Haredi Girls School Bans Aqua Colored Shoes

"Your daughter came to school with aqua- colored shoes. This is from the colors that are not allowed in school."

One half of the pair of offending aqua colored shoes

The unnamed school is allegedly in Brooklyn. The picture of the letter and the shoe along with the translation were sent to me by a haredi source familiar with the situation:

We tried to contact you.

Your daughter came to school with aqua- colored shoes. This is from the colors that are not allowed in school.

Sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any questions please call into the school - ____________

Thanks for your cooperation.

Mrs. _____________   

Comments

[Shoshi]

Reminds me of public school. . .

[AE]

Not sure what the story is here. Dress codes are fairly common in schools across the spectrum.

[seymour]

was it the aqua- colored shoes or simply a different color than what everybody else wears

[under duress]

My eyes! My eyes are bleeding from the glare! The shanda!!

[Shoshi]

Probably many people whose kids are in Jewish schools don't realize what's happened in public (and private) schools with regard to strict dress codes or uniforms.

Back in the 70s, you could wear whatever you wanted to school, as long as it didn't have actually offensive writing on it, or exposure actual nudity (as determined by laws on indecency). Girls wore tube tops and halter tops, and short-shorts. Boys and girls wore tank tops and flip-flops (which we called "thongs" but I cannot do that now without reducing my children to embarrassed giggles).

I do remember one boy getting in trouble for wearing a t-shirt that said "Makin' Bacon" on it, with a cartoon drawing of two pigs doing that. They told him to turn it inside out. Of course the attention drawn to it by the administration made him (and many others) think he was extra cool.

But today the permitted colors and styles are very specific. Our son who is in public school had to sit in the office until I could bring him the right pair of pants--even though it was "dress down" day, that meant jeans are ok but not sweatpants. Another time I had to bring him a sweater (of the correct color) because they don't allow kids to wear hoodies in the school.

[Tangerine]

What's next? How about females just stay home and never leave the house. Going to school is too modern

[Beth Frank-Backman]

You lived in a different 70's than I did :-)

Dress code: saddle shoes or hush puppies. They loosened up late 70's and I could, gasp!, wear penny loafers.

Skirts: dark blue or grey; pants only when the temperature was below freezing and you rode the school bus so had to wait outside. Pants had to be light blue or grey, slacks or corderoys. Jeans were not allowed.

Shirts: Oxford button downs or Peter pan collars only. Must have sleeves down to at least mid arm.

If you were cold? A blazer or dark blue/grey cardigan.

But I have no complaints because I got a really good education.

The real question here: do they care as much about her schoolwork as they do her shoes?

[Expatriate Owl]

I always knew that the color red caused me to have impure thoughts and become tumeh. This is the first time I have ever heard that aqua has the same effect.

Perhaps I should go see an endocrinologist.

Meanwhile, how long was the line at the mikveh on account of all the men who saw the aqua shoes and had impure thoughts?

[ah-pee-chorus]

god hates aqua. thats why he didnt create it.

[maven]

Its because of Rand Paul's worship of Aqua-Buddha. http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2010/08/gq-exclusive-rand-pauls-crazy-college-days-hint-theres-a-secret-society-involved.html

[Freedom]

I believe that anything and everything goes including ones birthday suit.

[Jake]

In the 70sor 80s girls were prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes.

The theory being that boys woul look Dow n at the shoe s and because of their high polish they would be able to look at the girls legs and see their panties. That never workedbfor me.

At MTA we had to wear ties.

Shoshi, what HS did you go to.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Carl Perkins (Blue suede shoes):

Well, it's one for the Rebbe, two for the snood
Three to dress modest like a Jewish girl
But don't you, banish my aqua shoes
You can do anything
But lay off of my aqua shoes

You can kick me off the bus, spit in my face
Speak loshon hara all over the place
Do anything that you wanna do
But oy vey rabbi lay off of my shoes
You can do anything
But lay off of my aqua shoes

You can burn my house, you can scam my "Kar"
Drink kiddish from a gefilte fish jar
Do anything that you wanna do
But oy vey rabbi lay off of my shoes
But don't you, banish my aqua shoes
Well, you can do anything
But lay off of my aqua shoes

Well, it's one for the Rebbe, two for the snood
Three to dress modest like a Jewish girl
But don't you, banish my aqua shoes
You can do anything
But lay off of my aqua shoes

Well, it's aqua, aqua shoes, etc.

Well, you can do anything
But lay off of my aqua shoes

[heshyfriedman]

I applaud the yeshiva and their enforcement of students dress codes. Its not always a tznious issue but one where poorer kids may become jealous of cloths worn by wealthier kids. By having all kids dress in the school uniform all kids feel equal. I salute the chareidi schools in their wonderful job of continuing the unbroken chain of Judaism from mount sinai to today. Kol hakovod. Keep up the good work. Be proud be joyous.

[who knows]

"I salute the chareidi schools in their wonderful job of continuing the unbroken chain of Judaism from mount sinai to today. " HeshyF

Hmm, the latest reformers (aka haredi) "continuing unbroken chain... from mount Sinai"? What I drinking Heshy?

You are so very funny! Perhaps you should consider carrier of stand up comedian. Next you'll tell us that Moshe was wearing shtreimel, capota and high socks at mount Sinai..

[MarkfromShortHills]

"You can burn my house, you can scam my "Kar"
Drink kiddish from a gefilte fish jar"

YL, when I see a couplet like this, I just rejoice. Truly priceless!

[ah-pee-chorus]

YL-

'shkoyach'

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks Mark, APC.

[Me]

YL second line is missing a syllable

You heretic

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

Sitting on a park bench
eyeing little girls with bad intent.
Snot running down her nose
smelly feet wearing aqua-colored shoes.

[AztecQueen2000]

Hopefully, they're learning a lot to justify such control. But that may not be the case.
http://aztecqueen2000.blogspot.com/2012/04/educational-neglect-in-school.html

[David]

No problem if the school specifies the shoes be of a particular colour or style.

But if the shoes are allowed to be any colour, except prohibited colours such as aqua then this is ridiculous.

They want their whole world to be a dull grey, black and white.

[SkepticalYId]

They are really tacky shoes! Seriously, can't she get into some nice Manolos or at least some Ferragamos?

[Hometown Postville]

Aqua blue.... the color of water... conjures up swimming.... are you getting the picture? I see a prepubescent female in a bikini.... shame shame shame!! Black and red... popular negligee colors.... think ladies of the night.... ooops! Cross black and red off the list too!

[Steven W]

Makes perfect sense to me. With YL's rock-n-roll backup, we should all know that the Devil wears a blue dress....

[Elly Bromberg]

I presume that aqua has become "treif" as it is now a "Zionist" colour :D

[Malka Gittel]

I must be color blind as I just didn't think "aqua" when I saw the photo. Is there perhaps a chart that illustrates which shades are not tznius?

[Malka Gittel]

Beth, you went to public school in the 70s and that was the dress rule at your school? My mother bought me wildly nice stuff and the other students mostly thought I was deranged for being a serious clothes horse - no one else wore anything but jeans if they could help it, and the "in" "mean girls" were a better-dressed jeans and denim skirts crowd with more makeup.

[Chaver]

Seriously, where does it say that the colors allowed are for tznius reasons? This is a school dress code, if they don't want too much variation among school shoes, fine.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

It is a proof of the existence of God that

A) there's a news story about stupidity about blue shoes; and
B) there is a classic song about blue shoes; and
C) 3 hours later YL masterfully puts them together.

Well done, once again!