[Avodah] Publishing Pictures of Women

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Yitzchok Levine wrote:

> This week's paper contains another letter urging the paper not to
> publish pictures of women. In part this letter says, "The Gedolim
> have already expressed their opinion to omit pictures of women
> from frum papers and if the FJJ considers itself frum it should
> be no different." There is no mention as to who "the Gedolim"
> are.

"Their opinion" is an unfortunately vague term. Not only don't we know who these "Gedolim" are, but we also don't know exactly what they said. Was is merely a suggestion, or did they claim such photos to be assur? We don't know.

I also find the phrase "from frum papers" worthy of comment. What would those gedolim say about publishing such photos in a publication aimed at other Jews, not specifically shomrei mitzvos? It is possible that even those gedolim never intended to declare a prohibition upon all Jews in all communities, but only a chumra to be followed in specific communities.

> Can anyone supply sources regarding teshuvos about this issue,
> both pro and con? There are a number of books published by
> Artscroll and Feldheim that do contain pictures of women, so I
> have to presume that there rabbonim who permit this.

To me, the fact that a certain publisher has published such photos proves nothing. It's possible that a prohibition exists, but that these publishers were unaware of it, or had forgotten it, or followed different poskim. It is also possible that when those photos were published no prohibition existed, but nowadays different rules apply, and a prohibition does indeed exist.

Personally, I have noticed the lack of women's photos in certain publications. Regardless of whether or not any poskim actually forbid them, I can easily understand that certain people might prefer not to see such photos, and I can also understand that some publishers might want to accommodate those customers, and I commend them for it.

Akiva Miller

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