Pipe Heads: Haredi "Taliban" Women Add New Stringency

Some haredi burka cult women have begun wearing a cloth-covered funnel-shaped tube on their heads under their head scarves in order to better conceal the shape of their heads.

Two haredi "Taliban" women. The one on the left has a funnel-shaped tube placed on her head under her head scarf.

'Taliban women' introduce new headpiece
According to different testimonies, radical women have begun wearing cloth-covered pipe on their head to conceal their human figure
Ari Galahar • Ynet

Have the "Taliban women" invented a new strict modesty rule? According to testimonies received by Ynet's local portal, Mynet, the radical group of ultra-Orthodox women dressed in cloaks has begun wearing a cloth-covered tube on their heads in order to conceal their human figure.

A source close to the group reveals that "the stricter members have decided that the veil is not enough, as the form of their face can still be seen. The solution found is a sort of pipe in the form of a funnel, which they wear on their heads under the veil."

The haredi public recently stepped up its war on the radical phenomenon, and even the most conservative rabbis affiliated with the extreme Eda Haredit faction have lashed out at the women.

A special meeting of the Badatz – the Eda Haredit's supreme religious-spiritual authority – concluded with a proclamation titled, "Holy call for the sanctity of Israel's homes." The rabbis warned Jewish women to stay away from the customs and ways of the "Taliban women", who "are doomed".

Comments

[Heshman]

how sexy!

lol!

[Hp]

Clever!

[rebeljew]

In 20 years, this will be the minimum standard required by halacha. All of the groups now condemning it will show that their Rebbitzins have always conducted themselves this way, providing photoshopped portraits and eyewitness accounts.

[jancsipista]

and their husbands watch porno, what a bunch of misfits

[Waiting4Moshiach]

Nebech, they look like nons in masks. But at least they are not bothering anyone else. We cant say the same of those seculars who force their way onto our busses sitting where they are not wanted, or the artizen on the northside of Williamsburg who ride bicylces where any Yungerman can see them and demand special lanes from everyone else.

[Sarek]

Great! Now they can fit in with the Ku Klux Klan.

Just because their heads come to a point doesn't mean they're sharp.

[seymour]

maybe it is a funnel

you never know when you may need one

[The Real Joe]

Sometimes when reading such articles I feel like I am reading fiction sadly it seems that's not the case

[Korbendallas72]

I'm starting to like these women. This is a brilliant form of protest. Too bad they may not be doing it with that intention.

[Bench Kvetcher]

They must be the Cohenheads who come from France.

[Julie]

I thought I was reading Frum Satire for a minute there

[Jeff]

Posted by: Waiting4Moshiach | December 05, 2011 at 11:03 AM

Right - or, chos v'sholem, Modern Orthodox women tricking people into believing they're really frum.

[Dovit]

In 20 years these women will be considered wanton whores for dressing so revealingly.

[dh]

Beam me up .......

[Guest]

OMG. They are nuts. They have this extreme form of OCD. Thankfully most of them are baalei tshuva, not the normal people. They are trying to convert regular normal people to their new extreme OCD religion, and hopefully the burka ban and the public outcry will stop these nutty baalei tshuva.

What crazy lives do these ballei tshuva lead when they are secular, that get them to become ballei tshuva in the first place?

[corn popper]

all that's missing now is the broom...

[tonda]

At this rate, I wonder what they will look like in a thousand years.

I didn't know Plava Laguna was haredi.

[Shoshi]

Don't be ignorant--we have evidence that this is a time-honored practice:

http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bosch/90anthon/wings/22left.jpg

[Shoshi]

For reals, though, it appears that the "cone" at the top is something in the background and/or there has been photoshopping to make it appear to be attached to the head. This is getting silly.

[ah-pee-chorus]

i support these women 100% . they should tell the rabbis theyre a bunch of hypocrites. if covering 97% of the human form is pious then 98% is more pious. besides, i've seen photographs of the women at har-sinai after the torah was given and this is how they all dressed.

[p]

Some haredi burka cult women have begun wearing a cloth-covered funnel-shaped tube on their heads under their head scarves in order to better conceal the shape of their heads.

