Following Halacha

I can understand when people say that the autistics are not poskim so why should we listen to them about anything such as wigs, clothes- tznius, etc. But the problem with this generation is that people don't even adhere to halacha -to the Gedolim.

Rav Eliyashiv was recorded saying that the wigs of 100 years ago were mutar. Not the ones of today.

Below are some excerpts from "Oz Vehadar Levusha" the most famous book on tznius. This book was written by Rabbi Falk and has the haskamahs of many Rabbanim such as: Rabbi Vosner, Rabbi Scheinberg, Rabbi Padwa, Rabbi Feinstein Moshe, zt"l, Rabbi Auerbach.

Regarding sheitels, page 248 (4): " A Sheitel So Well Made That It Is Barely Detectable: It should be immediately apparent that the hair is covered: In our day and age it has become necessary to stress something which is of a most elementary nature. This is that it is totally incorrect and against the will of the Torah for a woman to wear a sheitel that has been manufactured to such perfection that to an onlooker (who does not know she is married) she appears to be an unmarried girl. As is well known, many custom-made sheitels are made to this level of undetectability.
Wearing such a sheitel contravenes the commandment that a married woman must cover her hair which the poskim say is so that men other than her husband are not attracted to her when she is an eishes ish - see Trumas Hadeshen no 10 and Rosh, Kesubos 72 a. See also Mekoros 28:1-2. It is therefore obvious that it should be immediately evident that she is wearing a sheitel and that the chein (beauty) which is apparent is due to a sheitel not to her true hair...

"(b) Lack of pride in a mitzva demonstrates a lack of appreciation: To those who know that she is a married woman and can therefore detect that she is in fact wearing a sheitel, this barely recognizeable sheitel demonstrates that she does not deem it a privilege to fulfill this mitzva as she is trying to supress and neutralize it as far as possible.

Women who wear the sheitels mentioned would in fact feel highly embarrassed if their grown up sons walked around with a small, barely noticeable yarmulke perched somewhere on the back of their heads so that it does not interefere with their handsome appearance... These women would surely confront their sons and husbands with the argument that a yid should gladly and openly do the mitzvos just a soldier proudly displays the medals a king has given him... yet these very same women camouflage their own "article of mitzva" and do everything in their power to disguise it and hide it ot ensure they look as natural and as pretty as possible."

"The following incident was related by the Mashgiach Harav Hagaon R' Done Segal shlita in his speech he gave in Bnei Brak on Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5755. "Thirty years ago I was speaking to Hagaon Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (shlita) about the prevailing fashions of sheitels. He said to me the following, 'If a woman would have turned up in Yerushalayim fift years ago wearing a sheitel she would have been stoned (as they followed the opinions which forbade sheitels) and in those days sheitels were straw like and could not be confused with real hair. Nowadays women come to speak to me and I cannot tell whether it is their natural hair that is visible or whether it is a sheitel. To me this is absolutely despicable! It is comparable to a person eating kosher meat who does everything in his power to make it appear as if he is eating treife meat. So too, these women want to do the mitzva of kisuy sa'aros but do everything in their power to give the impression that their hair is uncovered. To me this is extremely abhorrent!' These were the words of the Gaon."

My words: the problem is that aside from my grandmother's sheitels, the sheitels of today all look like real hair. As I pointed out before, no one wants their wig to look 'wiggy'.
Come on, let's wake up and smell the wig spray! :-)

Pge 286:
Dresses and blouses must not be tight -fitting:
The nature of this issur: It is against elementary tnius and refinment to wear tight-fitting dresses or blouses that accentuate the chest area (see Brachos 10b and Midrash...). Similarly it is ossur to wear tight-fitting skirts which emphasize the thigh area... Regrettably, in our times, some of those who still have a strong sense of commitment to Torah learning, to giving tzedaka, to kashrus and to almost all other facets of yiddishkeit, no longer have an understanding nor senitivity for true tznius..."

My neighbor said that the problem is that nowadays, it is not the fashion to wear cotton button down shirts anmore (although I think she's wrong) and so the only other shirts women can find to wear with their stylish vests and what not are lycra and t-shirt material, which emphasize the chest area and the arms. Well, there is nothing wrong with button down blouses (not tight) and at least here in J-lem, there are stores such as "Ateret Zahav" in Geula (Hagai street) which have a hechsher and sell only tznius clothes. No Lycra, no triko, no tight skirts and no tight shirts.

If you are in Israel, pass the word aorund. It is so important to buy only form tznius stores. Everyone else sells totally goyish clothes and provocative. I will try and take pictures when I am in Geula next and show you.

