onionsoupmix

10:13 am: Stay Ahead of the Curve

 Part of the orthodox lifestyle is this great game, called "Frummer Than Everyone Else in Shul." 

This is a fun and enjoyable activity. You and your family choose something extra to take on in frumkeit to outdo your neighbors. Then they follow your example and also take on another chumra. The ball's back in your court! The one who dies with the most restrictions, wins! 

I know that some of you readers are a bit stumped as to what to do next. Should I fast an extra hour? Should I pretend moshiach already came and not fast at all? Should I have another child even though I can't afford tuna fish for supper for my kids? Should I insist on only a certain brand of meat that has been supervised by lubavitcher shochtim? Should I buy 212 cholov yisroel instead of plain CY? Should I make my three year old wear tights in the summer heat? How about when she is two? Maybe we should insist on tznius clothes for all the Barbie dolls? Should I get undressed under my bedcovers so the walls of my room don't see my immodesty?

I know, I know what you are thinking. All of this has been done before. What new, creative chumra can I think of that is approved by rabbonim and will earn me jealous looks for my future olam habah? 

Well, lucky reader, I am here to help you stay ahead of the curve! Thank God, shawls are not just for rabbanit Keren anymore. The use of shawls for ladies has been approved by chassidishe rabbonim and in fact, these gedolim are encouraging women to wear coats on top of their tznius outfits when going out in the street so as to embrace them in modesty! Read for yourself below or see the original. 

 

 

Regarding Ultimate Coats, Rabbi Shraga Feivish Hager, Kosover Rebbe in Boro Park, writes that he has been troubled for years that when Jewish daughters go to smachos they are dressed in their finest Shabbos and Yom Tov outfits. Of course, they are going to a mitzvah in making their friend happy, especially kallos at their weddings. Nevertheless they are going through the streets or on the Boro Park/ Williamsburg bus, etc., where there are married men and bochurim. He has long been searching for a solution. Thank Heaven, the Kosover Rebbe writes, that righteous women have come up with an answer. A nice thin overcoat that will guard them well. Though it may be hot in warm weather, it is a good thing, he says. Rabbi Getzel Elyakim Berkowitz, Kiryas Yoel Dayan, in a letter written last year, also praises the new garment for street wear, especially when going to smachos.  

Maybe, chas ve shalom, you think that this rule only applies to followers of these groups. Well, that is why I am writing this for your reading pleasure.  Mark my word- very soon, every frum woman will have a special coat to wear in the summer over her regular clothing, so the shape of her body will not be seen. Overcoats are going to be the next hottest thing in tznius! No pun intended.  Buy one now before your neighbor gets one! And if you are a man, remember: you are king of your castle! You set the standards in your home! You must insist that your wife wear a coat when in the street, regardless of the temperature. Be the first one on your block! Order now! Get your reward later! In Olam Habah!

Tags: rabbis, tznius, women

08:59 pm: Women in Judaism, Again, Sorry.

A woman sees a stain on her bedika cloth. She knows from past experience that this color is fine. She does not need to ask a rav. She simply continues her count. She needs to ask no shailah, despite the fact that she is essentially paskening for herself and she is nogeah badavar, a biased party.

This scenario is common and this course of action is accepted in all frum circles, even the most chareidi among us. 

So here is my question. If women can be trusted to pasken for themselves based on prior experience and knowledge, why can't they pasken for others or even for themselves in other areas? Many piskei halacha are just that, deciding something by comparing it to prior experiences and knowledge. Is this chicken kosher? Is this type of birth control permissible? Is this action allowed on shabbos? Rabbis don't have any special magical powers. They just look in a book and recall their experiences, like everyone else.

I know that there is an institute in which women are training in hilchos niddah in Israel.  From what I understand, it is considered very modern and many groups do not allow women to get their answers through them. Also, as far as I know, there is no such group in America. 

