Elana Sztokman

Ladies of Israel! Wonderful news! The secret truth about God’s justice has been finally revealed, in all places, in women’s shoes. Yes, Orthodox Jewish women can save men’s souls by paying attention to their own soles. According to an advertisement in last week’s Five Towns Jewish News, “sisters” are urged to bring redemption and salvation to the poor yeshiva boys who were arrested in Japan and sentenced to eight years in prison for “accidentally” smuggling 90,000 Ecstasy pills. The mother of one of the guys published this advert, in which she claims to be suffering “mental anguish and agony,” and to have “large sums of money” to help her son, some of which she has obviously now allocated to this vital cause of saving her son by getting women to follow rules of “tznius”.

The mother’s list of ways that women can liberate her son includes not only the standard “skirt four inches below the knee”, but also some additional stringencies for a more expedient salvation:

* Wearing a “refined” wig that “does not attract attention”
* Refraining from eating and drinking in public (especially when a man is around)
* Refraining from brisk walking in public
* Wearing rubber soles and thus avoiding making noise while walking
* Avoiding having cellphones ring in public and thus making noise
* Refraining from wearing excess make-up, perfume, and jewelry

Since this list has been publicized, it has been making its way through the Orthodox blogosphere, where debates have ensued about the origins of the rubber sole thing. Josh Waxman on Parshablog gives some derivation from Isiah, and the blog comments seem to indicate that while a few sane people realize that this is Taliban-like, others are wondering if this should be incorporated into “mainstream” thinking about women’s “tznius”. It is all rather bizarre, and actually a bit frightening.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, I would like to say that if parents want to save their children from imprisonment, they should think about teaching them to avoid taking “packages” overseas as favors for other people. I mean, had the mother spent some time actually educating her son instead of fixating on the noise that her shoes make, he might not be in this mess.

The very idea that a woman’s appearance (or now the SOUND of a woman’s body) can be construed as the cause of a person’s suffering is so sick. It’s horrifying, really. Boys and men are being taught that if something goes wrong in their lives, clearly it is because of the way women are dressing. And women in turn internalize this message and go preaching to one another, acting as agents of this sick rabbinic misogyny, and end up watching, guarding and reproaching other women for their bodies.

The woman’s body has become this site of discourse within Orthodox Judaism that seems to absolve everyone else from genuine self-reflection. When something goes wrong, it’s women’s fault. Look to the women, blame the women, fixate on the women, help women “correct” their bodies. This is a terrifying distortion of Jewish thought and history. The Jewish tradition has always made connections between external struggles and internal behaviors. Historically, when Jewish communities suffer, they were admonished by their leaders to give more charity, to do more deeds of lovingkindness, and to be better people towards their fellow human being. But this current trend, in which men’s lives can ostensibly be saved by covering up the women, is a stultifying misuse of traditional Jewish morality. Instead of being urged to look inward, Jews are told to obsessively look at the women. Cover them more, cover them more, cover them more!

And significantly, according to this list, there is no end in sight. There is always more to cover. The trend towards separate-sex everything is clearly a reflection of this: According to this twisted thinking, a society in which women are not seen at all is the most deserving of salvation. But really, it’s just rabbinic laziness. The trend in educating Orthodox men is this: Rather than working on being a kinder, better person, men are being taught, cover up the women.

It is imperative to break this chain of blame on women’s bodies. The discourse is reminiscent of the worst periods in women’s history, when women were burned at the stake or drowned for being bodily incorrect in their societies, not adherent to the most fanatical expectations on their bodies, daring to take such steps as to speak independently or live their own lives. Orthodox Judaism is a hop, skip and a jump from a witch hunt. Given these rhetorics, it’s only a matter of time before women start to be systematically hurt by the fanatics.