Here's a great gift idea for a bat mitzvah or graduation. The Tznius Ruler! Now you can be absolutely certain that you're always showing the right amount of Torah True leg skin. Perfect for people who don't own mirrors or can't judge for themselves if their own knees are covered.
See the pictures, and read the rant after the jump.
Know who I blame this on? Isaac Leib Peretz, that's who. In like, 1904, he wrote a silly little story about a wandering Jewish soul who was denied entry to heaven until he appeased the saints with three gifts. Rather then imitate the magi and their three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, our little soul went searching for evidence of good Jewish deeds. The second he found was a bloody pin. It had been used by Jewish girl to attach her skirt to her leg to prevent the skirt from flying up as she was dragged by horses to her death. A nice story, but only a story. Yet, I've heard it told more than once by Rabbis who (a) think the story is true or (b) think it was told by a teacher of musser rather then an atheist story-teller; or (c), worst of all, imagine that, in an emergency, our sainted Jewish grandmothers would have all, without hesitation, pinned their skirts to their legs, because They Valued Modesty and We Do Not.
What needs to be remember is that along with Valuing Modesty they also Tolerated Slavery and other deep, and terrible anti-Torah offenses against human dignity. By using items like this ruler to fetishize their modesty which, like their values, was merely a fashion of their time, we deemphasize how far we have come in other, arguably more important arenas
See the pictures, and read the rant after the jump.
Know who I blame this on? Isaac Leib Peretz, that's who. In like, 1904, he wrote a silly little story about a wandering Jewish soul who was denied entry to heaven until he appeased the saints with three gifts. Rather then imitate the magi and their three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, our little soul went searching for evidence of good Jewish deeds. The second he found was a bloody pin. It had been used by Jewish girl to attach her skirt to her leg to prevent the skirt from flying up as she was dragged by horses to her death. A nice story, but only a story. Yet, I've heard it told more than once by Rabbis who (a) think the story is true or (b) think it was told by a teacher of musser rather then an atheist story-teller; or (c), worst of all, imagine that, in an emergency, our sainted Jewish grandmothers would have all, without hesitation, pinned their skirts to their legs, because They Valued Modesty and We Do Not.
What needs to be remember is that along with Valuing Modesty they also Tolerated Slavery and other deep, and terrible anti-Torah offenses against human dignity. By using items like this ruler to fetishize their modesty which, like their values, was merely a fashion of their time, we deemphasize how far we have come in other, arguably more important arenas
No comments:
Post a Comment