In any case, my question still stands. If women are too stupid to pasken for others, they certainly should not pasken for themselves and every stain needs to be brought to the rav, regardless of how he paskened last time on the very same question. If they are intelligent enough to pasken for themselves, why can't they do so for others?  If the problem is that women should not take a public role, that is also difficult to defend in this day and age. Some of those women who are prohibited from taking public roles as rabbis, end up as public speakers, doctors, lawyers, ceos, shluchim, principals, school directors and so on.

Tags: hashkafa, rabbis, tznius, women

02:08 pm: Select Quotes for Your Reading Pleasure

From Imamoron:

There was a girl that was niftar in bklyn. She came to her friend in her dream and told her that she is in gan eden but not her legs bec. they were never covered the right way. I don't know if this is a true story or not but there is a lesson learnt. I always make sure that I cannot see the little stuff on my legs through my panty hose. 

                                                       *********

A tzaddik saw what was happening up in hell, and once he heard a woman screaming. Then he saw that malachim were taking certain clothes out of a big vat of boiling water, and putting it onto a woman who hadn't dressed with tznius when she was alive. Whichever part of her body wasn't covered properly while she was alive was now covered in boiling hot clothes. 
 



Tags: imamother, tznius

06:43 pm: On Jeans
So after work today, I went to Walmart to buy a water filter and dishwashing liquid. 

On the spur of the moment, I decided to try on a pair of jeans. 
Wow. 

Boy, do I look cute in jeans. Way cuter than any skirt I have worn. 

This is how people go off the derech. Rabbis should forget about banning televisions and cell phones and separate seating concerts. They should just ban going shopping at places that sell cute jeans. 

So, really now. What will happen if I wear jeans? Will my kids be messed up forever and ever? Will they need years of psychiatry to sort out their complex feelings? Should I expect my daughter to drop her well-worn Lord of the Rings and pick up a copy of How to Be Brittney Spears in Five Easy Lessons?

Are there any females here who wear pants? What do your husbands think about that? Do you have children? Anyone here ever gone from wearing skirts to wearing pants and how did the tarring and feathering thing work out for you?

Tags: tznius

12:14 am: Kosher Cell Phones


So here is an ad for a Kosher Cell Phone, click to enlarge. This company promises protection from unsavory and inappropriate content and no more internet or text interference. A little asterick lets you know that they will allow access to text message services for your business with written permission from your local Rabbi.  I hope they also will excuse you from gym class with a note from the nurse's office. 

The thing is, it is not that easy to access the internet with a cell phone. I tried to go online tonight and look at unsavory and inappropriate content. I couldn't even get onto google.  Okay, yes, it is true that I am not a hormonally-crazed and tech-savvy teenage boy with the best brand cell phone and the most expensive plan, but according to this logic, when will it ever end? We now have kosher cell phones, what about kosher streets? Why shouldn't rabbonim assur all streets where a wi-fi connection can be established? So for example, here's a true story.  Some people on my block do not have the internet in their homes, on principle. These people's children then come on occasion and park in front of my house and sit in their cars on the street and use our wireless network. If we had kosher streets, this wouldn't be a problem. Or would it? We still have libraries in this town and there, they even provide you with the computers. So maybe we should have kosher towns and cities. But then hormonally-crazed and tech-savvy teenage boys will be able to drive a car to the next city over and find their library or wi-fi connection. Maybe we should assur cars, except as needed for business with the permission of our local Rabbi. Lord knows how many untznius things could happen in a car. 

Prohibiting televisions and internet is somewhat understandable for those communities that try to insulate their members from the outside world because those devices are designed for entertainment and marketing from the outside world to you. In contrast,  the cell phone is not a marketing tool just yet. Right now it is designed to call your mom and ask her to please pick you up from school because it is raining and you don't want to walk home. It is not easy to accidentally stumble on "unsavory and inappropriate" content and if you do, millions of windows will not suddenly pop up, tempting you into a life of pritzus.  On the other hand, if you are actually using your cell phone to text the Hot Channie next door to meet up with you for a massage therapy session,  a kosher cell phone is not going to stop you and neither will a kosher street or a kosher town.   

