גזירות חדשות במוסדות החינוך החסידיים בניו -יורק • נאסרו משקפיים אופנתיות • מוסדות בית יעקב שיגרו הודעות להורים, המחייבות את הבנות לנעול נעליים כהות בלבד
הורי התלמידים הלומדים בישיבת "בני ציון" של חסידות באבוב בשכונת בורו פארק, נדהמו בסוף השבוע לקבל מכתב מהנהלת המוסד, בו נאסר על בחורי הישיבה ללבוש משקפיים אופנתיות.
לפי ההודעה, רק משקפיים רגילות ומסורתיות יאושרו.
עיתון הניו יורק טיימס שדווח על התופעה, סיפר כי חנות אופטיקה מקומית דיווחה על 30 בחורי מתיבתא שבאו להחליף את מסגרות המשקפיים.
חנות אופטיקה אחרת במרכז בורו פארק, דיווחה על מנהלי ישיבות שהגיעו לחנות והסבירו לבעלי העסק אלו מסגרות מותרות. גם לאא רק באבוב, ישיבות נוספות שיגרו מכתבים להורים, בהם נאסרו משקפיים אופנתיות.
היה זה לאחר שלאחרונה באחת הישיבות החסידיות בשכונת בורו-פארק, החלו התלמידים לחבוש משקפיים גדולות ואופנתיות. התופעה התפשטה עד שהנהלות הישיבות החליטו לעצור את התופעה.
ולא רק אצל הבנים: הורים לבנות שלומדות במוסדות בית-יעקב ובבתי הספר החסידיים קבלו לאחרונה הודעות האוסרות על בנותיהן לנעול נעליים אופנתיות, הנעליים היחידות שמותרות הן נעליים בצבע שחור או כחול כהה.
אחת האמהות שבנותיה לומדות בבית ספר לבנות 'בית שרה' בבורו-פארק, סיפרה כי לאחרונה נכנסה לאופנה החרדית, נעילת נעליים בוהקות בשלל צבעים. לכן מנהלי בתי הספר לבנות החליטו לאסור את הנעליים האופנתיות כבר מכתה א'.,
על פי מחקר שנערך באתר אמריקאי, תשעה מתוך עשרה בני אדם מוצאים בוודי אלן את "היהודי הסטריאוטיפי ביותר", אך מתברר כי עבור האחוז הנותר, השחקן והבמאי הידוע לא יהודי מספיק.
Oh hipsters. Time Out New York begged us to kill them in 2007. Indeed, hipsters have suffered a slow and lingering decline since – dying but not quite dead yet. The snarky art students of yore have morphed into lawyers, stockbrokers and professionals, working during the day and slumming at night from their fancy condo digs, across the street from Katz’s Deli on the lower east side. So ubiquitous has been the influence of the hipsters that we see their pernicious presence everywhere! Frat boys wearing trucker caps and skinny jeans, sorority girls hopped up on E at Coachella wearing lens free, day-glo Ray Bans and … Haredi Yeshiva boys?
Yeah, see, when you’re a Haredi school boy, life is pretty regimented, as it is for everyone who is Haredi. Boys have to wear the same uniform that all men do. Fashion choices are limited to black pants, black jackets, white shirts, black velvet kippah and after your bar mitzvah, a black hat whose style is also proscribed by the leaders of your sect. The only realm in which you have a modicum of freedom of choice is in the decision regarding your style of eye wear.
Well, that was nipped in the bud recently, at least for the students of the Bobover Yeshiva B’Nei Zion school in Borough Park. Parents there recently received a letter telling them about a new policy regarding permissible eye wear:
We are asking that everyone buy simple glasses … What we have to commit ourselves to is we have to stand on top of this and not tolerate the new modernism… The good deed that accompanied the Jews in Egypt was that they didn’t change their names and clothes, and this same strength is still accompanying us and maintaining us in exile — in all generations [Thick rimmed hipster glasses] give the child a very coarse look … It doesn’t matter what age — a student cannot come to yeshiva with these glasses.
Sigh. This is all so confusing. The latest Hassidic innovation in personal eye wear are glasses with thick plastic frames designed to blur out women walking in front of you:
And then there are the two Grand Rabbis of the Satmar sect, brothers Aaron Teitelbaum left and Zalman right who are clearly wearing some pretty hipster shades there. They’ve been fighting over domination of a united Satmar for years, but they do agree on eye glass fashion. Go figure!
