[Avodah] Taliban Women and More

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Tue Jun 12 09:28:03 PDT 2012


On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 07:45:11AM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote:
> A long time ago I was asked to deal with the so-called Jewish Taliban  
> women, who completely cover their faces when they go out. I know that  
> everyone has downplayed their significance and referred to them as  
> crazy. I think that this is too optimistic an assumption. Although I am 
> not predicting it, I would not be surprised if this turned into a real 
> phenomenon.

I would. Because "everyone had downplayed"... The same "everyone" he
expects it to catch on to.

>                                             Sotah 10b is clearly praising 
> Tamar when it mentions that she was so modest that she covered her face 
> in her father-in-law's house. R. Joseph Messas (Mayim Hayyim, vol. 2, 
> Orah Hayyim no. 140) points out that Shabbat 6:6 refers to Arabian Jewish 
> women going out veiled, which means that their entire face was covered 
> except for their eyes. He also points to Shabbat 8:3: , which as 
> explained in the Talmud refers to those women who were so modest that 
> they were completely veiled, with only one eye showing in order for them 
> to see (see Rashi, ad loc. See also Rashi to Isaiah 3:19.) Messas tells 
> us that in his youth he personally saw Jewish women who dressed like 
> this.  R. Meir Mazuz's mother testified that brides in Djerba would only 
> show one eye, also for reasons of modesty.

And ROY mentions that in most Edot haMizrach, before forced to flee their
countries of origin, girls covered their hair. While R' Ovadia uses this
point as a side-support to his pesaq that sei'ar be'ervah ishah applies
to single girls too, it hasn't caught on even among people who recall
this norm from life in "the old country". Why should I think burkas
would be any different?

It also points to the weakness of these cited supports on a theoretical
level. Das Yehudis depends on social norm. Citing social norms from
cultures that are barely surviving in their own countries (and the
holdouts are murderously angry at the West over that assimilation),
never mind how remote they are from life where Jews today actually live.

So, I think on pragmatic and on ideological reasons, these fears are
ungrounded.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org         - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
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