So what is this about? For whom would a kosher cell phone vs. a normal one make a real difference?

Tags: hashkafa, tznius

07:38 am: Molestation

I don't usually write about molestation, even though this is a favorite topic among the blogosphere Jews. But here is something I need to point out. 

An overly heavy focus on the modesty of very young girls inevitably creates the impression that young girls are desirable sexually and that this desire is condoned by halacha so they need to cover up. Yes, I do know that perverts exist in all segments of society. No, I don't know that there are any more religious sickos than secular ones.  But it is very strange that the chareidi/chabad community is waking up to the dangers of pedophiles but still continues to insist that anyone over the age of two adhere to full tznius dress. Those of you who don't understand that last sentence, please answer the question: Is it normal for an adult to be attracted to a three or four year old whose knees and elbows are not covered? If not, why do we insist that they be covered?

A letter written by a reader in the most recent  Chabad Neshei News: 

While I love your annual Chof Bais Shvat picture gallery of all the adorable little Chaya Mushkas, I object to the fact that over the years I have noticed that some of them are not fully tzniusdik. In particular, their necklines are not according to halacha, and they are over the age of three. Why not fix their necklines with Photoshop the same way you fix their sleeves? When I brought this up with a friend, she replied, " Come on, these little girls are four or five years old." Their necklines don't matter because they are not fully grown? According to halachah, Tznius must be kept from the age of three. This is confirmed by Lubavitcher Rabbonim. You wouldn't consider showing pictures on your cover of little Chaya Mushkas eating traif, would you? Halachic Tznius for little girls over the age of three is just as important as kashrus. " Rejection of any one Miztvah is tantamount to rejection of the entire Torah" (Chullin 5a). Please don't throw away this crucial Mitzvah because the girls are young and babyish. they deserve better from us, and we deserve better from the N'Shei Chabad Newsletter. 

Lady, what is wrong with you? Is it the same thing that is wrong with the designer of this website? What exactly, will happen if these girls' faces are not blurred out and their necklines are not photoshopped? Will they grow up to be harlots? Will all who see them start dressing their children in Britney Spears fashions?  Will they cause men to sin? What about sheep? The sight of sheep may cause some men to sin as well. Why don't we blur out facial images of sheep and insist that our sheep wear modest attire? 

P.S. I also remembered that hilchos yichud start at age three for a girl. It really does look like halacha is condoning pedopheliac tendencies, if not the behavior. At some point, a while ago, RJ argued that the yichud rule is really for the protection of the girl because she cannot get her halachic virginity back if she is raped after three. That would be a good argument were it not for the fact that no such rule is in place for yichud between a brother and sister, son and mother, etc. So incest is not seen as a plausible problem, but pedophelia is, ending up with the same result, that the tendency to find young females attractive is more recognized in halacha than other deviancies.

Tags: tznius

10:24 am: You gotta love it!
 
Count the black velvet yarmulkahs in this section of men who were arrested for soliciting an undercover officer. Article here.



And for everyone who is going to write some stupid crap about how every community has its bad apples and blah, blah, blah: Get this straight. I don't care if your husbands are porn addicts or visit hookers on a regular basis or even if they snort cocaine on yom kippur. 

What I do care about is the extreme hypocrisy  and double standards of everyone involved, the men, the shuls, the rabbonim. If one of the pious wives of these gentlemen decided to wear jeans or uncover her hair or (gasp) attend a shul without a mechitza, you can bet that the next day her children would be expelled from their black hat schools and her husband would file for divorce. And that's in a nice community, where they won't damage her car or spray her with bleach. Because of course, yiddishe women can't behave or look like those terrible meshugeneh goyim, with their crazy clothes and attitudes. We are the chosen people, better, holier and smarter than everyone else.

And I'm still waiting for the Kol Koreh from the rabbonim about visiting prostitutes. So far, all I have are the ones about how all the problems in the world, famine, deaths, wars are attributed to women whose skirts slide slightly above their knees when they sit. 