Oh my g-d, the aliens from Remulak have landed! What we have here are the return of the coneheads. This is a job for the immigration department. (sarcy)

[p]

Posted by: tonda | December 05, 2011 at 12:57 PM

I thought Shmarya does not allow pictures to be posted by commentators? He made that clear to me last time I tried. Maybe a change in policy has occurred?

[Alter Kocker]

These women should be examined by the appropriate authorities, after all they could be smuggling under there. That point on their head could be anything from cocaine to untaxed liquor.

Detain and inspect on sight.

[ad]

The Sisters of Saint Joseph, Roman Catholic nuns wore cones on their heads.

[tonda]

I thought Shmarya does not allow pictures to be posted by commentators?

If that's the policy, my bad. Looks like tripod blocked it anyway.

For those who don't know wh Plava Laguna is (The Fifth Element), just google it.

[Contente]

I never thought I'd see haredi coneheads! For anyone too young to remember, the Coneheads was a very funny SNL bit when that show first aired all those years ago. Of course, the SNL coneheads were actually funny. These women coule

benefit from appropriate mental health care.

[maven]

The Mackenzie brothers from Second City would be proud. Hoseheads...

[maven]

Guest writes: Thankfully most of them are baalei tshuva, not the normal people

On the basis of what information do you state this?

[A E ANDERSON]

It amazes how radical Islam, already known to be a potent evil even in small minority concentrations, is influencing Jewish practice across the religion frontier and apparently inspiring this small but visible group.

I am amused by the burka phenomenon. Once, when driving on Capital Hill in DC one quiet Sunday in my little Honda Civic, I was chased around by a car-full of shrouded, giggling Arab girls who apparently took me for their day's amusement in the American capital (nearly 15 years before 9/11).

Since then, I have always endeavored to wave and say hello to the shrouded set. Typically, I bend over to the side (as I am 187.96cm) as if to peer directly into their facial aperture, and cheerfully greet them with a "peek-a-boo!" Rarely have I failed to elicit a laugh or a giggle.

[Guest]

Guest writes: Thankfully most of them are baalei tshuva, not the normal people

On the basis of what information do you state this?

Posted by: maven | December 05, 2011 at 04:01 PM

On the basis of living in Jerusalem for three years (until a year ago)

The issue now is that the baalei tshuva are actively recruiting and brainwashing regular normal women into their ranks.

Until now the rabbis couldn't care less what these baalei tshuva did. They didn't bother anyone, so who cares what they do. Just as the haredi rabbis, in general, don't bother anyone else (unless others bring their immodest women or immodest pictures or shabbos desecration into thei haredi neighborhoods - in that case they will attempt to defend and secure the nature of their neighborhoods. The only time haredis protest outside their own neighborhoods is for the desecration of graves.)

What happened now is that the baalei tshuva began convincing and brainwashing other women to join their ranks of burkas. So the rabbis needed their women to know that there is absolutely nothing holy about these burkas, and therefore came out and banned the burka, so that their women don't get brainwashed from teh baalei tshuva.

I remember one night, a burka came down the street, and the haredi men started taunting the burka by calling her "Arabiya" (Arab woman) and she ran away.

One day I saw a burka come in to a store with a young girl wearing a burka as well. She looked emotionally abused to me. I almost started crying for her. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT WELL PEOPLE.

If you care about the children, you will do whatever you can to help the rabbis put an end to this craziness. An entire city of Jews worries that this sickness will enter their families and destroy them.

[Guest]

The girls was maybe seven years old, wearing the burka.

She looked depressed.

[Anon]

OMG! The Coneheads are back.

PS. I hated that skit.

[zibble]

This gave me a laugh! The insane leading the insane. The only thing tragic is that these wackos have kids; and this is arguably child abuse.

[Joe Field]

Posted by: Guest | December 05, 2011 at 04:17 PM

We feel the same way for every charedi child, who are brainwashed with the same gusto, as you see the burka crowd.

[Gefilte Fish]

Besides tzniut, one should consider that there are other possibilities for this practice:

1. Ventilation

2. To distinguish among themselves who is a bat cone

3. They read my post recommending that they further conceal themselves by encasing their entire body in a tent.

4. They are certifiably nuts.

[maven]

Guest: I lived in Har Nof for many years, and what you are saying is ridiculous. Furthermore, the whole idea that somehow living a charedi lifestyle is only sane if one is born into it, and not if one adopts it later in life (and you saw a child, obviously born charedi), really undermines the value of living a Torah lifestyle, does it not?

