Two ways of helping to prevent sexual harassment

Every single incident of sexual harassment within the Jewish community is one too many. From the wide-angle perspective of Jewish history, sexual harassment in the context of an abuse of the power balance is particularly obnoxious. Not only have Jews so often been at the weaker end of the power balance in history, but the entire Torah from beginning to end is a sustained polemic against the abuse of power.

Even the greatest kings of Israel are openly rebuked for abusing their positions of authority. So, to utilise a position of power to inflict any form of harassment on another individual undermines the very essence of what it means to be a Jew.

As we know all too well, cases like these can and do occur right across society, and the Jewish community is sadly no exception. But perhaps the current global attention on sexual harassment provides an opportunity to shine a spotlight on our own community, and look for specific things we can do to prevent such incidents occurring in future. Here are two suggestions for building a future culture, based on Jewish tradition itself, that could make a real difference.

The first of these involves education around respecting personal space. We educate our children from a young age to respect others, value diversity and embrace their heritage. Now is the time for secondary schools to emphasise these elements through an integrated Jewish studies curriculum with a mature perspective on the Torah’s teachings about respecting personal space. Any semblance of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards another individual crosses clearly defined red lines in the Torah, and nowhere is this more so than in the context of non-consensual sexual advances or inappropriate comments. Both in schools and beyond, we can, and should, teach the moral underpinning and rationale of these halachic boundaries.