Heat Wave Convinces Rabbis To Relax Clothing Modesty Laws

Bnei Brak and Kiryat Sefer, two cities with an almost completely Haredi population, featured men walking around in Crocs of subdued colors.

Jerusalem, August 3 – Sweltering under an unprecedented heat wave hitting the region, Israel’s leading Rabbis took the revolutionary step of suspending modest-attire laws for the duration of the high-temperature period, expected to last at least through Thursday.

Across the Middle East, temperatures in the high 30’s Centigrade (upper 90’s Fahrenheit) and as high as 50 (122 Fahrenheit) in some locations have challenged even those long accustomed to the August heat. Humidity and stagnant air compound the difficulty, with even nighttime temperatures above the seasonal average for daytime. Traditional attire among Haredi Jews includes a dark wool suit – some men sport a long frock instead of the typical suit jacket – and a woolen fringed garment on the upper body, in addition to any undershirt and white dress shirt. Closed shoes are the order of the day, ruling out sandals that would mitigate the heat to some degree. Such dress, with variations among individual Hasidic communities, serves both as an indicator of community identity and a way to maintain modesty and dignity even amid the surrounding anything-goes secular culture.

However, the oppressive heat – a high of 41 Centigrade (106 Fahrenheit) in Jerusalem yesterday, far above average for the season – has now caused many prominent authorities in Jewish law to reexamine the supposedly sacrosanct restrictions, with several leading deans of important yeshivas showing up to teach shirtless this morning. The Eida Charedis, a leading Haredi umbrella organization, issued a ruling specifically permitting men not to wear the traditional calf-length frock, and warned constituents not to rebuke others for neglecting to don the wool garment with tzitzit fringes in this weather even if one insists on wearing the garment himself.

The streets of Bnei Brak and Kiryat Sefer, two cities with an almost completely Haredi population, featured men walking around in Crocs of subdued colors. One Hasidic leader told his followers that they were permitted this week to forgo the stockings that go underneath their calf-length knickers, though he warned them that sunblock use would be advisable on those areas normally shielded from direct sunlight. Another prominent Rosh Yeshiva instructed his disciples to obtain straw hats with solar-powered fans installed in the brims, which they are to sport this week instead of their customary black fedoras.

Experts believe the departure from tradition will not be a one-time event. “Once they taste the freedom there will be no going back,” predicts religion expert Aaron Teitelbaum of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “We can also expect some communities to maintain the practice and others to insist it was a unique event, and each will put the other in cherem, as has been Jewish practice for generations,” he added, referring pronouncements of excommunication.

The suspension of the modest attire requirement does not apply to women.

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