[Steven]

These women are thrifty. They recycled Madonna's cone bras.

[Adam Neira]

The pipe head adherents are the extreme of the extreme. They obviously don't want anyone to know anything about them. The next step is for one of their leaders to invent an invisibility cloak. It is quite interesting to note in these days of great flux that some people's observance of certain mitzvot has become so extreme. Some people just can't handle the "Golden Mean". It's all about balance really.

[seymour]

In 20 years these women will be considered wanton whores for dressing so revealingly.

Posted by: Dovit | December 05, 2011 at 12:07 PM

maybe not

look at how the frum dress know like the poles from 1500's

so maybe in a few years this will become the norm

not stranger than the way they dress now

[Yochanan Lavie]

Maybe they will bind their infants' skulls, to elongate them,like the Mayan nobility did. This way, they can emulate the "gods."

[Steven]

Tell them to wear orange and they can be hired as traffic cones.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

As far as I'm concerned this picture is anything but modest. A cone head on a woman really "ices" the "romance cake" for me -- if you know what I mean and I know you do.

I'll be in my bunk. :-D

[seymour]

maybe they are Orthodox males in drag

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

What crazy lives do these ballei tshuva lead when they are....

To the troll dojo, report you must! Your troll fu, strong it is not.

[Shmarya]

35 years ago I went to see Steve Martin perform.

He was in that phase where he took the audience out for french fries or coffee after the show.

So we're standing outside the theater, and Steve Martin is running around in front of the crowd making witty remarks. Suddenly he goes into this cone head routine, pointing at various people, naming them so-and-so cone head, and running off to do the same to another person. Eventually, he does this to the girl I brought to the show, and is in the process of darting away as he notices the magen david or mezuzah I had on a chain around my neck. He stops, leans in so he's no more than a foot or so away from me, points right at the magen david, and screams "Cohen head!" Then he does this huge stage laugh with his hands on hips and his body bent over backward. And then he tried to find the a nearby McDonald's or other fast food restaurant, but there wasn't anything, fast food or otherwise, open within three miles, so the we missed out on the fries.

[Working4Moshiach]

Waiting4Moshiach: "We cant say the same of those seculars who force their way onto our busses sitting where they are not wanted"

Of course in your ideal world, they would be sitting where they WOULD be wanted - which is ... not on the bus.

Pesky seculars.

[ultra haredi lite]

Great story Shmarya - you should do this more often its great to see the lighter side of you.

[Yoel Mechanic]

I some thought should be given to the hypothesis that these women are engaging in a form of protest. Perhaps bizarre protest, but something to consider: first these women are flouting rabbinical authority in a rather public way. Second, they are drawing a lot of attention to themselves (hardly tznius). They are concealing their objectives as much as themselves, but they might be no more nuts than someone who sits in front of policeman and willingly get water hosed.

[WoolSilkCotton]

The frumma want the rest of us to become frum.

Some frumma, such as Chabad and Aish, actively recruit baal tshuvahs, especially going after people with depression, loneliness, mental problems, or otherwise psychologically vulnerable.

When such people do become frum, is it any surprise that their mental issues now manifest in their new-found frumkeit? They try to out-frum the frumma.

Attention all you frumma out there: You keep complaining why the rest of us Jews are not frum. If we decide to become frum, you treat us like second class citizens, or you become resentful when we start being more frum than you. So what do you want from us?

Maybe from now on, all baal tshuvahs should wear full-body tubes, black of course, with only a couple of holes to see out of.

[Adam Neira]

To Nigritude Ultramarine,

You should get out more.

(:

[maven]

"If we decide to become frum, you treat us like second class citizens, or you become resentful when we start being more frum than you."

yes, and they want you to love it. Its a very powerful feeling, akin to colonialism- they adopt your ways and suddenly you are part of a superior ruling nobility.

[Litvish]

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifies religion as a mental illness.

OCD- religion is just one of many such designations.

Religion is the perfect refuge for the mentally imbalanced.

Now you can not only be nuts but get a tax deduction for it at the same time.

