Jewish Women Who Keep It Covered

I'm not sure about you, I frequently find myself explaining Jewish traditions to Goys across America. Since I moved to the Bay Area I seem to always find myself as the lone Jew, and so to my friends and acquaintances out here, I come to represent the overall faith. This is quite the task. I am but one Little Yenta, how can I possibly represent the Jewish people? (And truth be told, I've sometimes had to look up facts that I haven't thought about since Hebrew School!)

One of the things that I always try to explain, is that unlike the Catholic Church, Jews dont have a governing body that makes policy for all of us. And, on top of that, there are very distinct sects of Jews, Modern Reformed Jews are practically an entire different religion than the Orthodox. Yes, we have a lot in common and when necessary we band together. But....day to day, we're very different and the Hasidic and Reformed, for example, don't really co-mingle on a regular basis.

A friend of mine once heard that Jewish women shave their heads when they get married and cover their bodies "like Muslims" (she said). I had to explain to her what the deal was, but again, impress upon her that I have no intention of ever shaving my head on my wedding day. And, she's seen me in a bikini at the beach, I'm obviously not about to go to Vegas and wear anything "modest".

I was trolling through CNN.com's Belief Blog and when I came across this article. It talks about a small sect of Orthodox women that are really taking the body covering to a new level.

I would be very curious to learn more about these women's teachings (not to ever start wearing a Sal), but because I'm interested as to the purpose. If you read the article carefully, it almost seems like the underlying point is to one up Arabs, not to necessary be more religous. I get the distinct impression that this whole movement was thought up as a way to push down Arabs, but these women have been told differently. Maybe I'm overly paranoid, but I seem to see sub-text in this article.

It's no secret that Jews and Arabs don't exactly hold hands and sing songs of love in Israel, but do we really need to start one upping Arab women in modesty?

What if this movement eventually finds its way to the US? Here is another article, but this one is about Muslim women in the US and the reaction they get to their coverings. If Jews in the Us start to get into Muslim-like coverings I have no doubt that Americans will start to see Jews and Muslims as the same.

Does anyone else ever find themselves watching 19 Kids and Counting on TLC? It's about ultra-religious Christians and their jumbo sized family. They wear what they describe as "modest" dressing. The women don't cover their hair (in fact they dont cut their hair because they think that's what G-d wants), but you'll never see their knees or shoulders. It's an interesting theme that's weaved throughout all major religons. Perhaps, it's not the issue of different religons....maybe its just all the Orthodox from the 3 big religons that are the problems?

Now, I'm not advocating for Jews to be more modest, nor do I think every Jew needs to starting wearing belly shirts and Daisy Dukes everyday. I'm really just an outsider looking in at this issue. I think Jewish women should be stylish and sophisiticated, wear what is best for you and your shape. Stay classy ladies...except when in Vegas!