It was pretty clear from the beginning that this phenomenon would only get worse. We lost sight of the forest for the trees. No one cares about the larger anymore, and the community is obsessively locking itself into a corner with tighter boundaries, slowly sucking all air out of the room, leaving its members to suffocate and die a painful death.
I am talking about the Burkas that are now worn by Jewish Women in Israel that resemble the latest Taliban fashion that has been the same for a few thousand years.
I heard about this trend infiltrating the Jewish Community for the first time three years ago, when it was encouraged by a cult leader in Beit Shemesh, and it had about thirty followers. I thought it was a marginal ultra-orthodox sect that would be pushed aside by the mainstream community. This stringency cannot be taken seriously.
Today, seeing Jewish women in Burkas is not unusual in Jerusalem as well as Beit Shemesh. Aside for reading articles (http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2010/08/rabbis-burqa-ban-official-345.html), my friends from Israel confirm the truth of the facts.
After men complained to the leadership of the Ultra-Orthodox community leadership about the absurdity their wives had done by cloaking themselves in Burkas, the Eida Charedis came out with a statement praising the women for observing laws of modesty to such an extent, criticizing only the fact that these women resembled Arab women too much, therefore, the dress was not inherently Jewish. The rabbis encouraged these women to cover themselves with Shawls that did not look Arabic instead. To top it all off, the Rabbis prohibited women from speaking on the phone in public areas or on buses adding deoraita threatening sentences here and there. (http://www.kikarhashabat.co.il/%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99%D7%AA-5.html)
I am utterly distressed by the fact that the mainstream community has embraced this movement rather than rejecting it. It is only a matter of time until this movement spreads and becomes the ordinary style in Beth Jacob schools for girls in Israel.
Why be fooled? The community already controls matter of dress from stockings to the amount of appropriate make up to belts, coats and undergarments. It was only a matter of time until women started covering their entire bodies with seven layers of clothing and tying their heads and faces with kerchiefs.
The Ultra-Orthodox community has reached a point where halacha and belief of G-d is no longer the objective, the goal. The goal is to segregate from society as much as possible and to keep women in their rightful place.