And you even get to write off your spawn, hate, and Halloween costumes on your taxes assuming you even pay them.

[Aliza T.]

Wouldn't these women have an easier time just staying indoors and making their husbands, who dont work anyway, do whatever errands their running. That way they can really do kol kavod bas melech

[seymour]

do whatever errands their running. That way they can really do kol kavod bas melech

Posted by: Aliza T. | December 05, 2011 at 10:01 PM

that is a shandha that a kollel boy should do that, he wife must serve him for all his learning

do not forget the world will implode if Torah learning halts

[David]

They are not nearly tznius enough. The frumma men can get excited at the site of a three year old! Just imagine the excitement that will be caused by the fact that you can see an outline of a human form under that tent and you can even see a shoe-covered foot outside the tent. They need to wear something like a solid cylindrical frame around their bodies covered with opaque material. That way there would not the slightest hint of a human form. It would be akin to an upside down trash can moving around due to a child inside. The could see via "one-way" mirrors or better still, a video camera on the outside and a monitor in the inside. Financial transactions could be made via a "cash drawer" which, when opened, offered no direct contact or vision with the inside. Groceries could be collected via an externally mounted remote actuator arm which deposited the items in an external carrier. the cashier would have to check these and charge them so as to avoid the woman having to remove her arms from her her protective tube. She could pay from inside the tube using PayPal or other electronic funds transfer.

[David]

Actually, forget about PayPal or other EFT. This needs a smart phone and they are probably not allowed to have those - or any cell phones at all. Better to use the "cash drawer" option. The cash can come from the husband's Mea Sharim extortion racket.

[Jeff]

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifies religion as a mental illness.

Litvish, I think the DSM defines obsession with religion as a mental illness - or, more specifically, a disorder.

[Jeff]

yes, and they want you to love it. Its a very powerful feeling, akin to colonialism- they adopt your ways and suddenly you are part of a superior ruling nobility.

Posted by: maven | December 05, 2011 at 09:16 PM

This hadn't occurred to me. I think it's quite insightful.

[Jeff]

Litvish, by the way - I showed your remarks about R. Lesser to a friend, an MO rabbi who knew the family. He told me that when R. Lesser graduated from Harvard, then went into the black hat world, his family and friends disapproved; they thought he was wasting his education. My friend is pretty liberal theologically himself, and was pleased to hear that R. Lesser maintained a liberal position on issues such as sexual orientation.

When my friend was growing up here in Boston, there was a Dr. Lesser - a cardiologist, I think he told me - who was president of the Young Israel in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston. He couldn't remember if he was R. Lesser's father or uncle. Do you happen to know?

[Winston Smith in ILSOC]

They are really trying to imitate the ways of Tom Terrific and or the Tin man from the "Wizard of OZ". Will they have to use pipe cleaners for their funnels?

[Jeff]

I should also tell you that he was saddened to hear that the Right Wingers ousted and excluded R. Lesser in his old age. I've been telling him for years essentially the same thing R. Lesser told you - that Orthodoxy has been commandeered by morons and lunatics. I've wanted him to become proactive in opposing it, but he's a scholar of Hasidism, and unfortunately, he's one of those who tends to romanticize their past, so he hasn't wanted to hear it - but I think I may be making some headway. Your story helped, I think.

[under duress]

Feh, my brilliant broom and Wizard of Oz references were already posted.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Perhaps frumma women could just remain in Smart cars with the windows blacked out, and make transactions through a secure drawer, like the drive-up window at the bank.
Keeping them sealed off is essential.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Perhaps they are Cohenheads,rather than Coneheads.

[Litvish]

Hi, Jeff

Regarding R. Dov Lesser.

The Boston cardiologist you mention was his father.He was very proud of his father and gave me a book by him which I still have. Dov came from a MO home. As a teenager he visited Lakewood and became a student of R. Aaron Kotler, a fine rov of the pre-war Eastern European mode, a real model of Torah in all the positive ways.

He wanted to stay in Lakewood but his mother told him that he needed to get a BA first. So he went to Harvard and got a BA in philosophy. Then he spent the rest of his life in Lakewood. He gave high level shiurim in Gemoro. He also was very deep into musar which he shared with me since I went to a musar yeshivo in J-m with his help.

