15
votes
How Do Modern Orthodox Women Typically Dress?
There is a wide variety out there. I'd recommend Googling some synagogues that you might visit post-pandemic, and often there are photos there of its members. That should give you some sense. If you ...
- 136k
10
votes
Is it against halacha for a woman to play a musical instrument in front of a man?
The Aruch Hashulchan (75:8) discusses the prohibition of a man hearing a woman singing, which is based on the statement of Shmuel in the Talmud (Berachot 24a)1:
קול באשה ערוה שנא' (שיר השירים ב, יד) ...
- 48.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Help with a quote from the Talmud regarding the good old days
You may be thinking of this similar passage in Talmud Bavli (BB 91b) with Sefaria trans.:
ואמר רבי יוחנן נהירנא כד הוו מטיילין טליא וטלייתא בשוקא כבר שית עשרה וכבר שב עשרה ולא הוו חטאן
And Rabbi ...
- 12.1k
10
votes
Accepted
Wearing special clothes in public while in niddah- isn't this a lack of tznius?
R. Moshe Feinstein has a responsum (Igrot Moshe Y.D. 2:77) with the following question from R. Avraham Chaim Levin:
הנה במקום שיש אחרים רואין אם יש דיני הרחקות באשתו נדה שמסתפק כתר"ה דאולי יש ...
- 50.3k
9
votes
What's with Rus sleeping over with Boaz?
Ok so here are some answers some from me and many based on Rav Yosef Deutsch's Let me join your nation (Feldheim)...
The reason Rus went at night specifically was because it was a given that Boaz ...
- 34.5k
8
votes
Talmud passage relevant to #metoo
The reference is to Sanhedrin 19a where it is recorded that R Yosi enacted in Tzippori that women speak to each other aloud when in the outhouses so men would hear them and know not to come in (which ...
- 101k
8
votes
Mekoros book for עוז והדר לבושה
Based on some Internet research, it appears that the Sefer you are looking for is Levushah Shel Torah, available on Otzar Hachochma here. It is by the same author, and described as "sources and ...
- 21.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it fine to go shirtless: While exercising? When home alone? In other situations?
Yalkut Yosef Hashkamat Haboker 2:1
Whenever someone conducts himself respectfully because he wishes to
show honor to God, and displays his awareness that God's Presence
fills the entire universe, he ...
- 14.7k
7
votes
May a man become a gynecologist?
R Abraham Abraham (Nishmat Avraham, vol. 2, p. 134) writes that "Rav (Shlomo Zalman) Auerbach told me that a man may learn a medical or paramedical profession, since they involve pikuach nefesh". He ...
- 54.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Tznius in the modern world
R. Moshe Feinstein in Iggerot Moshe Even HaEzer I 56 rules that one may walk outside, even though he will see inappropriate sights, if he’s doing so for his livelihood or other needs. He even extends ...
- 46.6k
6
votes
Accepted
The practice of (not) printing pictures of women in magazines and newspapers under religious auspices
The Nitei Gavriel wrote a letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe about publishing the pictures of the Rebbetzin, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe's response (in bold):
ב"ה, י"א אדר [תשמ"ח] לכבוד כ"ק אדמו"ר הגה"ק ...
- 40.8k
6
votes
Why do Jewish women wear so much black?
Well, for starters black matches with everything so its the easiest color to wear.
- 113
6
votes
Accepted
How was it permissible to send the daughters out to dance?
R. Yitzchak Abadi has a responsum (Ohr Yitzchak Vol. 2 Inyanim Shonim #10) in which he writes as follows:
וזכורני שישבתי לפני זמן רב בחתונה עם הרב שמעון שוואב ז"ל ולא היה שם מחיצה וכשהתחילו ...
- 50.3k
6
votes
What was the size of the כָּתְנוֹת עוֹר?
The Bartenura on that verse says that the כָּתְנוֹת עוֹר covered their entire body - I guess like a long robe.
He explains that this is the reason the fig leaves needed to be replaced, because they ...
- 44.7k
6
votes
Accepted
When did knee-high skirts become the standard of Haredi women?
