Haredi Modesty Booklet Urges Women To Stay Indoors, Not To Use Shampoo If They Do Go Out

A woman's place is in the home, away from strange men she may arouse in the marketplace, claims a new haredi modesty booklet.

Ma'ariv reports that the booklet urges haredi women to stay at home.

They should chose to pay bills on the phone using credit cards rather than go to payment centers to pay in person, even if this costs more to do.

The should have items delivered whenever possible. Classes and studies can be done through phone-lines and CDs.

And if they do have to go outside, they should think carefully about how they look and how they smell. In fact, women should not use good-smelling shampoo, the booklet says, and they should not shampoo or use sweet-smelling soap before going outside so they don't cause men to sin.

Comments

[Yaffa]

For the sake of the journalistic accuracy - especially for the non-Hebrew readers - some mentions about the authoers the 'recommendations' - a marginal cult and not a mainstream group - were necessary.

[Expatriate Owl]

Pay the bills by telephone? Then you have the kol isha issue.

Why don't they just pay the bills via the Internet?

[S M L]

Hm. So a female person in thick tights, long sleeves, long skirt and a wig pushing a baby carriage with a couple of other little ones clinging to her provokes uncontrollable, lustful desire in these guys. May I suggest blinders, those special glasses that obscure forward vision and clothespins on their noses. Would hardly (haredily?) look any more absurd that way than the way they do now.

Sad.

[David]

Pay the bills by telephone? Then you have the kol isha issue.

Why don't they just pay the bills via the Internet?

Posted by: Expatriate Owl | December 20, 2012 at 05:19 PM

Because you then have the Internet issue.

[David]

A woman's place is in the home, away from strange men she may arouse in the marketplace

Well that is true. They would indeed arouse STRANGE men. For the rest of us, no problem.

[Seymour]

No shampoo. I thought they shaved their heads

[A. Nuran]

Past Neurosis, through the Crazytown business loop and headed towards the Batshit County line

[Rachael]

Who put out this booklet? I think to give this story some credibility this is a critical piece of information that is missing.

[Maskil]

Posted by: Rachael | December 20, 2012 at 05:47 PM

BeNafsheinu, a non-profit "close to" the burka sect, published via Beth HaYotzer.

It's written in Israeli Hebrew, not Diaspora Hebrew, clearly intended for women (and with out an attempt to appear as having been written by an actual scholar - as when that happens they get a lot of details right but they always screw up somewhere), it's like the equivalent of something written in Yiddish instead of Hebrew back in Europe.

Thanks for asking. I was actually kinda scared about this move, but these people seem to manage to remain steadily on the margins of society and will never be properly accepted (not to say that we might see something similar tomorrow coming out of Bet Shemesh, just that this isn't on that level yet).

[Woody Cocker]

My freakin' Lord isn't it enough they don't douche???

(always leaves a bad taste in my mouth)

[dd]

sick! what kind of education is that ?
those rabbis mess them up.
they should use shampoo to feel good for themselves . who cares about the others, the public, and what men should think .
the haredi world is a sick world .

poor women , they have no right to feel good , bc of men around them ? or they have to stay indoors , locked up ? even in the muslim world they are allowed to go out { with a burqua , so that men cannot see their face } . at least, they are allowed to go out .

[SkepticalYid]

Posted by: Maskil | December 20, 2012 at 06:22 PM

Am I correct in assuming that this group has very few adherents?

[Hometown Postville]

LOL! Those poor women. How dare they venture out and entice these men who apparently have absolutely no self-control and/or are sex maniacs. Covered head to toe with material and fake hair, sure conjures up an erotic vision, huh?

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Maybe if the women dressed and looked like men it would be ok to go out?

(Being reminded of the rock throwing scene from the life of brian)

But it would not work, as the men in the street would still be aroused by the feminine looking men walking around.

Maybe if women had their tzit-tits hanging out they could not look? ( bad joke; i know.)

[Maskil]

Posted by: SkepticalYid | December 20, 2012 at 07:37 PM

http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D

More than I thought. The article states that there are about 10,000 Haredi women who wear burkas, but this includes the Keter Malchut group of Jerusalem and the Taliban Mother group of Bet Shemesh. Now I'm not certain whether this was published by the former or the latter. Recently, someo of the followers have been putting a funnel on top of their heads - under the burka - in order "to obfuscate the human form."

I didn't realize that there were that many all together.

Both groups are ba'ali teshuva. The Bet Shemesh group follows the woman who abused her children and did prison time. The other group is lead by a woman who claims to have mystical insight and actually had an affair with the husband of one of her followers, and when confronted about this convinced her that although she is physically married to her own husband she is spiritually married to the other woman's husband ... and so it was okay. I'm writing from memory now, so don't ask me any more questions about these groups. At firtst I was relieved that the burka cult was behind this, but 10,000 women is by no means "very few."

Then again, I got that number from Wikipedia, which is the most accurate source of information because anyone can edit it. [/cynicism]

[SkepticalYid]

Posted by: Maskil | December 20, 2012 at 08:20 PM

Thanks, and good points. Wiki is a populist rag.