In the 70's and 80's Lakewood was overtaken by the right-wing Jewish Taliban as he called them. They threw him out and even stripped him of his pension. His wife sold jewelry to support them. He also worked with Agudas Yisroel founding yeshivos since he loved education.

After his dad died his mom cut him out of the will. His sister got most of the money. Thus, he was cut off by the frum community and also by his secular family, according to him. He died at age 61 of a broken heart. His official diagnosis was heart disease,kidney failure, etc. but, as he told me, his whole world had collapsed. He was deeply depressed and very conflicted about religion and the direction that the "Torah world" had taken. Since then it has only gotten worse.

He told me many times that if he could live in Israel he would find others who could understand and sympathize with him and his situation. Sadly, that never happened. In some ways, Israel has gotten even worse than Lakewood in this respect and that is pretty horrible.

Dov Lesser was a giant in Torah. He was one of the smartest men I have ever encountered as well as one of the most compassionate and tolerant. He lived musar like I have never before seen it anywhere. He helped me to love the musar tradition of self-help and improving oneself in many ways. However, musar, as we knew it, is very much on the wane.

I loved him very much. Unfortunately, I never realized how much he truly loved me until he was gone.
------
The DSM lists obsession with religion as a psychiatric diagnosis. That was what I wrote when I mentioned OCD - religion.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Litvish: Lesser was greater in torah. Today's "gedolim" are lesser.

[Gefilte Fish]

I just read some comments in Ynetnews regarding this story. Apparently, some of these women are now walking around in REFRIGERATOR BOXES!!!!! You can't make up crap like this!

[Jane Doe under the sack]

That's actually a dildo under that hood, but don't tell anyone I told you...

[Jeff]

Litvish, that's tragic. Fundamentalists of all varieties destroy lives. I don't know how one maintains faith in the face of that kind of betrayal.

Thanks so much for sharing it.

[Jeff]

Why did his mother cut him out of the will?

[Litvish]

Jeff

My recollection is that she was upset that when he became a rabbi he didn't have a congregation. Her idea of a rabbi was that of her local MO one.

He didn't go into a lot of detail about all of this except to let me know that is deeply upset him.

[Jeff]

It's very sad, although, I can sympathize with her anger (not that I approve). I have a nephew in Chabad. He's been studying for smicha, and is now looking for a wife. I've been trying to get him to enroll in YU (he went to Rav Soloveitchik's MO day school here in Boston and has a first class mind; he could have gone to Harvard, which obviously, I would have preferred, but at this point, I'd accept YU graciously and keep my mouth shut), but no, the Rebbe forbade secular education even though he (supposedly) went to the Sorbonne, yadda yadda... . He's throwing his life away, but I can't get anywhere with him.

Still, it's tragic. Very sad that a man of his quality should have been forced to live his declining years with all of that rejection and betrayal.

[Jeff]

Litvish, you mention that R. Kessler was close to R. Aharon Kotler - but haven't his sons and grandsons been running BMG since R. Kotler's death? Were they not as close to R. Lesser as their father was - or were they intimidated into turning their backs on him?

[Litvish]

Jeff

Sorry. I really don't know the details of who threw him out and revoked his pension.

However, I can tell you that I was not informed that my rebbe, R. Lesser, had died until long after the fact. Someone whom he had arranged for me to learn with locally ( in Baltimore) and I were conversing one day. I asked him how was R. Lesser doing since they were very close. He became silent and then said, "You didn't know. I hate to be the one to tell you. He died several months ago."

Later on I called his wife to commiserate her. All she said was, "Who told you?" Since then she had not returned my phone calls. This was the lady who hosted me for many shabbosim.

After he died all the people I knew ( the guy in Baltimore who was his havrusa in Lakewood and who R. Lesser had arranged for me to learn with; the rebbetzin) who I had known though him, just evaporated. They do not return my messages or calls.

They no longer will even give me the time of day.

My suspicion is that maybe.. this is a real maybe because I honestly don't know... just maybe the sons and grandsons of R. Aaron realized that after the gadol died they had to deal with a new world that was very unforgiving and politically to the right.

Just a guess.

[Jeff]

An horrendous story, from every aspect. Just awful. I'm so sorry.