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Friday January 25, 2008

Shorts: Weddings, celebrations & more

A family of dolls

Monica Caplan, an Orthodox Jewish women from Baltimore, has developed a new collection of Jewish dolls that reflect traditional family values. Mini Mishpacha dolls (“mishpacha” means “family” in Hebrew) come with a mom, dad, bubbie, zaydie and brothers and sisters, all dressed in traditionally modest Jewish clothing.

She got the idea for the doll line when talking with community members in her neighborhood. “I went to homes where mothers objected to their kids playing with the fashion dolls that are sold everywhere. The girls still wanted to play with dolls, but had no alternatives.”

The dolls can be used with any standard-size dollhouse or with the Mini Mishpacha dollhouse, which has two kosher kitchens and large collection of furniture and accessories for the Jewish home.

“I love playing with the dolls,” says a 6-year-old neighbor. “I dress them, arrange the dining room for Sabbath meals, and pretend they are my own family!”

Sex counseling training set for March

An Orthodox feminist group will begin training counselors to discuss sex with prospective brides and grooms.

The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance is recruiting 10 kallah teachers, women who teach betrothed Orthodox women about Jewish marriage laws, for a course in which they will learn how to talk openly about sex with prospective brides and grooms.

“It was clear that there was nothing out there like it and that it was sorely needed in our Orthodox communities,” said JOFA President Carol Kaufman Newman.

The Drisha Institute and the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, both based in New York, are co-sponsoring the program. In addition to learning the relevant marriage laws, participants in the four-day pilot course must be comfortable with the idea of talking about sexual intimacy to groups of both men and women. The all-expenses-paid workshop will be held March 2 to 5 in New York.

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