Q&A: Laws of Modesty at a Tractate Completion Ceremony
Laws of Modesty at a Tractate Completion Ceremony
Question
Hello Rabbi, this came up for discussion among us and I wanted to know your opinion: if a young woman makes a siyum on a tractate and says Kaddish while dressed in short pants and a sleeveless shirt, is that permitted according to the religion? I would appreciate sources for further study if possible.
Answer
It is problematic. Kaddish is considered a matter of holiness, and it should not be recited in an immodest state. But there are two arguments for being lenient: first, the norms of modesty today are different, and perhaps there is room to take them into account (as with reciting a matter of holiness in the presence of exposed body parts such as a woman’s hair). In addition, it is commonly accepted to be lenient in this when it comes to spreading Torah study and making it accessible to populations that are not careful about modesty. For example, in Torah lectures for secular audiences and the like. It is hard to draw a clear and sharp line here, and everything depends on the circumstances: who the young woman is, who the audience is, whether this will indeed bring people closer, and so on. See this brief overview here: https://ph.yhb.org.il/02-03-11/
Discussion on Answer
“The norms of modesty today are different, and perhaps there is room to take them into account”
Do you think that a sleeveless shirt and short pants are also considered modest by today’s cultural standards?
In an ordinary religious public, I think not. Beyond that, there is the second consideration.
Hello Rabbi, I would appreciate further clarification regarding the sentence about norms of modesty. What is the norm of modesty today in the ordinary religious public? And how can one determine what the norm is?
I don’t have an answer. It’s a matter of intuition.
“The norms of modesty today are different, and perhaps there is room to take them into account”
Do you think that even in a sleeveless shirt and short pants one should take that into account? Isn’t that immodest even from a cultural standpoint today?