Women in Beit Shemesh, Israel, won a great victory today for Judaism and human decency. Beit Shemesh has been having some problems between some factions of the chareidi community and the modern orthodox/non-orthodox community in Beit Shemesh. Most of you probably know about the elementary school girls who were spat upon outside their school and called sluts and whores in 2011. This lawsuit will force the municipality of Beit Shemesh to remove the signs promoting “modesty” (what an interesting definition of modesty they have!) on public buildings and structures. The city has apparently refused to remove them, leading to this lawsuit.
The modesty “warnings” included billboards excluding women and signs on public building reading: “Dire Warning: It is forbidden to walk on our streets in immodest dress, including slutty clothing worn in a religious style.” It was signed “residents of the neighborhood.”
This is an expected response because we hear about it all the time. “People are following the “rules” of tznius by covering what needs to be covered.” “But they are still not really tzanua because they “miss the boat” on tznius and are still “too attracting”.” You know the drill…
Here’s what I have been thinking about since reading that answer on JewishAnswers.org. Is this the only place in Orthodox Judaism that halacha is not enough? For some reason we also demand that the adherent to halacha find the “spirit” of the halacha and adhere to that as well.
…I’m not saying that an Orthodox Jewish person would not want to dress in a modest way, rather, that in this part of Judaism, for some reason, halacha doesn’t seem to be “enough”.
One more thing. If you read the sources in halacha about tznius, it is all about what MEN cannot do. Men cannot read krias shema if a woman in not covered properly. A man must give his wife her kesuba, UNLESS she was an “overes al das” (with witnesses and proper warning). It doesn’t say a WOMAN MUST… in any of the sources I saw. I just found that interesting in contrast to today’s rhetoric of “Women must do this… Women may not do that… etc…”
I love the post for the combo of sensible content and grammar advice! Yes! Deciding what is or isn't tznius is so tricky because it's so subjective, depending on where a person lives, what their background is, what their hashkafa is, etc. The judgment totally needs to stop. It's ridiculous, and furthermore, *doesn't actually make anyone want to up their level of tznius!* smh.
For me an outfit needs to meet two criteria (besides the halachic stuff, obvs): Would I be embarrassed running into my rebbetzin in this outfit? Am I self-conscious around men in this outfit?
Bad things happen because of sloppy grammar.
I love the post for the combo of sensible content and grammar advice! Yes! Deciding what is or isn't tznius is so tricky because it's so subjective, depending on where a person lives, what their background is, what their hashkafa is, etc. The judgment totally needs to stop. It's ridiculous, and furthermore, *doesn't actually make anyone want to up their level of tznius!* smh.
For me an outfit needs to meet two criteria (besides the halachic stuff, obvs): Would I be embarrassed running into my rebbetzin in this outfit? Am I self-conscious around men in this outfit?
Tz'nuah is a female form the adjective, tzanua is the male form of the adjective.
When we need Hashem's protection the most in our communities, we need to focus on tznius.
Women power on proper tznius brings Hashem's Shechina into our midst for protection on the community.