Tags: bans, hypocrisy, sex, tznius

10:57 pm: Birkas Hagomel
 
A  good friend of mine was in a car accident with her children. I hope to God she is not reading this. 
It was a serious highway accident in which her car rolled over and her kids were injured. Broken bones, cuts and bruises, one needed surgery. They are now fine, thank God, recovering from this ordeal at home.

Her husband was not in the car with her. 

He is not allowed to say Bircas Hagomel for her or for his children, apparently. And she is not supposed to say Bircas Hagomel because it is immodest for a woman to make a blessing in public, according to the Mishnah Berurah, as I found here. 

So here are my questions: 

1. Logically speaking, why is saying bircas hagomel more immodest than say, a woman saying a blessing outloud in the presence of men in any other situation?  More immodest than saying "leishev basukkah" when there are men in her sukkah, or saying a bracha over her piece of challah at the dinner table, or even at an Amein party, the latest crazy thing people do to gain themselves more favor in God's eyes? It's not like the woman is trying to be yotzei anyone by saying bircas hagomel, she is just trying to thank God publicly for her survival. 

2. Emotionally speaking, who the hell is my God that He considers it immodest for a woman to thank Him for surviving a car accident or cancer or some other horrible thing? Who are the men who would be aroused by such a display of public immodesty? Which hole did they crawl out from, when can they go back there and why are halachos being built around their bizarre fetishes? 

3. Why do I even care? In her place, why would I want to thank a God for my survival, a God like this one, who doesn't want to hear from me, unless my immodest prayer is in a quiet whisper, in my kitchen, behind my burkah?   



Tags: shul, tznius, women

04:57 am: It had to happen...

 

It was almost predictable. The first two pictures of the Rebbetzin are the ones used in most chabad articles. Other versions of it can be found through google images.  The third picture is the one in the most recent Neshei Newsletter. As you can see, the neckline was nicely colored in to conform with tznius guidelines. I guess I should just be happy her face was not blurred out. 

What is Orthodoxy coming to if  publications feel the need to photoshop pictures of their icons to match the latest right wing trend? I guess the idea is that young women should not be encouraged to wear open-collar blouses just because the rebbetzin dressed this way. Right?

Tags: rebbetzin, tznius

05:57 am: Don't Laugh Too Loud
 
Last night, I went to a speech by Chana Gilman, the former national sales director for Anne Klein. The event was titled "From the Fashion World to the Religious World- a Journey to the Real World." 

Okay, before you start wailing abut why I bothered going, I will just tell you. First of all, she is supposed to be a good speaker. Second, the event was not organized by chabad. Third, I have not gone out anywhere for a while, so I thought it would be interesting and a chance to meet some different people than the ones I usually hang out with.

The bulk of her speech was actually not bad. She talked about navigating becoming religious with her high position in the world of fashion. Figuring out how to keep her job and keep shabbos, negiah, the support of her supervisors and co-workers, etc. 

Then towards the end, she went into a whole thing on tznius and today's society and the brainwashing that takes place among young women, blah, blah. It was all the usual things.  The skirts are too short, the maternity dresses are too tight, the clothes are made out of Lycra and the jackets are too red. All that went in one ear and out the other, I have heard that gibberish so many times before. I was a bit annoyed when she started telling some touchy-feely story about a lady who decided to go to mikvah and suddenly all the high school girls, at the urging of their mothers, got up and left the room. Like they don't know what mikvah is or won't be using one in the next couple of years. Like even the mention of anything remotely connected with sex is taboo, even if you are over fifteen and the topic is clearly a religious one. 

But what annoyed me most is when she mentioned that the hardest thing for her, in terms of becoming more modest, was toning down her personality. Not telling the best joke, not laughing too loud. Those are her words, I did not add anything. 

