Distorting Judaism In The Name Of Tzniyus, Or, A Crazy Wedding

After yesterday's crazy divorce story, I found another one for you today.

Truth is, this is not really a story about divorce but about how crazy some people have gotten about tzniyus, and how they have distorted Judaism in the name of tzniyus.

Bechadrei is reporting on a recent wedding in Mea She'arim. The wedding was small, because the groom's family opposed the wedding, on account of the wife and her family being crazy, to put it lightly.

The chosson had recently been married, but unfortunately it did not work out. When he tried to divorce her, she refused to accept the get. He responded by arranging a hetter meia rabbonim, the allowance to remarry by getting 100 rabbis spanning 3 different continents to sign a document allowing him to remarry despite the ban on marrying more than one wife. This is a rare arrangement, and is only done, even then only rarely, when he is willing to give his wife the get but she refuses to accept it. Anyway, she refused the get and he arranged to be allowed to remarry.

In his recent wedding, this past Friday, he married a woman who was marrying for the first time. Gilad Shalit was kept inside for over 5 years. This girl, the bride, had been kept in her house, by her parents, for 1.5 years because they considered it a tzniyus problem for her to go outside.

She was kept indoors for one-and-a-half years!

She could not go outside because of tzniyus concerns, despite the fact that her family is a card carrying member of the burqa people - the kat ha'shalim. Meaning even though they wear shals and burqas, it still isn't tzniyus to go outside!

The chosson's grandfather, a respected rav in Jerusalem, said, when he heard about her family, that when one sees a woman wearing a shal he must spit at her, as it is the sitra achra.

As well, also because of concerns of tzniyus, the kallah's father did not go to the wedding of his daughter. Rather, he spent the entire weekend in Meron.

This chosson picked some real winners!