talk about sinat chinam, what makes you say that?
I don't hate the author, not at all. It doesn't mean I have to have to think highly of his stances on various issues in Judaism, whether hashkafic or halachic, or of his institution. Do you know anything about Avi Weiss and/or Chovevei Torah? Are you just being curious or do you actually hold an opinion of the institution and its staff contrary to mine?
thats quite a statement...
If I may backtrack a little, I would say they have little to no allegiance to mesorah, which in my eyes, and the eyes of the vast majority of orthodox Rabbis, is nearly as important as halacha itself. As such, it doesn't surprise me to see that the author de-emphasizes and almost denigrates the central embodiment of tznius in halacha.
Jewish tradition teaches men and women alike that they should be modest in their dress. But modesty is not defined by, or even primarily about, how much of one’s body is covered.
In fact, though, their actions objectify and hyper-sexualize women. Think about it: By saying that all women must hide their bodies, they are saying that every woman is an object who can stir a man’s sexual thoughts. Thus, every woman who passes their field of vision is sized up on the basis of how much of her body is covered. She is not seen as a complete person, only as a potential inducement to sin.
The fact is that halacha proscribes how a Jew should dress. Halacha says that every woman can in fact stir a man's sexual thoughts. Does that mean that halacha intrinsically objectifies women sexually? Of course not. But that follows very clearly from his logic.
he does make one or two good points
To me, the most important point he makes, which I agree with completely and feel is hashkafically emes, is this:
Judaism... places the responsibility for controlling men’s licentious thoughts about women squarely on the men.
The rest of it gets a little weird. I obviously don't agree what goes on in Beit Shemesh, but I probably don't agree with the author's shitos/hashkafos on tznius. I had been responding to the first comment about the definition of tznius.
