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Description Tzniut includes a group of laws concerned with modesty in both dress and behavior It is first mentioned in this context by the prophet Micah 6 8 and to walk humbly hatzne a leches with your God In the Babylonian Talmud Rabbi Elazar Bar Tzadok connected this prophetic precept with modesty and discretion in dress and in behavior Tractate Sukkah 49b In the legal dimension of Orthodox Rabbinic literature the issue of Tzniut is discussed in more technical terms how much skin may a person expose and so on Notwithstanding these details the concept of humility and modesty as a positive character trait a practice and a way of life way of walking s also taught to be important in Rabbinic literature This awareness informs the concept and the practice of Tzniut in its rules and details Practical applications Dress Orthodox Judaism requires both men and women to substantially cover their bodies In Haredi communities men generally wear long trousers and often long sleeve shirts and women wear blouses with sleeves below the elbow and skirts that cover the knees Some women try not to follow fashion while others wear fashionable but modest clothing In Modern Orthodox practice it is generally accepted for sleeves to reach the elbows and shirts to cover the collarbone skirts to cover the knees with or without tights and not wear pants in the presence of men Socks are considered optional based on the concept of minhag hamakom custom of the community citation needed Haredi women avoid skirts with slits preferring instead kick pleats They also avoid overly eye catching colors especially bright red Some insist on closed toe shoes and always wear stockings the thickness of which varies by community In some Haredi communities women wear loose vests over shirts Men must wear shirts with sleeves Some Modern Orthodox men will wear shorts but Haredi men will not and many will not wear short sleeves at all Sandals without socks while generally not worn in a synagogue are usually accepted in Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist Communities in Israel for daily dress Haredi Ashkenazi practice discourages sandals without socks both in and out of the synagogue Haredi Sefardic communities tend to accept sandals at least outside of synagogue and sometimes in synagogue as well Dress in a synagogue and according to many in public should be comparable to that worn by the community when meeting royalty government Conservative Judaism formally requires modest dress citation needed although this requirement is often unobserved on a day to day basis but is somewhat more observed with respect to synagogue attendance While day to day dress often simply reflects the general society many Conservative synagogues expect somewhat more modest dress although not necessarily as stringent as in Orthodox Judaism for synagogue attendance and may have specific dress requirements to receive synagogue honors such as being called for a Torah reading Reform Judaism does not regard religious dress requirements as applicable Style of dress involves cultural considerations distinct from religious requirements There are many Conservative and Reform synagogues in which suits and ties are socially expected while there are many Orthodox synagogues especially in Israel where dress while meeting religious modesty requirements is quite casual Many Haredi and Hassidic communities have special customs and styles of dress which serve to identify members of their communities but regard these special dress features as customs of their communities rather than as general religious requirements expected of all observant Jews Hair covering Three styles of hair covering common among married Orthodox women From left to right snood fall and hat Jewish law requires married women to cover their hair According to the Talmud this is a biblical requirement which in this context is called dat Moshe the law of Moses The most common hair coverings in the Haredi community are the sheitel wig the snood and the mitpachat Hebrew scarf or tichel Yiddish 160 some Haredi women cover their hair covering with an additional hat or beret The practice of covering hair with wigs or detached hair is debated among halachic authorities Many authorities including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein permitted it and the Lubavitcher Rebbe actively encouraged it but many significant authorities including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv forbid it Observance of this law was nearly entirely out of practice among Modern Orthodox women a generation ago except in synagogue but younger generations are increasingly taking the practice upon themselves citation needed Among Modern Orthodox women who do cover their hair the most common form of coverings include a hat or beret younger women often wear baseball caps and bandannas when dressed casually and some wear bright and colorful scarves tied in a number of ways citation needed A style of half wig known as a fall has become increasingly common in many segments of Modern and Haredi Orthodox communities It is usually worn either with a hat or headband In Yemen unmarried girls covered their heads also like the Muslims there however upon their emigration to Israel and other places this custom has been abandoned While Rebbe Aharon Roth founder of Shomer Emunim praised this custom no Ashkenazi community including the most strict Haredi circles practice or have ever practiced such a custom Men married or not usually cover their heads The most common head covering is the kippah also known as the yarmulke Most men wear something on their heads at almost all times while some cover their heads only when performing some religious act or when eating Few cover the entire head Almost all will sleep and bathe with the head uncovered The exact nature of this practice and how binding it is is a matter of dispute among halachic authorities Wearing a hat is not required by Jewish law and those who wear a hat always wear a kippah underneath however there are some rabbis especially in Hasidic Judaism who require a double head covering of kippah and hat or talleth during prayer Conservative and Reform Judaism do not generally require women to wear head coverings Some more observant Conservative synagogues will ask that married women cover their heads during services However some more liberal Conservative synagogues suggest that women married or not wear head coverings similar to those worn by men and some require it not for modesty but as a feminist gesture of egalitarianism citation needed Almost all Conservative synagogues require men to wear a head covering usually a kippah but in Reform synagogues there is often no requirement Female singing voice Orthodox Judaism In Orthodox Judaism men are generally not allowed to hear women sing a prohibition called kol isha This is derived from Song of Solomon 2 14 Let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet arev and your face is beautiful The Talmud classifies this as ervah literally nakedness The majority view of halachic authorities