Tuesday, Mar 11, Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported:
o 1 in 4 American girls 14-19 has an STD. 3.2 million young women.
o Almost 1 in 2 African American girls
- Cecile Richards, pres. of Planned Parenthood Fed of America:
o “The new findings emphasize the need for real comprehensive sex education…The national policy of promoting abstinence only programs is a 1.5 billion $ failure, and our teenage girls are paying the real price.
Abstinence Education
- Currently, US gov provides around 150 mil of $ to fed grants on abstinence.
- Non partisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:
o Abstinence Ed has not shown to affect teenage sexual behavior
o Moreover, abstinence squelches ed on safety precautions, possible diseases, etc. Focuses on abstinence only.
o 4 out of every 100 girls age 15-19 gave birth in 2005
Abstinence Abroad: PEPFAR
- President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
o 15 billion over 5 years to fight HIV/AIDS
§ Budget: Of $15 bil, 20% (300 mil) spent on prevention
§ 1/3 of prevention (100 mil) must be spent on abstinence
- UN secretary general's special envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, Stephen Lewis:
o “The US is doing damage to Africa by cutting funds for alternatives in Uganda while promoting abstinence. To impose a dogma-driven policy that is fundamentally flawed is doing damage to Africa."
Vayikra
1. Book concerns itself largely with contamination and illness
a. Discharges, leprosy, skin rash, etc.
2. No values. People not judged
a. Clear ritual given to purify, reintroduce indiv into society
b. The contaminated individual not a sinner. No demonization of victim.
3. The entire book an “if then” statement.
a. If someone chooses to sacrifice, then here’s what to do…
b. The opposite of abstinence ed. No options given. The individual is deprived of information to make a clear choice.
c. A model of comprehensive education. Unlike abstinence only.
4. Vayikra says that our bodies are holy vessels, made in God’s image
a. No dirty parts, sinful areas of the body
b. Vayikra lays out all options, possibilities, remedies
c. No subject taboo, not option ignored.
d. Assumes people will make their own decisions
e. US policy should only be so wise and understanding
Rabbi Jaffe
- Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe
- SAN FRANCISCO, California, United States
- Jonathan (Yoni) Jaffe has served Congregation Emanu-El as a rabbi since 2006. In 2010, Rabbi Jaffe took on the oversight of the synagogue's educational programming. In recent years, Rabbi Jaffe has served on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation's Peoplehood Commission, the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition, and the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. He is currently a member of the 2010-2013 cohort of the Hartman Institute's Rabbinic Leadership Initiative in Jerusalem. He is a regular faculty member at Camp Newman and a representative of HaMoetzah—newly ordained rabbis serving as consultants to Hebrew Union College. Before ordination from Hebrew Union College in 2007, Rabbi Jaffe served as the Education Director for URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, redesigning the curriculum for the 1,500 camper program. He has also served as Education Director for Temple Beth Torah of Fremont and has taught at the San Francisco Bureau of Jewish Education and Congregation Sherith Israel and interned at Congregation Aitz Chaim of Great Falls, Montana, and Congregation Ner Tamid of Las Vegas.
