Monday, February 7, 2011

hechsherim

the newly proposed charedi hechsherim on women's clothing in israel is beyond me. i feel like the chumrahs that have been imposed lately have turned frum life into a tragic comedy. tragic for those who might try to adhere to these chumrahs and comedy for those of us who sit on the sidelines.
there are laws of modesty in judaism. if there are actual hechsherim on clothing this means that frum women can only shop in certain clothing stores that carry clothing with hechsherim. a savvy move for clothing store owners, not so nice for the rest of us.
what i want know is what will be included in this hechsher. i don't think that a sleeveless vest could be included in the hechsher. if it  was then women may think that they can wear this sleeveless vest alone. a short sleeved t shirt would not be kosher because someone might think that this could be worn alone. only long sleeved shirts or dresses could be included in this hechsher to avoid confusion.
putting a hechsher on clothing is kind of like forcing people to recycle. we know we should be worried about these issues and the government  or local businesses would like to profit from our lack of conscientiousness.
modesty is important, but i think that the rabbis who have conceived this folly would be better serving the jewish community if they were thinking of less ways to scam other jews and more time thinking of how to encourage jews to employ more kosher business practises. if not we will all be in trouble

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