[Avodah] Kol kevudah: a woman's place is in the home

[Chana Luntz]

RJR writes:

> So you are saying that if the entire outside world decided  
> that a woman's  pinkie finger  were considered the ultimate 
> female ervah, that Jewish women would not have to cover their pinkies?

No, I was thinking more along the lines of, if the entire outside world
decided that it was mandatory to walk backwards, and nobody is allowed to
walk forwards, we would not necessarily adopt that practice (and in fact
might regard it as darkei emori).  The question is, when do we say that we
do adopt the practices of the outside world, and when do we flat out reject
them and in fact ban their adoption based on darchei emori.  My sense is
that the answer lies where the practice gells with some aspect of
yiddishkeit - and for that, one can use a pasuk in Nach to demonstrate such
a linkage.  I think that the pinkie issue would fall into the latter
category, because we would say, as a general rule of thumb, ideas of
covering and ervah do gell with yiddishkeit.

> KT&ST
> Joel Rich

Shabbat Shalom

Chana