"…Last month, under the headline “Another Hasidic Yeshiva Bans Plastic-Framed Woody Allen-Style Glasses,” Mr. Rosenberg posted a letter apparently sent to parents of children at the yeshiva run by the Pupa Hasidic sect, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Because several students recently created a “disruption with respect to dress,” the letter says in Yiddish, “we feel that it is important to clarify that our pupils should maintain the traditions that are fitting for a Hasidic pupil.…”
Woody Allen
The New York Times has a piece on the various hasidic yeshivas' "Woody Allen" eyeglasses bans:
FailedMessiah.com, the muckraking blog written by the once-Hasidic Jew Shmarya Rosenberg, is best known (and, in some quarters, loathed) for posts exposing crimes suspected of being perpetrated by Hasidic and other highly observant Jews.
But Mr. Rosenberg blogs about every aspect of the community, not just its legal troubles. And lately, he has delved into fashion.
Last month, under the headline “Another Hasidic Yeshiva Bans Plastic-Framed Woody Allen-Style Glasses,” Mr. Rosenberg posted a letter apparently sent to parents of children at the yeshiva run by the Pupa Hasidic sect, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Because several students recently created a “disruption with respect to dress,” the letter says in Yiddish, “we feel that it is important to clarify that our pupils should maintain the traditions that are fitting for a Hasidic pupil.”…
You can read it all here.
Note the yeshivas claim that what was once kosher for a yeshiva student to wear is not kosher now becuase non-Jews who are fashionable now wear them, ignoring the fact that these same glasses were worn by their predecessors in the 1950s and early 60s – when they were fashionable and were worn by business leaders, the rich and even rock, pop and jazz musicians, as well as rabbis.
Today, there is a much larger variety of eyeglass frames available, and this allows groups – like hasidic sects – to create differentiation where previously none (or almost none) existed.
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