What Our Holy Ancestors Valued

Hear from One of the World's Foremost Experts on Tznius

You don't know me but I am one of the world's foremost experts on tznius. I know particulars of tznius that the greatest scholars in the world do not know. I refer not just to the scholars of today but to those of a generation ago. I surpass them.

How can this be? How can a man whose name you have never heard, who is unknown in his home town, even to neighbors on his street, surpass the world's greatest scholars in matters of halacha?

It can be precisely because I am not a great scholar. Rather, I am an average man. A significant portion of the purpose and rules of tznius are designed to protect the average man from sin. So if you want a guide for tznius, go to the average man and ask, "Does this attract your attention?" "Does it put inappropriate thoughts in your head?"

So I am here to tell you that shells and their accessories are a major problem. They put thoughts in the head. The idea behind the shell is to take an immodest garment like a "Pins And Needles Daisy Lace Peplum Tank Top" and pair it with an elastic, clingy, shiny, and tight fitting shell in the wild hope that somehow the product will be modest. One is reminded of the expression that two wrongs don't make a right. If you prefer mathematical equations: immodest plus immodest does not equal modest. 

Shells are essentially leotards. Dancers wear them precisely because they show off the body and free the body for unrestricted movement. Shells are bathing suits. Bathers wear them because they show off the body and free the body for unrestricted movement. Is a Jewish man permitted to visit the beach? Can he go to Broadway to watch Cats or Chicago? Then why can he go to a chasunah, to a shul on Shabbos, to the streets of a frum community, or to anywhere that Jewish women prance about in their shells, their leotards, their bathing suits?

Shall we all move to Lakewood. No, because they wear shells in Lakewood. They wear shells everywhere. The Satan slipped this insanity called shells into every community that I have visited other than Monroe. Shall I become Satmar? Is that what I must do to be in a place where the average frum woman (there are proper individual women in every community) dresses like a bas Yisrael and doesn't fall to this folly they call the shell?

A decade ago, maintaining modesty was difficult. Now it's easy. Buy any kind of garment you want, mix it with a shell, and you are kosher. This sudden switch from challenging to easy should give us pause.

Consider an analogy. Keeping kosher can be highly challenging for people who work outside of Midtown Manhattan or Jewish Brooklyn. Even in NY metro areas such as Jersey City, there's no kosher food to be had and a person has to be careful to pack lunch or suffer. And what happens if you pack lunch but find that you have to work late? Potato chips for dinner?

What if I proposed to you a simple solution? Buy any food you want and wrap it in a kosher pita? Don't worry about the kashrus of the food. Just stick it in a pita. Suddenly, what was once difficult is now a breeze.

This obviously facetious suggestion is equivalent to the faulty logic behind shells as the panacea for modesty in women's clothing. Buy whatever you want as long as you pair it with a bathing suit. That essentially is what's going on today. Let's make it as easy as possible on the ladies as if easy creates kedushah and gets you into heaven. Are you really doing anyone any favors with such an approach?

Meanwhile, the men and the boys go from the goyish environments to the Jewish and still can't get a break, still can't open their eyes as they cross the intersections. We hear much about the dangers of the Internet. It's time for an asifa on shells even if it upsets some of the wives and daughters. It's not so hard to challenge and attack the goyish inventions. Can we challenge our own?

Leader who's looking for pity

"If someone tells you the gentiles have wisdom believe them" - Gemara. You can apply the following idea where you see fit.

"There's nothing more pathetic than a leader who's looking for pity."

Jim Tressel

An Open Letter Concerning the Immodesty of Shells Worn as Outer Garments

An Open Letter Concerning the Immodesty of Shells Worn as Outer Garments

My Dear Chaveirim,

The wearing of elastic, tightly fitted, and thin shells as outer garments by women in the Orthodox Jewish community is becoming widespread. In the view of numerous rabbanim with whom I have sought guidance, the shells worn as such often violate laws of tznius as well as those prohibiting following in the ohudv ,ueuj. I am writing to you to direct your attention to the issue.

Shells originally entered the Orthodox Jewish world as a mechanism for countering mild transparency in women’s garments. Worn as an undergarment for blouses and dresses that were borderline modest, the shells added bulk to the materials to render them opaque. While not the pinnacle of modesty, this approach did help to achieve a basic modesty for women that struggled to find intrinsically modest garments in stores. It is important to note that the shells purchased for this purpose were sized to be tight-fitting so that they would fit under the outer garment. They were constructed of light and elastic material for the same purpose.

In recent months however, many women have taken to wearing the same tight-fitting shells with garments that are not themselves modest in any sense of the term. I refer to tank tops, vests, halter-tops, spaghetti string tops, short sleeve shirts, and sleeveless dresses. The idea seems to be that pairing a patently immodest garment with another patently immodest garment will somehow yield a modest one. However, the wearing of tight-fitting shells as an outer garment on the shoulders, back, arms, and, chest is immodest.