So is that what tznius is? Not laughing too loud? Changing your personality? Becoming a wallflower? 
Again, in the post-feminist era, tznius is supposedly about people focusing on the inner me, on the internal characteristics that make me unique. As opposed to say, my hot body, which is so distracting to men that if I were to put on a pair of slacks to work, they would suddenly forget that I have brains too. Insert rolling-eye emoticon here.  But now we are supposed to tone down our personalities too? Why? So the creative, interesting people won't stand out, won't be noticeable? What's that whole thing about how Orthodox women aren't second class citizens and are actually empowered by these rules? Empowered to what? To blend in? To go along with the crowd? To look and think and laugh and talk like everybody else? Yeah, that's really empowering.  

Tags: tznius

10:05 pm: On Inner Clarity
 I'm going to try to make this post deliberately vague to protect the identities involved. 

In a recent women's periodical geared towards the orthodox female, a brief letter was published entitled, "Tznius and Inner Clarity". In this letter, the author urges frum women to provide dress guidelines for their "not-yet religious" female guests or give them clothes to wear when they show up in non-tznius attire.

 The letter is peppered with pearls of wisdom such as Providing clothing guidelines to a woman is a chesed which empowers her to fit in and feel comfortable...inner clarity results in action that is simple, direct, honest and kind... it is a kindness to avoid exposing our husbands, sons and male mispallelim to the sight of inadequately dressed women...

The bulk of the letter describes a rebbetzin who is praised as the paragon of inner clarity in that she  always requests that women cover up while in her shul. She is polite but straightforward. She explains that the shul is a holy place and men can't say brochos or divrai Torah in front of  a woman who is improperly clothed...she has extra sweaters and blazers to lend that are appropriate for every season. Rarely does anyone protest in the face of this Rebbetzin's inner clarity...her attitude is that it's nothing personal. This is the halacha. She is very clear in her own mind and therefore displays not a drop of anxiety about conveying the message that despite the moral relativism that prevails in secular society, in her G-d oriented world the halacha isn't open to debate. All these women show up properly clothed the next time. And countless women return week after week for more knowledge and guidance from her...

Anyway, as a frequent receipient of this woman's uh... inner clarity, I would like to attest that in fact, it is true that most people do not protest when told to change their clothes. That is because they are scared shitless of her. Last Yom Kippur she made a scene and threw out a teenage girl who came in jeans and wouldn't put on a skirt. Yeah, the author of the letter must have missed that part.  When I was pregnant and wore tops where the collar began below my collar-bone, she made a little bib out of tissues for me to wear and insisted that I put it on.  Although there probably are some women who do come back properly clothed the next time,  there are plenty more who don't come back at all. If anyone has actually been to this shul, you will know that the women who return week after week are not "countless", there are probably five of them and they are all Russians who enjoy the free kiddush meal. 

My point is not to bash this woman. She has had a hard life and 85 year old women can be as bitchy as they want to be, in my book. My point is for the shluchim and shluchos who read this magazine. This whole here-is-a-coat-you-need-to-wear-so-our-shechinah-won't-be-compromised mode of kiruv is not a good idea. It will not work. You will turn off so many people and then they won't come to shul at all. They might even write a rude blog post about you and your inner clarity. Stop being condescending and obnoxious. You want people to dress more modestly? You dress nicely and be a kind person, be a a good friend. Be funny, be real and wear fashionable clothes. Don't be holier than everybody else. Don't harp on tznius as the number one of the ten commandments. Look for the good in people and make them feel that their status in your eyes does not depend on what they're wearing. In this here post-feminist era, tznius is theoretically supposed to be all about focusing less on the external and more on the internal. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

Tags: shul, tznius

10:27 pm:  
Are all Lubavitch bochurim this stupid? Or just the ones who waste their time on chat forums? 

Honestly, I'd love to say that it is just the idiots, a small percentage of chabadnicks who have very little between the ears, but sadly, no.  Another example. For the past several issues, a raging debate in the Neshei newsletter has focused on whether women are allowed to have pregnancy magazines in the home. Most letter-writers feel strongly that this is a big issur as a man might be tempted by the voluptous and untznius feminine forms in those magazines. 

Soon to come: why curvy tree trunks are assur.



