A UOHC spokesman insisted, however, that there would not be any “modesty patrols” to enforce dress and other standards. Instead,
the Va’ad L’Toihar Hamachneh will "follow up and will investigate and
do its best to solve the problem, according to guidance of the rabbis.”
(The complete poster is posted below.)
London Haredi Rabbis Open “Modesty Hotline”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Stockings the wrong color or too sheer? Skirt too close to knee length? A yeshiva student seen speaking to a woman?
Never fear.
London haredi rabbis have opened a “modesty" hotline to report immodestly dressed or immodestly behaving haredim to their rabbis, The JC reports.
Yiddish and English pashkivils (posters) were posted in synagogues advertising the mobile phone number of the new Va’ad L’Toihar Hamachneh (Committee for the Purity of the Camp) hotline.
The haredi umbrella organization the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations reportedly said the committee and hotline are not UOHC projects, although rabbis belonging to the UOHC had launched them in response to “public demand.”
A UOHC spokesman insisted, however, that there would not be any “modesty patrols” to enforce dress and other standards.
Instead, the Va’ad L’Toihar Hamachneh will "follow up and will investigate and do its best to solve the problem, according to guidance of the rabbis,” the group claims.
The posters also claim that calls to the modesty hotline will be treated confidentially.
Update 2:20 pm CDT – What follows is a translation of the Yiddish section of the poster sent in by a London source:
Committee for the pureness of our Neighborhood
Important Notice
Due to public demand and with the encouragement and supervision of the esteemed rabbis of UOHC (may they live for many good years), we would like to inform that we have set up a special new-
Committee for the Pureness of our Neighborhood:
Tel: +44 7443 181516
Consisting of a group of rabbis and askunim in a discreet manner.
The line is suitable to call:
· If you come across a suspicious place that has breached the walls [guarding our] holiness or that needs supervision
· If you see a suspicious person who is breaching the walls of holiness
· etc.
A message can be left on the phone line where it be listened to by someone from the board, and will be handled in the most refined way possible with the help of god.
· Your details will be kept in the strictest confidence
· If possible, leave a phone number when we can call you back
· It is crucial to leave your message even if you do not inform us of your name.
· The committee will peruse and investigate and do the best to deal with the problem – in accordance with rabbinical guidance.
May it be the will of god that this will produce a sanctification of god's name, and with god's help in the merit of guarding the walls of modesty we will be blessed with a spirit of purity, and the world will be full with the knowledge of god with the coming of the righteous messiah, imminently in our days. Amen.