On the subject of tight-fitting clothing and shells, the distinguished posek HaRav Yaakov E. Forchheimer, t’’yhka, of Lakewood, New Jersey, writes as follows:

A woman’s clothing is not merely intended to cover the body, but to conceal its shape as well. For this reason, clothing should be loose-fitting, not snug. An outfit that covers as required yet shows one’s figure incites the yetzer hara and is therefore forbidden. In addition, an article of clothing can often fit so closely that one can make out the shape of the undergarments. This is also forbidden. Clothing made of certain materials (such as Spandex, Lycra, microfiber and the like) can be particularly problematic as they are stretchy and clingy and can make a garment too form-fitting even if the garment is the right size.

This is applicable to shells as well. A shell worn in a manner in which it is clearly visible (such as if the upper garment is left somewhat open or if the shell is worn under a lace top) must be loose, so as not to reveal the shape of the body. Recently many of the shells on the market have a very snug fit. These shells may not be worn in the above manner.

Many people have some difficulty in defining for themselves what falls into the category of tight or form-fitting. Unfortunately, today’s frame of reference has changed due to the fact that clothing is being manufactured in tighter styles than in the past. What used to be perceived as normal can mistakenly be seen as oversized by today’s norms. In addition, the manufacturers are deliberately mislabeling the garments leading customers to purchase clothes that are too tight for them (for example, a woman who knows her size to be a medium will buy a garment labeled “M”, which really should be labeled small). To help one make the proper judgment, it is strongly advisable for every woman to have someone reliable to whom she can show her clothes in order to determine what is appropriate and what is not. In addition, a woman should keep in mind when shopping that the labels are misleading, and that in order to find something appropriate for her true size she many need to purchase garments one or two sizes larger than usual. (kkv,, thv, A Practical Guide to Tznius, pp. 32-3, published by iuhkd, 62 Arosa Hill, Lakewood, NJ, 08701)

In personal communication with the writer of this letter, Rabbi Forchheimer stated that it is prohibited to wear tight clothing on the shoulders and “It is a proper and recommended practice to cover the upper arms with a loose garment.”

As HaRav Pesach Eliyahu Falk t’’yhka explains in his book Modesty – An Adornment for Life, p. 292, the power of the arms to attract is clearly noted in Torah literature. The Midrash (Bereishis 80:5) tells us that the exposing of Dinah’s arms triggered the tragic incident with Shechem. Rabbi Falk points out that the Chofetz Chaim zt’l and the Gerer Rebbe zt’l wrote public letters that specifically mentioned the need to cover arms. Says Rabbi Falk, “This should strengthen our realization that a woman’s arms have a powerful effect of inviting undesirable attention.” It is the view of this writer that today’s skintight elastic garments produce an effect similar to that of exposing bare arms.

In addition to violations of tznius, the wearing of shells with intrinsically immodest garments involves a possible Torah prohibition against following in the ways of the gentiles. Rabbi Forchheimer writes as follows:

The ost ,nfj writes that one who wears non-Jewish styles of clothing transgresses the  t,hhruts ruxht of  ufk, tk ovh,ueujcu (among other ihutk), which is punishable in beis din with ,uekn. This issur applies to any style of clothing which the goyim manufacture for the sake of pritzus. (A Practical Guide to Tznius, p. 35)

There are options other than shells for women who seek a garment to supplement dresses and tops that do not fall under the category of ohudv ,ueuj. These options, which are widely available, are blouses and dress shirts. Made of a stiffer, thicker cotton or polyester, they do not cling to the skin and reveal body shape. These garments are in themselves modest or borderline modest such that pairing them with another garment will render a far more acceptable look than a shell with the same garment. Every school day Bais Yaakov girls in uniforms wear modest dress shirts.

It should go without saying that this letter is not meant to minimize the general challenge faced by Jewish women in maintaining tznius in this deeply troubled era. It should also go without saying the tremendous importance, the centrality, of tznius within the community and in the religious service of Jewish women. As the Midrash says about Hashem’s formation of the first woman, “As He created each limb, He said to her, ‘Be a modest woman, a modest woman.’” (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 18:2)

With hopes for the speedy arrival of Moshiach,

A Concerned Member of the Community

Solomon Eliezer Alfandari

Masa’ot Yerushalayim’ and the ‘Sabba  Kaddisha’ R. Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari

By: Moshe Maimon

One of the greatest and most unique Torah scholars, Sephardic or otherwise, of the past 100 years was R. Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari . His life spanned about a century[1]and his prolific rabbinic career included stints in Istanbul, Damascus, Safed and Jerusalem. Besides for being an outstanding scholar with a near-photographic memory he was also extremely diligent and was a prodigious writer of responsa and novellae. Additionally, he was renowned as an independent thinker and outspoken critic of many of the societal norms prevalent around him including Zionism and modernity, and he had little tolerance for those who he felt had strayed from the torah-true path.[2] This quality earned him many admirers and not a few adversaries, but all admitted that R. Shlomo Eliezer’s sole motivation was the truth and he did nothing for personal gain. Indeed, despite his considerable means, he lived a life of asceticism and completely shunned any form of publicity.

http://seforim.blogspot.com/2013/04/masaot-yerushalayim-and-sabba-kaddisha.html