Tags: stupidity, tznius

01:15 pm: Basically, Stop Jerking Off Already...


 From Prayer to be Said Before Watching A Movie :
I am hereby willingly and readily preparing to bind myself to the Sita Acher... I am fully prepared to see Keri while I sleep.

 From Your New Jewish Diet Plan :

Tikun for Pgam Hmachshavah for thinking impure thoughts is to fast 87 fasts. This includes thoughts of impurity, thoughts of atheism, thoughts of disbelief in the sages and thoughts of hate against fellow Jews.


 Other ideas include: 

* For example, if a person, heaven forbid has a habit of being Pogem Habris while in bed. This person should take a lighter or box of matches and put it by his bed. He must then firmly make up his mind that next time he has an urge to be Pogem he may do so, as at this stage he might not be able to prevent himself. However first he must burn his hand..

* If a person is experiencing a strong urge to be Pogem Habris, he should deflect this desire into food. He should go and by himself 4-5 hamburgers or a full tub of ice cream. He should then place all his temptation into that until he has nullified it...

*A person should even waste this period of time playing computer or video games, any thing that will keep his mind occupied. (These must be totally free of impurity)..

*Many people have mirrors in their bathroom. These should be removed, for the eye sees the heart desires and then a person sins.

* If you are alone in a room, growl at them, yell out "Get away from me, you defiled, wicked Klipot. You are not my friend you are my worst enemy, all the suffering that I have suffered is only because of you."

 
It took me a moment to figure out who Keri was and why I should not see her  while I sleep. Also, I think that if we have boys who eat 4-5 hamburgers or a full tub of icecream, then the wicked women will also be responsible for the rising obesity rates among adolescent males. On the other hand, it will be nicely balanced by the 87 fasts and such. It all works out in the end.

Tags: sad and funny at the same time, tznius

04:06 pm: BREAKING NEWS: Urgent Psak Din

A question has come up on a women's forum regarding whether or not shoveling the driveway is a tznius behavior for a woman. 

***************************PSAK  DIN **********************************************************************

In response to this, I, Hagaonit, Harabbanit Onion Soup Mix, have researched this issue extensively.  I have read all the sifrei halacha that address this timeless question and reviewed the numerous shailos and teshuvos that pertain to this sensitive matter. After an exhaustive study, I must conclude that shoveling the driveway is a coarse, unrefined behavior that does not befit a Bas Yisroel. Not only that, but due to the darkness of this Golus and the depth of the depravity of the society around us, I must  inform you that women are also not permitted to move furniture, mow the lawn or take out the trash. Additional questionable behaviors include: washing the floor, vacuuming and possibly, according to some poskim, folding laundry. These immodest activities are best left to husbands or goytehs. 

 A G-d fearing woman, a true Bas Melech, will also recognize that the most tznius behavior includes sitting on the couch and eating chocolate bon-bons or pints of icecream, alternatively. And as it is said, Vekol Hamarbeh Harey Ze Meshubach.
 
Although this psak  may be hard to accept for some, we must always remember that the modesty of Jewish women is of utmost importance to Hakodosh Baruch Hu and we must all sacrifice for  the noble goal of preserving the Kedusha of Am Yisroel. 

With Blessings during this Winter Season,

Hagaonit, Harabbanit OSM. 

*************************************************************************************************************

Tags: psak din, tznius

01:06 am: Good to Know

 
In this week's Jewish Press, an advice columnist informs us that the tragedies that befall Jewish women today, such as molestation, abduction and even premature death, all occur due to... wait....wait....scroll down... a lack of tznius! This advice columnist was thus informed through a friend's dream about her deceased relative who lives a happy life in Olam Ho'emes due to her modesty during her sojourn on earth. Yeah, read that sentence again. Her friend had a dream in which a dead relative told her that all the problems in the world are because of a lack of tznius. And she thought this so insightful as to publish it in a newspaper.

