The F— Train To Brandeis

I just finished the 2005 book called "Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels."

On page 153, the author Hella Winston writes: "Brandeis…accessible to him only by commuter rail — or, he later learned, the "f— truck" from Harvard, named for the supposed sexual libertinism of the Brandeis students."

The sexual libertinism of Jewish women is not supposed in my experience and not according to the comprehensive University of Chicago study from about 12 years ago. According to this study, Jews have about twice as many sexual partners as Catholics (who have the least number of any group surveyed).

In conservative Christianity, sexual sins are the worst sins, while in Judaism, sexual sins are not necessarily any more serious than eating non-kosher food or turning on a light on Shabbos. Therefore, Jews tend to have fewer hang-ups about sex, and even when they discipline themselves to live an Orthodox life, if they are not married, they seem to be far more likely to play around sexually than equally religious non-Jews.

From page 150, Yossi finds a baal teshuva to date: "…She wasn’t shomer negiah, meaning that she didn’t refrain from physical contact during dating. This meant that Jessica/Zahava would hold Tossi’s hand when they went out and, after she had a little to drink, kiss him. On some nights, depending on her mood, she would even invite Yossi back to her small apartment, where she was willing to do almost anything with him — now that she was religious, there were some limits — although she made sure to cover all of the religious books on her bedroom bookshelves with towels, so they wouldn’t have to witness the profanity of the encounters."

I know one girl like that.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
This entry was posted in Orthodoxy, Sex and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.