Torah Study Blog

Two weeks ago, in Torah Study, we discussed the interpretation of the phrase Do Not Place a Stumbling Block Before the Blind. This week, Rabbi Jaech followed up on a question addressing the orthodox, and Muslim, rules prohibiting immodest dress for women and questioning whether that has been construed as “placing a stumbling block before the blind?”

Before we looked at that particular passage, Rabbi Jaech took a few minutes to remind us that the Bible is NOT the foundational document of the Judaism we practice today; the Talmud is. The Bible denotes a religion of animal sacrifice in the Temple. Even today, Rabbi Jaech has colleagues who work in the southern part of our country who receive occasional phone calls asking when the sacrifices will be done - because that is what these callers read about in our Bible!

Although the Bible does not reflect our worship today, it does provide a starting point when rabbis are pondering an ethical question, or a rule of Jewish Law, and looking for words do help them reach their conclusions. As early as 250 BCE, the Bible was read in a public venue, so it was text the public was familiar with. But certain text makes us pause to wonder at what it means to us today. By 200 CE there were several groups, called schools, where groups of men would gather and debate the significance of biblical texts. Around 200 CE the wisdom of some of these debate sessions was collected into a work called the Mishnah. People continued to ponder and add their thoughts to the discourse. Eventually those words of wisdom were also collected into a work called the Gemara. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. Even the words that did not make it into the Talmud were saved, and they are called the Baraita.

But, just because the Talmud was canonized, it does not mean that people did not continue to talk, debate, and issue rulings on matters. Over the years, teachings by prominent rabbis have been added, reflecting differences of opinion and evolution in rabbinic thinking. Studying the Talmud shows us that the laws of Judaism are not fixed. Even the Orthodox world is evolving. The difference comes from what the different branches of Judaism will allow to cross into religion. For example, Reform

Jews accept women and homosexual people as equal members of the community, but the Orthodox branch does not.

The Reform branch of Judaism has not issued an opinion regarding modest dress for women, but the Orthodox branch has. Rabbi Jaech shared with us some specific information which is paraphrased as follows: It is an act of piety to always dress modestly and it is preferable when feasible. Even if the majority of people in the community in which an Orthodox person live have the custom of dressing immodestly, an Orthodox person following halacha, or the Laws of Jewish Life, should dress modestly. And, it is an act of piety for married women to always cover their hair.

A specific question that was sent to Orthodox rabbis to rule on is as follows: Can a women’s/girl’s clothing store sell sleeveless blouses or tops, or does this constitute the prohibition of a stumbling-block in front of a blind man?

Starting with the Bible, the rabbis note that the passage in Leviticus stating you shall not “place a stumbling block before the blind,” may relate to this because when a woman dresses provocatively she may be tempting the men in her community to sin. Next, a passage from Deuteronomy says, “let your camp be holy; let Him not find anything unseemly among you and turn away from you.” And then, looking at the Shulchan Aruch, a 16th century Jewish Law Code, the rabbis found that there is a strong prohibition against women wearing sleeveless tops in public.

Now it has been established that that orthodox Jewish women cannot wear sleeveless tops in public. But the question asks if it is permissible to sell these items.

From the Talmud, the Avodah Zarah instructs that Jews are not allowed to sell weapons to Gentiles, because Gentiles are prone to violence. If you sell weapons to them, you are increasing violence in the world. Therefore, similarly, if you sell sleeveless tops you are tempting people to dress in a provocative way. But the 17th century rabbi Chaim Benbenisti pointed out that, if a person can buy a questionable item from other sources and you are not the only source, then the prohibition should not apply because it is easy to purchase these items elsewhere and the individual shop owner cannot be held responsible for the desires of the purchaser.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who just passed away in 2013, issued his opinion that, because many women wear a sleeveless top on top of another shirt, there is clearly a permissible way to wear the article of clothing. Again, the individual shop owner cannot be held responsible because he does not know how the purchaser will intend to wear the article.

So, the final ruling from the Orthodox Union is, yes, a shop owner may sell immodest clothing provided there is a way for a woman to wear said item modestly.

Our group noted two interesting points:

1. 1)  Prohibitions on immodest dress are basically saying that men cannot control themselves, which is not a good statement about men.

2. 2)  In the Exodus story we are told that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go. God, in this instance, could be said to have put a stumbling block before Pharaoh. Why is that okay? Rabbi Jaech pointed out that the people are never told to emulate God’s behavior. In fact, much of God’s behavior in the Bible is questionable. But, God is above the law.

Every religion has parts of it that may be disturbing. Rabbi Jaech, as leader of our community, chooses to emphasize the positive aspects of Judaism, and to keep the doors open to debate. We can reject aspects with which we simply do not agree.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter