Some schools are handing out tsnius rulers. One uses it by folding it over the hem of a skirt and measuring 4 inches below the knee. An image of the tsnius ruler is displayed: Download Ruler
Comment: In general I support anything that assists and supports better fulfillment of mitsvos. I do hope that this aid is used with great sensitivity and for if not, "the loss outweighs the gain".
It would be interesting for someone to explore how and why tsnius has become emblematic of observance in the yeshivish community, more so than in others where it is either a non-issue or taken for granted. Is it because the yeshivishe women do not have a uniform, or because its left wing, fervently orthodox accountants, lawyers, doctors and businessman are perlously closer to falling off the edge into the "modern" crowd than they are prepared to admit.
Maybe it's the feeling of "correcting" the much weaker standards amongst Litvish women (in Litta) between WWI and WWII?
Posted by: Ploni | April 28, 2009 at 09:47 PM
if you are an accountant, lawyer or doctor, you are only Charedi because you have chosen to dress/ act that way. You have made a positive decision to pick and choose your identity based on the opportunities open to you (I want a college degree/ I want to ally myself most closely with those parts of the community that reject such education) and you cant get much more "modern" than that.
Posted by: steve mcqueen | April 30, 2009 at 10:08 AM
An interesting point. However, we need to look deeper into this. Frum professionals fall into three general groups:
1.Those who grew up in communities that maintained a double standard toward secular education. You may be right about some of these.
2.Those who had to rebel or reject community standard to botain an education. You are certaianly correct about this group.
3.Those who were a part of "lef wing" communities that had no compunctions about education but later moved to the right in their own personal life and their values. These people do feel feel any dissonance about their current affiliation.
Posted by: osoavakesh | May 01, 2009 at 06:54 PM