Haredim Ban Miami Beach Vacations

Haredim have banned vacations to Miami Beach. Too many women in skimpy clothing. I guess this rules out areas of LA, most of Tel Aviv and Netanya, as well. And don't even think about Eilat.

Please click the image to enlarge.

[Via:BangItOut.com.]

UPDATE: Herschel Tzeig notes Lakewood Yeshiva is holding a winter event in Miami Beach featuring, among other, it's rosh yeshiva.

Maybe next year they'll move it to downtown Miami, far from the ocean or to Kansas City.

Comments

[Shmendrik]

You are quite imprecise. More specifically, it was a group of Chassidic Rebbe's who banned it.

why does it say its an issur for anyone who isnt old to go to miami beach? why is it permissable for an old person to go but not a young?

[Treifalicious]

At first I thought this was a joke, especially since Bangitout.com does these humorous Top 10 lists and satirical articles. But they did say they were NOT making this up!

I would argue that the Haredi Rabbis realize they are becoming incresingly irrelevant and are staging random power plays to convince themselves and any others that might care that they are still as powerful as they once were.

Watch "The Last Emperor" again (especially the Director's Cut DVD, all 4 hours of it. It's really an amazing, multi-faceted movie). There is a scene where "Henry" Pu Yi, the Emperor in question, is told by his little brother, who lives outside the Forbidden City, that he is not the Emperor anymore and that Shang Kai Shek has taken over and that this Shang Kai Shek davka has a car. Pu Yi can't believe it and calls his brother a liar. They proceed to chase each other around the room shuting "You are not the Emperor anymore!" and "How dare you!" Eventually they stop and what does Pu Yi do to prove he is still the Emperor? He asks one of the Eunuchs who are guarding them to drink some green ink. The guard drinks the ink (but letting most of it drip down his chin).

These absurd issurim are like "Henry" Pu Yi trying to prove he is still the Emperor by making this poor guard do something silly and pointless like drinking this ink.

I could even go out on a limb and say the entire Haredi world is like the Forbidden City without the walls and the rank and file Haredim are like the Emperor - sheltered, lonely, cut off from the rest of the world that they yearn to see and explore. The Rabbis are like the Eunuchs that affect humility but really run things in such a way as to enrich themselves underhandedly (at one point "Henry" Pu Yi tries to rule and curb corruption amongst the Eunuchs. He decides he wants a full accounting of the Forbidden City's storehouses "so we may see exactly how much has been stolen". The Eunuchs then set the storehouses on fire to cover up their corruption).

"Henry" Pu yi wants eagerly to get out and experience the wold but is never allowed to. This gives rise in prt to the "Open the door" motif that reappears at least once in the movie as "Henry" Pu Yi wants to walk out of whichever compound he is in but is not allowed to and the doors are shut in his face.

Then one day Republican troops come in and throw him, his family and all the Eunuchs (some thousands of them I think) out of the Forbidden City and while he has always wanted to get out it is now traumatic for him to leave the only world he has ever known. He goes on to be exploited by the Japanese during WWII and ends up in a Chinese prison for most of the rest of his life where they slowly grind him down from "The Son of Heaven" to ordinary comrade.

I personally think The Last Emperor is an amazing movie on a number of levels, but perhaps it owes more to the story itself than any direction (which I think was done by Bernardo Bertolucci and was, IMHO, excellent). I think that many Haredim and former Haredim will be able to identify in many ways with "Henry" Pu Yi and his struggles.

[YidChat]

Good luck with that ban!

[D]

The ban has already been ignored.

http://theantitzemach.blogspot.com/2007/02/machlokes-haposkim-about-miami.html

[shmuel]

See my translation of the entire ban on www.bangitout.com. Let's hear feedback on it, please.

[shmuel]

In defense of the ban (I can't believe I'm writing this, but here goes):
It really does look ridiculous for Chasidic men to walk around in their penguin costumes: long black coats, payis, beards and general austere look, in a beach area, while all the while women who are effectively naked are walking alongside them. It truly looks absurd, and it's embarassing to their rebbes who are sensitive to these sorts of things. Besides, maybe inappropriate behavior was going on, too. We'll never know, and I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but maybe. So it's forbidden. Maybe not such a crazy, wild idea after all. Thoughts?

[chief doofis]

1: How do the authors of this FETWA know what is going on in Miami?

2: If they are relying on hearsay, that is Loshon Hore!

3: There is just as much "pritzus" in New York anyway. And.....most of us don't "take advantage" of it, anyway. By and large, we are loyal to our wives, families, etc., without these extra interferences by Charedi Rabbis. While I may not agree with all of the practices or non - practices of the so called Modern Orthodox community, I am willing to bet that its membership is no more promiscuous, than the Haredim are.

4: Last, but not least, who cares what they say anyway?