Love, marriage, and sex |
My father, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin (1906-1976), published his book Marriage Made in Heaven in 1958. The book, which provides a frank discussion on sex and marriage from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, was originally released by Abelard-Schuman in London and New York. It was very successful and has had several reprints, including a second edition published by Bloch Publishing Company in 1961. It was also translated into Hebrew and, despite initial criticism by some Orthodox rabbis, was sold in Israel in a very Orthodox neighborhood store.
The controversial reception to Dad’s Marriage Made in Heaven stemmed primarily from its explicit and frank discussion of sexual intimacy, which many in the Orthodox rabbinate in 1958 considered inappropriate for public consumption.
While Dad was brilliant and was a respected Orthodox rabbi and scholar with many degrees, including a PhD and a Master’s Degree in Psychology, his decision to write a “sex manual” based on Jewish law (Halakha) broke what his colleagues considered taboo. The critics within the rabbinate argued that the book’s detailed descriptions of physical intimacy violated the traditional Jewish value of tzniut (modesty), which generally kept such discussions private or limited to oral instruction between a rabbi and a groom, certainly not with women.
Recognizing that divorces were rampant in all social circles in America and many families lived together in misery, Dad wanted to help them by giving good psychological advice. Over his thirty-one years as a rabbi in Baltimore, he conducted many hundreds of marriages, perhaps a thousand, because he was very popular. He always insisted that the couple meet with him for a........