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| Chochmat Nashim co-founder, Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll (TOI) |
That said, I’m pretty sure the average individual of the mainstream right does not agree with this trend. They nonetheless apparently accept it as the way things are. And not particularly moved to anything about it. Many will just say it’s no big deal, and that they have bigger fish to fry.
The problem with this attitude is that future generations will come to believe that this is how mainstream Judaism has always operated. That pictures of women have never been approved of. Historic evidence to the contrary will be chalked up to saying ‘We live by a higher standard now’. Point being that in the past the Charedi world was somehow compromising their standards when they published a picture of a woman.
Therein lies the danger. I strongly object to this new reality. It is a reality born of the Charedi world always looking to their right. Their right in this case is the more extreme Chasidic world that to the best of my knowledge never published pictures of women. The right does not want to be seen as less Frum than Chasidim. So when they see a Chumra among the Chasidim, they will often adopt it.
They can deny this as their motive all they want. But I believe that is in part what’s going on. Not to mention the fact that Charedi publications want to attract that very large Chasidic demographic. Pictures of women will turn many of them away. (Follow the money.)
I am not going to re-hash all the reasons why this is a bad idea that has nothing to do with Halacha. Been there and done that. You can find some of those reasons in a Times of Israel article. It’s just a shame that the mainstream Charedi world is not moved enough by these arguments to protest it. And instead just accepts it.
Which is why I am pessimistic about a major effort at change in a project called Jewish Life Photo Bank. Even while applaud the effort:
The brainchild of Chochmat Nashim, an organization advocating for Orthodox women’s rights, the project aims to build a vast digital library of stock photos depicting Orthodox women doing everyday things. Beyond the practical nature of the project, it speaks to something larger — ending the erasure of women from much of ultra-Orthodox public life.
I fully support the women doing this and their reasons for doing it. Sadly, I just don’t believe it’s going to make much of a difference. Nothing will change.
The real problem is the move to the right. The erasure of women form the public square is just a symptom of that. A symptom that changes the character of our people from one of normal yet fully Halachic male-female interaction into one of almost nonexistent interaction.
If this isn’t the objectification of women, I don’t know what is. The Chasidic world might respect women for their contributions to - and sacrifices for the family. But they nevertheless see women as sex objects to be avoided by men at all costs. They apparently believe that images of women may not be displayed anywhere lest a man sees one, starts having lascivious thoughts, and becomes trapped into sinning because of it.
To that end the zealots among them go to extreme lengths to get their way on this issue. It has not been uncommon to find pictures of women defaced on ads in public areas. The problem is so bad that the municipality of Jerusalem is going to try and do something about it. From Life in Israel:
The City of Jerusalem responded that they have plans for 2022 to expand the network of security cameras across the entire city. These cameras will help them with enforcement of various crimes, along with increasing the sense of security and safety. They will also set budgets and resources for establishing a unit responsible for these cameras and enforcement, in coordination with the relevant security forces.
source: Ynet
The irony of that is that the more women are hidden from sight, the more any sight of them might stir indecent thoughts. Chasidim must believe that eliminating all images of women will solve that problem. I guess they never heard of the common truism, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ They believe instead that ‘Out of sight – Out of mind’.
But human nature does not work that way. God created the libido. Those thoughts will come back with a vengeance if the libido is starved long enough so that when they stumble upon a picture of – even a modestly dressed woman outside of their community. Which is bound to happen.
It’s like a water spigot that is turned on but stopped up with a plug. Eventually the water pressure increases to the point where that plug gets blown to ‘kingdom come’ and all that ‘water’ comes out in a flood. This is what happens with an overly zealous approach of keeping women invisible.
Chasidim will on the other hand, use the libido to make their argument about the need to hide women. But that solution only works in a bubble – if at all. The sex drive is very powerful.
I believe that there are actually some mainstream Charedim that might understand this and privately agree that this is not a good thing. And would actually like this trend to stop. But they aren’t talking. My guess the reason for that might in part be the fear of being ostracized.
The result of all this is that the erasure women will continue. No matter how big that library of pictures grows, there is no way Charedi publishers are going to use them. They will instead double down on their extremist practice of not publishing any pictures of women.
The non Charedi Orthodox mainstream will have none of this. Publications like the OU’s Jewish Action and the Jewish Press will continue to publish pictures of women.
Will this further divide us? Probably. That is not a good thing. Because the truth is that a lot more unites us than divides us. But that won’t stop the chasm between us from growing. As the Charedi world looks increasingly askance at publications like the above that will continue to publish pictures of women..
This is not Yiddishkeit at its finest. It is Yiddishkeit at its worst.