The powers that be at the Bobover Yeshiva have decided that only plain, metal rimmed glasses get their seal of approval – thus creating a machloket with Rabbi Israel Hager one of the leading Rabbis of the Vizhnitz who stated in 2011that metal rimmed glasses, and contact lenses, are actually the ones that are treif: “We must wear the exact opposite of what is worn in Paris!” Given that Rabbi Hager’s daughter is married to Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, are we about to witness a new rift in the Hassidic world with Satmar and Vizhnitz on one side and Bobov on the other? Clearly this is a very pressing issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. The future vitality and viability of the Jewish people is at stake here. I await further instructions from our gedoilim.
נשלח ב-13/6/2013 11:02
Borough Park, NY - Menahel Explains Stylish Glasses Ban
Borough Park, NY - A chasidic Borough Park yeshiva found itself in the media spotlight this week as its decision to regulate students’ eyewear found its way onto the internet, which lampooned what it described as a ban on eyeglasses.
The administration of the 48th Street Bobover Yeshiva Bnei Zion sent out what it termed a “spiritual directive” to parents last week, advising them that their sons would not be permitted to wear high fashion eyewear to school. The letter was first posted by controversial blogger Failed Messiah blog, where it was described as a ban on “those great retro eyeglasses…on the pretext that they are ‘modern’ and ‘too goyish,’” and then made the rounds on the internet.
But according to the school’s principal, the directive regarding eyewear wasn’t meant as a ban, simply as an expansion of the school’s dress code to ensure that talmidim dress according to the dictates of their chasidus, not the latest trends.
“We are a chasidishe yeshiva and we are more restrictive in our dress,” Rabbi Yaakov Citronenbaum, menahel of the yeshiva told VIN News. “We don’t want our students to be following the latest styles, to have the eye glass man or their friends tell them what to wear. We want our boys to stay with the same glasses they have been going with, what ninety eight percent of the other boys in the yeshiva are wearing.”
While the letter specifies that talmidim should avoid dark colored frames and should wear simple, unobtrusive glasses with thin, smooth earpieces, Rabbi Citronenbaum was quick to caution that it isn’t a specific color that is problematic as much as a certain “look”.
“It can’t just go by color,” explained Rabbi Citronenbaum. “If the frames are very thick it looks prust and we don’t like it. We want our boys to look eidel and if we see a boy with thick, round black glasses, or anything else that isn’t acceptable we will send him home and ask him to come back wearing an older pair of glasses that are more in keeping with our yeshiva.”
The letter sent home to parents opened with a reference to the medrash stating that the Jews merited redemption from Egypt because they did not adopt the language, names and dress of the Egyptian people and exhorted parents not to let their children be swayed by the dictates of today’s fashion.
“There was a chasidishe girls school that had the same problem with some of the boots that the girls were wearing, which they felt were just not proper for their students,” said Rabbi Citronenbaum. “It is very hard today. Right now the issue is glasses. Next week it may be something else.”
“We want our parents to think about what their child is wearing,” added Rabbi Citronenbaum. “If it is too modern, it is probably not appropriate for our school.”
Borough Park, NY - Yeshiva "Glasses" Ban Results In Exchanges And Retail Inspections
MS Optical in Borough Park on May 12 2013. Photo: Eli Wohl/VINNews.com
Borough Park, NY - Updating a VIN News (http://bit.ly/14fbe4o) story surrounding a reported “ban” on trendy glasses being worn at a local yeshiva, one local optical shop is reporting a large number of exchanges, while another says it has been visited by school officials intent on designating acceptable eyewear for its yeshiva students.
The NEW YORK POST (http://bit.ly/10rCNDL) is reporting that the exchanges and visitations are a result of a recent letter sent home to parents by Borough Park’s Bobover Yeshiva B’Nei Zion requesting that all students buy “simple glasses.”
One local shop, Lumiere Eyemwear, has reported over 30 exchanges within the past two weeks, while another, MS Optical, says representatives from the school made a visit to the shop, designated which glasses are acceptable, and asked that they be kept in their own display away from trendier styles.
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