…`Syria calls her the "Mossad beauty." But ultra-orthodox Jewish newspapers in Israel won't print Tzipi Livni's picture or her name, for reasons…
… of religious modesty.
We might write 'Mrs. T. Livni' or just 'Mrs. Livni,' but the name Tzipi is too familiar. It is not acceptable to address a woman using her first name, especially when she goes by a nickname," said an editor at the ultraorthodox Hamodia newspaper.…
"No charedi paper will publish Livni's picture," said Avraham Kroizer, an adviser to the incoming premier. "Graphic artists will blur the faces of women that do make their way into pictures that the papers want to use."
And who, pray tell, controls and publishes Hamodia?
The Gerrer Rebbe – the same man who is protecting accused man-on-boy rapist Avrohom Mondrowitz.
This would be the same Gerrer Rebbe whose followers are commanded to follow bizarre rules of sexual 'purity,' including a ban on all foreplay. These rules have no basis in Jewish law, much as the ban on printing pictures of women's faces or printing their full names has no basis in Jewish law.
I should also add Ger was instrumental in founding Israel's largest 'modesty squad,' the haredi thugs who threaten and beat haredim considered to be 'deviant.' That deviancy includes things like wearing the wrong color skirt or watching non-haredi children's cartoons.
On Sunday, Israel's president, Shimon Peres, asked Tzipi Livni to form the next government.
The NY Daily News, which reported this story, quotes Modern Orthodox author and activist Naomi Ragen:
…Ragen said it was "laughably ludicrous" not to print Livni's full name.
"Why this would be a problem is beyond the grasp of an orthodox woman like myself," she said. "There is nothing in Jewish law that would remotely excuse this behavior."
"God has no problem putting the names of many women in the Bible. Why the ultra-orthodox world feel they have to improve upon God escapes me. They are getting more and more fanatic every day."
Hard to argue with that.
[Hat Tip: Yochanan Lavie.]