In terms of when, we can point at least to the 1940's era. Here is an image from the 1940s of Beis Yaakov girls. The article discussing it details how, in later printings, using Photoshop, sleeves ...
- 21.1k
6
votes
Tznius concerns by a Sota
Points 1 and 2 are addressed by the Mishnah and the Babylonian Talmud; Point 3 is addressed by the Jerusalem Talmud.
Mishnah Sotah 1:5
וכהן אוחז בבגדיה אם נקרעו נקרעו אם נפרמו נפרמו עד שהוא מגלה ...
- 50.3k
6
votes
Taking pictures for one’s husband
Rav Berachos (Ben Ish Chai) – והנה ודאי כי האשה הלוקחת צורתה על ידי המאכינה כנז״ל ועושים ולוקחים צורתה על כמה ניירות ומחלקים אותם לכמה בני אדם הנה הם מכשילים הרבים כי הצורה הזאת הולכת ממקום למקום ...
- 14.7k
6
votes
Looking for sources that support needing a mechitzah in shul for activities other than davening
Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that for gatherings that are non-obligatory, such as weddings, he is in doubt as to the need for a mechitzah. He proceeds to bring a number of proofs that there is no ...
- 141
5
votes
How to tactfully circumvent opposite-gender handshake
Why hasn't anybody, here, consulted a non-Jewish friend - or a Jewish person with a different belief system, at least - about how he or she would like to have their handshake declined? I would prefer ...
- 57
5
votes
Are high heels immodest?
As alluded to in the comments, when it comes to matters of tzniut there are often varying community standards. That said, there is an interesting source that seems to be discussing high heels (or at ...
- 50.3k
5
votes
Mixed Gender Gyms
If we are talking about somebody who suspects that he may fall to temptation and have inappropriate thoughts about the immodestly attired women there, it is forbidden. There are numerous issurim ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
Men: how do you control your reactions to women in immodest dress if you can't avoid them?
I want to add one more answer that I can't see covered among these excellent answers already given: the approach of hesech hada'at, promoted by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Manis Friedman explains it ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
Are women allowed to see another woman's private area?
Concur with mbloch's answer -- if one is viewing them licentiously that's a different discussion -- just wanted to bring a stronger proof. Basically, it used to be everyone of the same gender went to ...
- 136k
5
votes
Can pants ever be considered modest?
Most authorities frown on women wearing pants, as listed in this answer.
However, some would support wearing pants, like those described in OP's generous description, if the alternative to wearing ...
- 12.1k
5
votes
Can a man walk by a womans Mikvah
It is definitely true! However, there is no direct source (i.e., one that specifically says, "A man should not walk by a women's Mikvah.") This is just a derivation of modesty and privacy. A woman ...
- 71.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Modesty of the other side
Presumably he's referencing the Gemara in Kesubos 48A, that the default understanding when a couple gets married is to provide skin-on-skin contact to one another. If one party were to insist on ...
- 136k
5
votes
Does the Torah allow lack of modesty?
Rambam seems to refer to this incident in the gemara in two different places, with subtle differences.
In Hilchot Sanhedrin 24:4 he writes:
יֵשׁ לְבֵית דִּין לְהַלְקוֹת מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְחֻיַּב ...
- 46.6k
4
votes
Mixed Gender Gyms
TL;DR: best to CYLOR
In an answer titled "Men and Mixed Gyms," dinonline.org writes:
There are two issues with a man going to a mixed gym. The first one is the same a going to a mixed beach- he ...
- 12.2k
4
votes
Do the laws of Negiah depend on sexual orientation?
This question is tricky because it's not clear that Halachah recognizes such a phenomenon of one who is just asexual though technically physically capable of sexual intercourse.
Similarly, it's not ...
- 261
4
votes
Should Jewish men be courteous to women in public?
From time to time I hear Gedolim remembered for their ordinary courtesy to women that they happened to encounter. Here's such an article:
"She went on to explain that when Rabbi (Yaakov) Kamenetsky ...
- 2,335
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