This Ain't Your Bubby's Burka

The Beit Shemesh Burka: Extreme Tznius (modesty). [Please note, this is NOT a parody. This is a real posting, summarized and partly translated from the Haaretz newspaper]

Kabul arrives in Beit Shemesh Bet -- and manages to even surpass the Beit Shemesh Bet "Tznius Patrol."

A group of Ultra-Orthodox chareidi women in Ramat Beit Shemesh have hyperbolated tznius to the extreme and now wear burkas whenever they go outside their home. Not advocated by any known rabbi, the burka fad is apparently radical chareidi feminist "invention", and many are wary if this custom should be adopted or repudiated. The radical Beit Shemesh tznius patrol is even scratching it's head whether someone managed to out do them, and leave them in the dust with the liberal left.

The husband of one such woman took his wife to Beit Din (religious court) to request from her to remove the burka due to shalom bayit (a peaceful home). The court ordered a religious divorce even though the husband didn't even request one -- because the court found her behaviour to be so bizarre.

The women in Ramat Beit Shemesh receive their instruction from Rabbanit Bruria Keren, who advises about 20 women in the 20s and 30s how to dress, pray and conduct their lives.

The burka dress fashion has spead to Elad, Beitar Elite, Teverya, Tzefat and even the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem.

"I don't want men to look at me. I'm happy being modest. In the past, I felt uncomfortable to walk around [sans-burka], in such a wanton fashion. At first, I just wore a wig. Now, when I see a woman with a wig, I pray to G-d to forgive her for wearing that "thing" on her head. It's difficult. We get humiliated. What haven't they said to me? My neighbors yelled at me, "Leave us alone, you smelly arab." I was pushed. But this is a test from G-d. At the Central Bus Station I undergo security checks and am asked for identification. I don't want men seeing my ID picture, so I just show them my children to prove I'm not an Arab."

--Quote from a Burka and Hijab wearing Jewish woman in her late 20s, who lives in Jerusalem.

The above synopsis is just a small part of an entire article in Haaretz. Unfortunately, it's all in Hebrew, and I don't have time to translate the entire article in English. Suffice it to say, the above is more than enough.

With all the craziness going on here, I assume it's only a matter of time before we see driver's licenses like the one below...

Hot Chanie Hijabs?

**The top picture above was taken in the Bet Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem of a Chareidi woman walking around in a Burka. Credit: Alex Libeck, Haaretz.

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