Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, the leader of the Kfar Chabad community in Israel has hired a Public Relations firm to help communicate to residents of his community the importance of modest dressing for all residents of the area. Kfar Chabad is a town in Central Israel, and Ashkenazi is the leader of the largest Chabad school in the region.
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch is the largest Jewish organization in the world, with synagogues in nearly every major city in the world. The group is well-known for their religious outreach to Jews of every background.
The Rabbi seeks to educate the community – which includes “religious” and non-religious people about the custom and requirements surrounding religious dress for all. A ‘letter from the rabbi’ was sent to all residents of the community spelling out modesty regulations for all.
Tznius (modesty) generally requires Jews to substantially cover their bodies. This involves covering the elbows and knees. Under these customs, Jewish women generally wear Blouses with sleeves below the elbow and skirts that cover the knees. Both sexes must dress modestly under the Jewish religious requirements of this religious requirement.
A distributed pamphlet “..explains one’s skirt must cover one’s knees while one is seated, one must wear socks that cover the knee, one’s neck and elbows are to be covered properly, one’s general appearance should express humbleness and humility, married woman must wear a sheitel outdoors in the community and one may not make do with a scarf when walking in the street or while driving a vehicle. I am asking each and every person to make sure their daughters dress in accordance with these rules.”
The hired PR firm was not named by the American Jewish, or Israeli media that reported upon this story.