Eida Putting End To Burqa Cult

The story that won't go away is the Eida trying to use its influence to quash the growing influence of the kat ha'shalim, the burqa ladies "cult".

More and more stories are coming out about how they behave, things they do differently than commonly accepted practice, and many are finding it disconcerting. Reports had come in to the Eida, from a social worker, that some of these women are choosing to not give birth in hospitals for reasons of tzniyus. Another case reported to them was of a family in the cult whose daughter had gotten burned. After being taken to the hospital, they refused to allow the doctor to treat her, insisting on only having a female doctor. After a delay and refusal to accommodate, they abandoned the hospital and went to get private treatment. (source: Behadrei)

As an aside, I am not quite sure exactly what the problem is in these two reports. Women choose to have home births with private midwives all the time. And in the second incident, while a delay in treatment was caused and they specifically put their daughter in danger by causing such a delay for non-medical reasons, in theory I see nothing wrong with them insisting on a specific doctor - people do that all the time - or preferring private treatment.

Regardless of my points, these reports were brought to the Eida to show how these women and families are dangerous and involved in dangerous behavior.

Other cases involved husbands birthing their wives at home, not via private midwife. One such case caused the child to be born premature as they refused to call medical assistance. Only after they could tell the baby was in serious danger did they call a local hatzala volunteer. The volunteer took the baby to the hospital against the wishes of the parents. The child was deposited in the hospital without information being given as to who the parents are, so as not to incriminate them. The parents still have not stepped forward to identify themselves, so as to avoid arrest, and the hospital is treating the baby but refuses to release it until the parents step forward. (source: Kikar)

At the same time, the group is going on a campaign to convince more women to "join". While their material has generally been rejected by husbands who come across it, who obviously don't want their wives to join this group, and they dispose of it when they come across it, the group has found ways to get their material out. they now use envelopes and stationery with logos from real estate agents and kablanim as a way of sneaking the material past the opposing spouse. (source: Kikar)

The Eida decided to have a high-level meeting to discuss how to out an end to the phenomenon. The Badatz met yesterday to discuss the matter, and as a result decided to publish a sharp letter rejecting this behavior. They write that they heard about the antics of this group of women who have uprooted daas torah and on their own choose to not send their children to school and do not provide them with necessary medical attention to the point of putting their lives into danger, and other unmentionable acts. They then warn the public to stay away from these people. They condemn the making changes to the wedding ceremony...  and they say they will take harsh action against families that put their kids in danger. The Eida is putting together a committee to gather information, and they say they will work with the authorities and social workers to remove affected children from the homes of such families. (source: Behadrei and Kikar)