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Harassment
Continued from preceding page
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supervisor relationships, but
we have lay-professional re-
lationships," he said. "There
are many different subor-
dinate-supervisor relation-
ships, which offer the possi-
bility of power being used for
sexual harassment."
"That isn't about sex; it's
about power," he said. "The
structure of this community
tends to increase the possi-
bility for that kind of behav-
ior, because so many men
are in dominant positions."
The problem is made worse
by the fact that the Jewish
community assumes that it
is somehow immune from
such abhorrent behavior.
"Sexual harassment is
probably more covert in Jew-
ish life," said Arm Lewis, di-
rector of the American Jew-
ish Congress Commission for
Women's Equality. "Sexual
harassment is probably not
more of a problem in Jewish
organizations than in non-
Jewish organizations — but
the gap between perception
and reality is probably
greater."
Diana Aviv, associate ex-
ecutive vice chair of the Na-
tional Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council
(NJCRAC), noted that part
of the problem is that the
leadership network, both lay
and professional, is intert-
wined. "The leaders of one
organization will sit on the
board of others. Oppor-
tunities for professional
growth can be shut off by
vindictive leaders. So there
is a strong disincentive to
speak up, because it will
hurt careers."
Ms. Aviv said she has ex-
perienced harassment but
has not spoken out because
she felt it would hurt her ca-
reer. "I find myself continu-
ing the secrecy with real
shame, because I still
believe that coming forward
would have hurt me. It's
difficult for me to encourage
other women to come for-
ward, because of the conse-
quences."
Rabbinic seminaries are
not immune from sexual
harassment — an increas-
ingly common topic of con-
versation when women
rabbis meet with each other
in private.
"It happens," said a Jew-
ish woman familiar with life
in the seminaries. "My
guess is that it's less preva-
lent than, say, in the busi-
ness world. It involves a very
small proportion of the
teachers. But the fact that it
happens at all is deeply
disturbing to the women
who are its victims. When it
happens in the religious en-
vironment, it is perhaps
even more damaging be-
cause these people are
supposed to know better."
What can be done to bring
the Jewish community's
values more in line with be-
havior in the workplace?
First, according to several
women, formal mechanisms
have to be developed within
the community to make it
easier and more comfortable
for women to pursue charges
of harassment.
"The corporate world has
written into its policies rules
prohibiting sexual harass-
ment," said Rabbi Lynne
Landsberg, associate direc-
tor of the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism.
"The Jewish communal
world has yet to do the
same."
The AJ Committee's Gary
Rubin said that "it is a mark
of shame for our connnun-
"I still believe that
coming forward
would have hurt
me."
ity" to not only have the
problem but not have the
mechanism to deal with it
effectively.
More fundamentally, the
underlying male dominance
of the Jewish community
needs to be altered, accor-
ding to several leaders, male
and female. They suggested
that until the Jewish com-
munity makes a concerted
effort to seek out qualified,
talented women for leader-
ship positions, sexual
harassment will continue to
be a problem.
The fact that it may be less
of a problem than in the
business world is less impor-
tant to some women than
that it exists at all in the
Jewish community. As one
woman explained, "It was
more shocking to me when it
happened in a Jewish con-
text because I had made the
foolish assumption that it
wouldn't happen here." Ell
Early
Deadlines
Because of the
Thanksgiving holiday,
The Jewish News will
have early advertising for
the issue of Nov. 29 and
an early local news
deadline for the issue of
Dec. 6.
Nov. 29 deadlines:
Classified, 3 p.m. Mon-
day, Nov. 25.
Display, 5 p.m. Friday,
Nov. 22.
Dec. 6 deadline:
Local news, noon
Wednesday, Nov. 27.