Okay, that's our tznius talk for the week. :-)
have a wonderful month everyone!

Wigs - the talk lately

(article for charedi women and men)
Wigs really are the big talk lately, at least in Israel. Women who want to justify wearing wigs use quotes, their rabbanim and all sorts of reasons to justify wearing wigs. Women who wear wigs cause their husbands (foolishly) want them to, can say only that. Then, the men are the ones with all sorts of reasons to back their claims.
I have a question for those women and men: When was the last time you listened to your heart? Although in this generation it is hard to hear our hearts - people rationalize so well, everyone else does it, etc. but, if you would go into a room for one hour, 2, how ever long it takes, block out all the surrounding voices, what does your heart tell you?

How about children? They have some innocence left in them, before they get too old, so let's ask them. I did. I approached a 6 year old whose mother wears a wig, a prominent woman in the neighborhood. I asked her, "What do you think is more modest? a wig or a tichel?" She didn't even think. "A tichel," she said. Just like that. Why is this amazing? Because children usually vouch for whatever their sacred parents do and think. I used to. But when it comes to emes (truth), real emes, those who seek emes have no doubts.
I used to wear pretty black wigs. Even when they were relatively short, I knew I looked nice in them. That's why I wore them. Did it occur to me that I could be making men think about me? I didn't really allow myself to think about it. I didn't want to believe it. I preferred to listen to most women I knew who said, 'Rabbanim allow wigs, they are so common, minhag hamakom, etc. '
Until I found out that men really were looking. What a horrible feeling that was.
Well, I'm not going to be the cause of any man not doing proper avodas Hashem. I made the decision. That's that. The fact is, the poskim do prefer tichels. They are afraid to lose Jews altogether in this generation. So they give heterim with tznius conditions (which most women don't follow anyway - not real hair, skin color parts, long, etc.) I have only seen elderly women wearing tznius wigs that look 'wiggy' as my cousin calls it.
Interesting - the men that want their wives wearing wigs, would not want them in tznius, short, synthetic wigs. They want them pretty. Same goes for the women - most of the women that wear wigs.
But in this generation, in thime preceding yemos HaMashiach, Hashem wants us to show him our messirus nefesh. That's why the Rabbis don't force us to serve Hashem properly. Hashem wants to know who really wants to follow the Torah properly and who really wants the Geula.
Yes, the rabbis have heters. But why do we have to force them to give these heters? We will never gain ahavas Yisrael, if we don't start caring about each other. I don't want other women causing my husband michshols, do you? The fact is that when women leave the house wearing straight clothes, tight or not, heels, wigs and makeup, they are basically showing their disregard for other Jews. It's the brutal truth. Don't we all know about what it says about the dor preceding Moshiach? Don't our husbands know? So why are we pretending not to know? Why don't we fight and say, "no! I don't want those nevuos (prophecies) to be true! Let's keep this generation holy, as it was 200 years ago, before women uncovered their hair and gave in to the goyim. Now we are allowed to cover our hair and look Jewish - so why are we and our husbands insisting we go out looking like wannabe models? Why?!

Let's wake up, friends and wake each other up. Gently, through friendly conversation, not coercion. I will daven for everyone that wakes up and does this. You can send me your names. I would be happy if You would daven for me to succeed as well. Calanitte Ziva bas Davida Leah.

Here's a part of what the autistics said recently about wigs:

Q. Why do you speak so strongly against wigs? Righteous women have been wearing them for generations?

Daniel: Throughout history, the snake – which is the evil inclination, the sitra achra – comes up with all sorts of ways of bringing down Am Yisrael [“Man’s inclination renews itself every day upon him” Gemara Kidushin 30]. A few hundred years ago it instated the wig into the world which is a true creation of the Evil Inclination.

Obviously the wig of today is not the wig of old times. Due to the decrees given to the Jews in Europe, forbidding women to cover their hear in the street with tichels, the righteous women made themselves wigs out of horse tails, rope, or straws [so as not to walk around without their hair covered]. The hair clearly did not look real yet even then great tzaddikim were very much against it.

In addition, most of the women in those areas of Europe simply stopped covering their hair altogether and those who wore the wigs were considered righteous.

But the wigs of today, according to all halachic opinions are absolutely forbidden [to hear the original psak given on wigs call (972) 03 6711113/2] because they are pretty and attract attention.

Not just attractive; there are many well known charedi women who are very particular about the way they look and they take extra care to try and look like models, the way they dress, etc. and they want to be noticed. Today, a woman who dresses this way, wearing a wig that looks like real hair – sometimes even other charedim get mixed up and are not really sure if her hair is covered or not.