The length of the slits and the spread of luxury: Reconstructing the subordination of ultra-Orthodox jewish women through the patriarchy of men scholars

Abstract

Whenever ultra-Orthodox women gather, someone takes over the task of preaching to them. Be it a charity dinner, a Torah lesson, a holiday meal, or a few hours with the children in the playground—preaching is always part of what transpires, and women's dress will always be touched on. Every spare moment, especially those times when women are most vulnerable, like after a death or a tragic event in the community, the public discourse of, to, and about women is saturated with the meanings of modesty. This work, based on two years of research among ultra-Orthodox women in Tel Aviv, Israel, describes the nature and content of this discourse and places it within the context of fundamentalism in the Middle East, and of political and economic conditions, It shows how the discourse reconstructs the women's subordination through a new patriarchy of men scholars.