Shortly before Toby Goldfisher Kaplowitz married two years ago, she went to a kallah teacher \u201d\u201d a woman who prepares Orthodox Jewish brides to be intimate with their husbands.<\/p>\n
The teacher spent most of her time going over how to observe the laws prohibiting physical contact between husband and wife during the woman\u2019s menstrual period and for a week afterward. She described sex as \u201c\u201d\u02dcso horrible, so painful, but said, \u201d\u02dcI\u2019ll give you some tips to deal with it,\u2019 \u201c Ms. Goldfisher Kaplowitz recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really shocked,\u201d\u009d she said. \u201cI knew it was probably true for some women, but I didn\u2019t want to be one of them.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Today she teaches brides herself in Brookline, Mass., taking a very different approach.<\/p>\n
Ms. Goldfisher Kaplowitz is part of a movement among more liberal Orthodox Jews toward open discussion of sexuality and sexual health.<\/p>\n
\u201cSexuality needed addressing,\u201d\u009d said Jennie Rosenfeld, director of Tzelem, a project housed at the Center for the Jewish Future, at Yeshiva University, that focuses on the topic. \u201cHaving grown up in the Orthodox community, it was too often a subject not spoken about, especially by people of authority, like teachers and rabbis, people who should be addressing it.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n