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This is a question about skirt lengths. From this answer:

The halacha is that "tefach b'isha ervah" - a tefach (about 3.5 inches) uncovered on certain parts of a woman's body is ervah - nakedness. (B'rachos (24a) in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak). The arm must be covered at least to the elbow and the leg must be covered at least to the knee.

[...]

Rabbi Getsel Ellinson (Woman and the Mitzvot: Volume 2) - Pg. 186, note 37, writes that it is probably okay to pray as long as there's less than a tefach uncovered above the elbows and knee. However, it is certainly absolutely forbidden to pray in the presence of a woman whose skirt does not cover past the knees when she is sitting down, because the skirt will not cover ervah.

My question is as follows: if opaque stockings (tights) are worn under a skirt, may the skirt then be any length? Would a skirt that hits more than a tefach above the knee be acceptable in this case (presuming that the skirt falls within the bounds of aidelkeit and concern for the local standards)?

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    You're going to get very different answers based on hashkafa here. Mar 14, 2013 at 16:24
  • 2
    Don't the last two sentences of the block quotation contradict one another? Am I missing something here?
    – msh210
    Mar 14, 2013 at 16:28
  • @msh210 Yes, except possibly in light of the stockings issue. For example, a skirt could be a tefach above the knee as long as the upper legs are covered (i.e. by stockings) when she is sitting down...maybe? But good point.
    – SAH
    Mar 14, 2013 at 16:59
  • @CharlesKoppelman yes, I imagine so. I guess I'm most interested in a strictly halachic answer. Obviously people have strong opinions about how far it is necessary to go beyond that, and no choice of dress will please everybody.
    – SAH
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:01
  • Is the Gemara saying that they must be covered, or that prayer may not be recited on front of them?
    – mevaqesh
    Jun 18, 2015 at 21:51

3 Answers 3

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Reb Shlomo Zalman Orbach zt"l writes in Minchas Shlomo 103:15 that exposing the stockings is Pritzus and is considered Gilui, since clothing that is usually covered is akin to exposing the flesh. He bases this on the Bach and Shach in Yoreh Deia 340:22 on the Halacha of when a woman rips her clothing for kriah that she turns it around. They write that this is although she doesn't rip everything.

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    Wouldn't this just depend if the stockings are a clothing that is usually covered or not in that place? The question was asking about reasons that were not location dependent.
    – Double AA
    Jun 19, 2015 at 2:29
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Well I suppose you ask how that compares to just wearing pants altogether.

IIUC Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (and I haven't seen this inside) felt that in addition to "thigh", the "split of the legs" should also be covered, therefore pants were inadequate. So ask me how far down a skirt has to go to cover "the split of the legs"... I don't know.

The other issue would be if something is covered, but the clothing is too tight. Not in the spirit of tzniut, but hard to argue from a traditional definition of ervah per se.

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    I'd very much like to see that RMF inside if you can track it down
    – Double AA
    Jun 19, 2014 at 4:57
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There is still a problem of hirur(improper thoughts) see Igros Moshe EH 4:100:6 where he mentions this issue.

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  • See meta.judaism.stackexchange.com/a/76.
    – msh210
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:19
  • I'm pretty sure this type of response was excluded by the OP.
    – Double AA
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:21
  • @msh210 thats what the tshuvah says its not a long tshuvah.
    – sam
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:25
  • @DoubleAA I am not sure how my answer did not answer the question.
    – sam
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:26
  • @sam "(presuming that the skirt falls within the bounds of aidelkeit and concern for the local standards)" and from comments: " I guess I'm most interested in a strictly halachic answer. Obviously people have strong opinions about how far it is necessary to go beyond that, and no choice of dress will please everybody."
    – Double AA
    Mar 14, 2013 at 17:29

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