[jancsibacsi]

The only thing that will straighten out theese extreemists is taking away all their entitlement no money no honey i guarantee you they will all come to their senses and fast let them go hungary if they dont work for a living i would let them grownups die of hunger no pity none whatsoever if they want to act crazy and ignore all reason let them die no pity.

[you r joking]

hahahahahahahahaha must be purim

[Normal]

It's always the ultra ugly women are sucked in to this Taliban way of thinking!

[NeverFrum]

The idea that a woman should not go to the marketplace is straight from the gemara...I once heard someone actually give a lesson on this. This is NOT based on some whacky fringe group's teachings. Not that you can't learn some lessons from the gemara that apply to today's world, but to regard it as some sort of divinely inspired work that must be followed in its entirety is ridiculous.

[Shmuel]

Order by phone? What happens when the delivery boy comes round and smells her shampoo?

[danny]

(Apologies to the Smiths "Panic")

Pritzus on the streets of Williamsburg
Pritzus on the streets of Jerusalem
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be krum again?
The neck line that you slip down
I wonder to myself
Hopes may rise oy vey ismere
But Hamantash, you're not safe here
So you frown now
No shampooing your "downtown"

But there's panic on the streets of Bnei Barak
New Square, BP, Ramapo
I wonder to myself

Burn down Beis Yaacov
Hang the blessed Rebbe
Because the chumrot that they constantly schrei
It says nothing to me about my life
Hang the blessed Rebbe
Because the chumrot they constantly schrei

On the Crown Heights streets that you slip down
Provincial garb that you schlepp round
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe,
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe
Hang the Rebbe, hang the Rebbe....
(continue to fade)

[Rochel]

Even on crowded subways, I don't get close enough to anyone to smell their shampoo, so the men writing this are totally looney. I think they just like to come up with new made-up rules each day.

[David]

I think they just like to come up with new made-up rules each day.

Posted by: Rochel | December 20, 2012 at 11:16 PM

That's what happens when you don't work or do military service and have too much time on your hands.

[A. Nuran]

Coming soon...
Niqab
Ritual scarification
Tongue removal
Clitoridectomy

[Atheodox Jew]

booklet urges haredi women to stay at home

I'm tempted to say "live and let live", since I suspect the women who read this booklet are spiritually inspired by this philosophy.

HOWEVER... Philosophies like these, when enough people are "inspired" by them, condemn everyone else in the community to that life - whether they like it OR NOT. What starts off as "freedom of religion" with some pretense of "choice" ends up literally incarcerating women. Because living in such a community, with all eyes and expectations on you, not knowing anything different, not being educated, believing it's the "ratzon Hashem" itself - unless you're the rare exception who has the good sense and Herculean strength to buck the system or get out, you effectively HAVE NO CHOICE.

[Ben]

They are simply trying to follow Rambam (Maimonides). I believe it is he who wrote an opinion that a woman's place is at home and she should not leave it more than a few times per year and even then with a guardian.

Rambam is not a fringe extremist. He is as mainstream and authoritative as authoritative could be. "From Moses to Moses there nobody like Moses"

[Gefilte Fish]

Perhaps Rambam was reacting to the possibility that some Jewish women may have been subjected to kidnapping and forced marriage/conversion. Were there any other rabbinical authorities of note who advocated this (besides modern-day loonies)?

So, this is what happens when the crazies start looking to out-frum the other crazies. It's not enough to dress with extreme tsniut---now it's un-tsniusdik to practice rudimentary hygiene.

[A. Nuran]

Moses ben Maimon was a great man. He was also afflicted with bizarre sexual fetishes and phobias. And he grew up culturally in a Medieval Arab country. Even the greatest have their blind spots and trip over their shmekeles from time to time.

[SkepticalYid]

He also believed that if a Jewish man had sexual relations with a non-Jewish woman, the Gentile woman deserved to be put to death.
So it's entirely possible that his cultural/theological outlook was (by our standards) severely misogynist.

[Eli]

So their husbands can run the errands. It's not like haredi men work anyway.
Though their nuts if they think any guys will be turned on by most of these women. Quite frankly, I'm still perplexed that someone manages to have sex with them often enough to have so many kids.
Time to start encouraging hijabs and burqas. Though cover their eyes too so they don't emulate the ways of goyim and assimilate, chas vsholom

[A. Nuran]

"Put to death"

Damn. So shiksas aren't just for practice, they're completely disposable.

I'd love to see the Tallitban try that with my wife. We'd see if tehillim can stop bullets, knives, fists and teeth.

[No_Light]

Bravo Danny!
Love that song.

[leah hauser]

Its no wonder that so many women are on anti-depressants and anxiety meds.How are women supposedd to feel good about themselves if they can't even shampoo their hair? This nonsense has to stop!!! Leave us women alone!!

[Shragi]

One of Ezra's ten takanot before settling Israel was that women use shampoo.