I was surprised to read this as I am sure you were. When I read about abductions and molestations, I think about bad guys who were not taught right from wrong or impulse control. I think about people who were abused and now proceed to take it out on others. I think about criminals who have lost their right to breathe the same oxygen on the same planet as I do. When I think about young people dying from terrible sicknesses, I think about all the reasons that I have been taught that bad things happen to good people. Usually none of those make sense and I put those thoughts away for a time when I'll surely be smarter and wiser and know what to make of these reasons. 

If I was the type of person to blame tragedies on people's behavior, which I am not, I might look at the lack of ahavas yisroel in the Jewish community, the way sefardim are excluded from ashkenazi schools, the way geirim are treated, the way shidduchim are conducted, the way some rabbonim look the other way when they see bad guys. I might look at  religious men who visit hookers and own slums. I might look at the agunah ordeals or how other groups are marginalized in the Jewish community.

 But apparently I would be looking in all the wrong places. When I have a question about a death or an illness, I have no place better to look than down at my uncovered collar bone and my too tight skirt. Well, good to know. As always, the world continues to turn and people are born and people die based on our hemlines, ladies. Take note. When choosing an outfit to wear tomorrow, make sure you don't accidentally kill someone.

Tags: tznius

06:12 am: Deconstructing Tznius
A reader emailed me recenty with a transcription of an Ask Moses discussion about tznius. Ask Moses is a well-known chabad kiruv site.  This exchange nicely illustrates the typical kiruv strategies and touchy-feely emotional arguments.


Tags: kiruv, tznius

11:05 pm: Tznius Police

Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 529:4 חייבים ב"ד להעמיד שוטרים ברגלים שיהיו משוטטים בגנים ובפרדסים ועל הנהרות שלא יתקבצו שם לאכול ולשתות אנשים ונשים ויבואו לידי עבירה. וכן יזהירו בדבר זה לכל העם שלא יתערבו אנשים ונשים בבתיהם בשמחה ולא ימשכו ביין שמא יבואו לידי עבירה אלא יהיו כולם קדושים Mishnah Berurah (on the section of warning the people etc.): הנה באמת דבר זה חיוב תמיד להזהיר ולמחות מי שיש בידו אלא שברגל מצוי הקלקול ביותר Shaar HaTziyun: ובעונותינו הרבים נתפרץ קלקול זה בזמנינו באיזה מקומות גם בימות החול ועון גדול הוא ומי שיש בידו למחות בודאי מחוייב למחות

Translation: Beis Dein is obligated to appoint policemen on Yomim Tovim to patrol in the gardens and orchards and on the riverbanks so that men and women don't gather there to eat and drink and come to sin. And they should warn the entire nation not to mingle, men and women, in their homes in joy and continue on with wine, lest they come to sin. Rather, we should all be holy. The Mishna Brura adds that it is a constant obligation to warn and protest when you are able to, it's just that on holidays the problem is greater.  Shaar Ha'Tziyun adds that due to our many sins, this corruption has spread in our times in various places even on weekdays and it is a great sin, and whoever can protest is certainly obligated to do so.

 
The extremism seen with regards to tznius in some Orthodox communities today appears to be nothing new and actually encouraged, if not mandated, by halacha. Anyone know, halachikly, what the shotrim were allowed to do to enforce these rules?  Were there fines? Beatings?  Who was in charge of making sure they didn't go overboard? What were the requirements to be one of these shotrim? 

 Why does halacha think people need to be policed in this manner? Either you have the self control not to sleep with your neighbor's wife, in which case Judaism might work for you, or you don't in which case Judaism ultimately won't work for you, regardless of how many shotrim remind you to keep it in your pants on yom tov. 

Yeah, I know there is some Rabbi Akiva story that relates to this question, something about how he saw a demon in the shape of a beautiful woman and couldn't help himself. I never really understood that story. I know, I know. I can never understand the difficulties men encounter every day because alas, I am female. So let's hear from the men. Hypothetically speaking, say you desired the wife of your neighbor and found yourself chatting her up over an adult bevarage at your shul's shabbos kiddush. Would a patrolman, like described above, be of any use to you?

Tags: tznius