is that this prohibition applies at all times and forbids a man who happens to be around in the presence of a woman singing to pray or study Torah similarly to other prohibitions classified as ervah A minority view holds that the prohibition of praying or studying in the presence of kol isha applies only while reciting the Shema Yisrael prayer There is debate between the poskim authorities of Jewish law whether the prohibition applies to a recorded voice where the singer cannot be seen where the woman is not known to the man who is listening and where he has never seen her or a picture of her There are also opinions following Samson Raphael Hirsch and Azriel Hildesheimer that exclude singing in mixed groups from this prohibition such as synagogue prayer or dinner table Zemirot religious songs based on the idea that the female voice is not distinctly heard as separate from the group in these cases rei Kali Lo Mishtamai two voices cannot be heard simultaneously Megila 21b However Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg found this explanation unsatisfactory and instead proposed following the Sdei Chemed quoting the Divrei Cheifetz that the kol isha prohibition does not apply to women singing zemirot songs to children and lamentations for the dead because in these contexts men do not derive pleasure from the woman voice In a novel ruling Rabbi David Bigman holds that kol isha only applies when there is sexual pleasure involved According to the majority of authorities i e those who did not link kol isha to Kriat Shema kol isha is in fact similar to gazing at a woman s little finger which is another case in Berachot ibid But the Rishonim rule that gazing at a woman s finger only applies when done expressly for sexual pleasure or when there is any sexual pleasure involved Thus it stands to reason no previous authority has explicitly stated as such that kol isha is similar and has parallel by laws applicable to it Therefore Rabbi Bigman states There is no prohibition whatsoever of innocent singing rather only singing intended for sexual stimulation or flirtatious singing is forbidden Although this distinction is not explicit in the early rabbinic sources it closely fits the character of the prohibition as described in different contexts in the Talmud and the Rishonim and it is supported by the language of the Rambam the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch In a similarly novel ruling Rabbi Avraham Shammah comes to the same conclusion as Rabbi Bigman He argues that ideologically the laws of tzniut are defined by time and place according to what people are accustomed to and what gives them sexual pleasure He quotes the Maharam Alkashar a 15th century rabbinic exile from Spain who says Response Indeed there is no concern about that hair that is outside of the braid because it is customary to reveal it and that which is said woman hair is a sexual enticement is only referring to hair that it is usual to be covered but a person is accustomed to that which is usually uncovered and therefore is not aroused and it is permitted Likewise the Ra avya wrote that all those things that we mentioned for concern about sexual enticement are specifically for things that are not customarily exposed all is according to the customs and the locations Rabbi Shammah cites many sources such as Maharshal and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef who permit various violations of their theretofore normative laws of tzniut on the basis that the behavior in question is not sexually enticing in that time and place In regards to kol isha specifically he notes that R Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg cites Maimonides Hilkhot Isurei Bi Laws of Forbidden Sexual Relations 21 2 in which Maimonides states that one who looks even at a woman little finger with the intent to derive erotic pleasure is as if he looked at her privates and even to hear the voice of a forbidden woman or to see her hair is forbidden R Weinberg points out that the meaning of Maimonides words is that the prohibition to hear a woman voice is only if there is intent to thereby derive erotic pleasure Rabbi Weinberg relies also on the Sdei Chemed quoting the Divrei Cheifetz that Shabbat hymns and funeral dirges when sung by women are not kol isha as men do not derive sexual pleasure from them Rabbi Shammah simply takes this logic further and concludes that if a man judges himself sincerely and honestly that in a particular case he will not be enticed by a woman s voice he may listen to her sing even ordinary songs in concerts and the like depending on the case He closes saying that From my childhood growing up under Syrian Jewish Orthodox immigrants to Israel until my adulthood I do not remember closing my ears nor was I instructed to do so and I heard the best music both from the Orient and the West even when performed by female singers and even at live performances Apparently the principle is based on the fact that there is no intent here for some forbidden pleasure People have testified to me that there were Torah observant Jews at the performances of the famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum considered by some to be Egypt most famous and distinguished twentieth century singer and even more than that they listened to her songs and learned them well even though some of the songs had inappropriate words Prayer leaders among them scholars used her tunes in the prayer services until this day with the approval of halakhic authorities who knew quite well the source of these tunes On the other hand against the novel and minority view of Rabbis Bigman and Shammah Rabbi Cherney notes that W e find that Shmuel s claim that it i e various violations of the normative laws of tzniut is permitted for the sake of Heaven meaning the act is normatively forbidden but permitted because it gives no sexual pleasure in the given time and place is quoted by later authorities R Moses Isserles the Ramo quotes Shmuel s liberal view as stated by Tosafot But we should note that although Ramo obviously accepts this principle he does not quote it in the context of Kol isha In our own generation R Ovadia Yosef who elsewhere is willing to be lenient on certain normative laws of tzniut when men are no longer enticed by them in the given time and place has expressed the opinion that you should not let your heart seize the argument that nowadays since we are accustomed to the voices of women we need not be concerned that the voice arouses lewd thoughts for we may not say these things out of our own understanding if it is not mentioned in the authorities Rabbi Yehuda Henkin based especially on the Maharshal permits men and women to mix in general society based on the fact that this is no longer sexually enticing today but he like Rabbi Ovadia Yosef likewise forbids this same argument to be applied to kol isha Reform and Conservative Judaism This section requires expansion Conservative Judaism interprets the relevant passage of the Talmud as expressing a Rabbi s opinion rather than imposing a req

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