![\"\u05d0\u05e4\u05e8\u05ea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/r1oLQbUEzg_0_0_2384_1341_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Religious")
<\/a><\/p>\nReligious sex counselor Efrat Eliezer Toledano<\/p>\n
\u201cEight or nine years ago, there was almost no discussion of healthy sexuality in our community,\u201d said Toledano, 32, who is married, has two daughters and lives in Karnei Shomron. \u201cIt was taboo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She felt there was an urgent need to normalize the subject and give couples a place where they could ask questions, understand their experiences and feel reassured.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no organized information,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople married young and arrived with fantasies, fears and a lack of knowledge. Sometimes there was no problem at all, but they thought there was because they did not know how things were supposed to look or feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toledano realized that helping couples would require professional training.<\/p>\n
At 22, she enrolled in a sexual counseling program through a branch of the Open University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the youngest student there,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I told myself, \u2018Young or not, I need to be here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Since completing her studies, she has worked in a private clinic, treating mainly ultra-Orthodox and religious couples, although secular clients also seek her help.<\/p>\n
She later founded Resisei Laila, or \u201cFragments of Night,\u201d an online store selling intimacy and pleasure products.<\/p>\n
The business began in a side room in her home before moving online about a year later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started as a response to very specific needs I identified in the clinic,\u201d she said. \u201cGradually, it expanded into a place focused on pleasure, connection and bringing something positive into a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her store offers products for couples, items for foreplay, vibrators for women and men, oils and erotic literature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who are embarrassed to enter an ordinary store or even approach a shelf in a bookstore,\u201d she said. \u201cI offer it in an aesthetic, pleasant and clean way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her clients are not exclusively religious.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecular people also buy from me,\u201d she said. \u201cMany people want to purchase something without entering a website that feels pornographic or uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Products designed for couples are among her most popular items.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouples like the feeling that it is something they are doing together, rather than something replacing one of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That distinction, she added, is central to her work.<\/p>\n
\u201cA product does not replace love, touch, connection or closeness,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can add something, create excitement and open a conversation, but it does not take the place of a partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toledano is not convinced that religious and secular couples necessarily face different sexual problems. The difference, she said, often lies in how much information is available and how comfortable people feel discussing the subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong religious people, there is often a lack of basic knowledge and greater difficulty talking about it,\u201d she said. \u201cA woman may not speak to a friend or ask her mother, and then the fear grows inside her like a snowball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secular people generally have easier access to information, but that does not mean the information is accurate or healthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may be flooded with information,\u201d she said, \u201cbut they still deal with myths, shame and embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her clinic, Toledano often encounters insecurity and the fear that something is fundamentally wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a lot of anxiety around sexuality and a lot of concern that \u2018something is wrong with me,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Among religious couples, pornography can become a particularly painful issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not only the act of watching it, but the meaning people give it,\u201d she said. \u201cThe man may feel he has failed, hurt his wife or even betrayed her. The woman may feel he is replacing her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those feelings can produce severe relationship crises.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes my first task is simply to lower the stress, calm people down and open a conversation that is less frightened and more honest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her decision to enter the field was not immediately welcomed by everyone around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, it was not easy,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople raised their eyebrows to an unbelievable degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some questioned whether her profession was compatible with motherhood and religious family life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said to me, \u2018This is how you want to raise children, with vibrators in the closet?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Her immediate family needed time to process her career choice, but ultimately embraced and supported her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband was very supportive, even though it was embarrassing for him at first as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Most people in her life have since grown accustomed to what she does. New acquaintances, however, often still react with surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I tell new people that I am a sex counselor and that I own a store, there is a moment of silence and their eyes widen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the awkwardness, she insists on speaking openly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to know that it is normal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For couples who are curious about trying a pleasure product but feel embarrassed, Toledano recommends beginning without assumptions or judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not think it is deviant, that it means there is a problem or that it replaces someone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The decision should come through an open conversation between partners, rather than pressure or fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cApproach it as a couple, through a good conversation and with the desire to add something positive,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen it is introduced respectfully, it can strengthen the shared experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her broader advice is simple: nurture the relationship, and intimacy will have room to grow from within it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Efrat Eliezer Toledano is a religious sex counselor, couples therapist and owner of an online store selling pleasure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-548692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}