JTA reports that Modern Orthodoxy continues its much-needed push toward modernity with the establishment of a new program designed to teach women to become counselors for couples who are getting married. These kallah (bridal) teachers will speak to both men and women and will be recruited by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, and co-sponsors of the program are Drisha and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT).

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.

This is a great first step. But I can’t help but think that maybe it’s too little, too late. While it’s great for concerned, engaged couples to learn about these laws, shouldn’t there be classes for the “mikvah-curious”? Or a discussion of the anecdotally large number of on-the-books Orthodoxish singles in their 20s or 30s who are not “waiting for marriage” but may want to engage in some of the rituals? Maybe someday, Orthodoxy will establish a real sexual education curriculum, especially in high schools, so that students could know what’s going on with their bodies when the actual changes are occurring. I know it’s a potentially controversial topic, what with the concern over how information might lead to dancing. But what I recall from my “health” or “family purity” classes was a trip to see a mikvah and a lecture on why we shouldn’t engage in interfaith dating when we got to college and “Chris” asked us out to a movie. Actual information about sex? Even within a conveyed expectation of waiting for marriage? Not present. Thank God for television and movies, or none of us would know anything.

The all-expenses-paid workshop will be held March 2-5 in New York. Application forms are available at www.jofa.org and must be submitted by Dec. 31. Please, if you apply and end up going, please feel free to write in with your experiences.