“What should a girl do if she wishes to dress modestly but her parents won’t let her? According to Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein she can injure herself in order to use it as an excuse for dressing modestly.” In all honesty I never thought it would come to this, but I’m sure that those of you who have seen this are cringing right now. I myself cringe whenever it comes to tznius madness as I would term this, in my mind it seems that the entire frum view of women is as sex objects – men cannot control themselves and therefore women are punished with this ever expanding list of laws to prevent men from sinning. They are taught day in and day out that it’s all their responsibility to combat against the men who are on a lower spiritual level which in turn gives men the subconscious excuse that they could act like stereotypical men.
Last week Rabbi Zilberstein, the the son-in-law of prominent Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv, received an inquiry from a women’s college coordinator about a student who is growing increasingly religious. The student said she wanted to dress modestly but her parents were preventing her from doing so, because they were not religious. “The young woman is facing a difficult challenges from her family members, who forbid her to dress modestly,” the college coordinator wrote in the inquiry.
“The young woman thought that if she inflicted wounds on her legs she could tell her parents that she is wearing a long skirt to cover the wounds,” the letter said.
Kal Vachomer you can cut your arms, collarbone, cleavage and scalp (if your husband won’t let you cover your hair)…
Rabbi Zilberstein’s reply came shortly after, with an unequivocal answer: “She is allowed to inflict wounds on her legs in order to dress modestly and evade sin.”
What kind of sins may she be evading exactly? Wanting to become more socially religious?
In his reply, the rabbi commended the student’s initiative, saying “the blood from the self-inflicted wound will atone for the people of Israel,” adding that the coordinator should allow the student to commit the act.
I promise you I’m not making this up! Original article on Ynet.