How many Jewish women follow the laws of tzniut in Israel?

Question

...and in the rest of the diaspora for that matter? Why do even Orthodox women generally ignore these today? Is it a new theological interpretation, or is it just refusal to follow? Also, when are where did the practice of face veiling and veiling in general start to disappear among Jews and why? Do you know of any Jewish communities who still practice face veiling?

I thought you guys might like this video of traditional Jewish clothing. I'd love to here your comments.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kd8eDHS7_Qw&feature=related

Isn't there mention of face veiling in the Bible?

http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=veil&version1=31&searchtype=all

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Djewish%2Bwomen%2BTunisia%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dslv8-tyc7%26x%3Dwrt%26js%3D1%26ni%3D20&w=400&h=263&imgurl=www.bh.org.il%2FLinks%2Fimages%2F03851000.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bh.org.il%2FLinks%2FJewishWomen.asp&size=51.2kB&name=03851000.JPG&p=jewish+women+Tunisia&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=8&oid=97623540d3d0ff52&ei=UTF-8

I love the one of Tunisian Jews. No joke!

Kismet- The video is the first link. it says "Turkish catwalk", but the show was a recreation of Jewish clothing based on drawings from a Jewish museum. The pictures are displayed in the background along with the recreations on the models.

I forgot to add this question: Is it controversial in some circles to wear a wig as opposed to a headscarf? Do some groups do one or the other only, or are they used interchangeably?

And yes, living in the South, I definitely understand the heat and modesty issue!

kismet- I don't know if you noticed, but there were several other parts to the fashion show, if you're interested, with even more traditional styles. Also, I thought you might enjoy this, if you haven't seen it already. Are your wigs kosher?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3714527.stm

Lady Suri- Interesting info on the wig/scarf thing. In Islam, it is prohibited to wear a wig for just that reason. Sorry about the translation issue, it is the only Bible translation site that I know that has a good search engine for keywords. Perhaps you know a good Jewish one with such a feature for future reference?

ivri_ano- I think Hopeless summed up my motivations nicely. I have known Jewish people all my life and have always had an interest in Jewish things. As a Muslim, I am interested in exploring our commonalities and tzniut happens to be one of them. Thanks for the stats. That's much higher than I imagined.

GiGi- for Jews as well as Christians and Muslims, we refer to our Scriptures for how to live our lives, not contemporary customs. Modesty absolutely affects a person's outlook on life, their feelings of value as a person, and the society as a whole.

Answer 1

Orthodox Jewish women follow the laws of modesty (tzniut) wherever they live. Many women who label themselves do ignore these laws as a matter of convenience. (I can tell you that in the summer, covering my hair, knees, legs, arms, and collarbone can get pretty uncomfortable, but I am sure you already knew that!...lol)
I do not know of any Jewish community today which practices veiling, and I am assuming that if it were indeed a Jewish practice, it must have disappeared when we were exiled from Israel by the Romans; but that is only an assumption which is not backed by any evidence...
EDIT:
Thanks for the great video!!
The pictures of Jewish women were enlightening. I suppose that the shape of head coverings, like other types of fashion, changed with the times. It is interesting to note that when Jewish woman cover their hair with scarves, they do not cover the neck, unlike Muslim women.
As for the types of head coverings; Sephardim prefer scarves, Ashkenazim prefer wigs. I personally wear a wig, and I like the fact that it keeps my hair completelt covered all the time. Also, being that I live in California, the wig keeps me anonymous.
I rarely go out in a scarf; In one of the times I did, someone yelled something nasty from a moving car. I think he called me a @*)%&#& Muslim...
Being labeled can be such a trying experience, that I am glad to have the option of blending in, which is an aspect of modesty....

Answer 2

Many religious women do, many of the secular do not. Some of the religious do not--same in Islam. We do not generally ignore them, you just have to know where to look. Jews only make up about 2% of the population, and the Orthodox Jews even much, much less. Judaism has never had a practice of face veiling--it is not a law we have to follow. And yes, in some communities it is considered controversial to wear a wig instead of a scarf over your hair because since wigs are often made of real hair nowadays and also are very beautiful, it's said to not be following the law completely, so some communities do not follow it and wear scarves.

Also in the biblegateway link you provided you/the site list/s the NIV version of the Bible...the Xian Bible...I would only trust a Jewish translation

Peace

Answer 3

Orthodox Jewish women follow the laws of modesty (tzniut) wherever they live. Many women who label themselves do ignore these laws as a matter of convenience.
I do know of a lot of Jewish communities today which practices veiling, and I know for a fact that this practice has is done daily as respect for the men.

Answer 4

no one has face veils hehe why would they?
tzniut is kept by religious orthodox jews ( which usually don't wear pants because it is "man clothes" although some wear.. and they wear hair covers(as hebrew hammer mentioned0 after they are married, and they have to dress in a way which will not tempt men to look at them - thus they have to wear shirts with sleeves, and they shouldn't be provacative to men)

reform religious jews and conservative religious jews do not have to keep tsniut unless they want too.

There is no law of tzniut in Israel there is only a law against public stripping (in the street, restaurants etc..)
the law uses the words: "exposing intimate parts" and on the suffix adds also this law is applied only if the public disagrees to this showing.

hopeless - thanks for reminding me!!!!
I actually sent a mail to the government (to the ministry of law) they refered me to the city counsil because they wrote that it's their "authority" to check - I didn't call the city counsil yet but I asked a friend (A women who lives in bneybrak) that learns with me in college and she said the mall is open for men and women of course! but she said only one specific store in the whole mall that sells women clothes only, ask men not to shop when women are in the store - I still need to get a straight answer from the city counsil but until I call them I'm telling you right now that if they have such a store whuch she tole me about than it's against the law and I'll get a better answer when I call them
I am shocked that some1 thought there could be such a thing as a women only store. I'll go to the police myself if that turns out to be true.

Answer 5

I would echo what others have said; I'm not aware that hiding the actual face was ever a Jewish custom.

Orthodox Jewish women in the diaspora do cover their heads; many wear 'shitles' (wigs) and some use scarves instead.

Answer 6

Ivri I've also been very interested, when Jews and Muslims understand each other it brings us one step closer. Cheers!

Muslims by Choice: Ivri is correct that apparantly some woman in Israel do follow, Hamarker and I had a big disscussion about this one i think a month ago. It's a women's only shopping mall close to Tel Aviv. Hamarker I waited a long time for more info? You said you were getting research but you never got back to me?

Hamarker: Thumbs up and thanx for the update!

Answer 7

As far as I am aware face veiling was never a part of Jewish culture, it might have been done in places where the law required all women to cover their face, but I have never heard of Jewish women doing it voluntarily.

The truth is out side Gulf states, face veiling is very rare in Islamic societies as well.

Answer 8

Why do women still need to cover their head or hair?
Aren't there many other ways to show their faith already?
Does covering hair and head changes anything in the world or change who they are as a person?

Answer 9

Only the Religious or the Ultra Orthodox women are prohibited in showing their face to anybody accept to their Husband.

Answer 10

Many orthodoxy still follow tzniut.but even though i am a orthodox jew i haven't heard of it decreasing but if it has maybe because of the persons enviorment and secular society.But again i am a modern orthodox jew and most of the married women at out shul dont cover their hair from what i know.But the face veiling is mostly in Sefardi Jews(Jews of Spanish and/or Portuguese countires).It disappeared in the 1800s.I think some face vielings is still in Arab countires with desert like Bedouin Jews(Very Rarely and probualy exstinct).