I am quite curious as to where Shmarya from Failed Messiah found this, but nonetheless it rules and I remember in high school meeting frum girls who told me all about these spies that would catch them with skirts that were not regulation length. Click the more tag to see the rest of the picture – it’s really large.
How can it be tznius if it has a plant’s lascivious inviting s*x organs on it?
lol!
Really. Keep your pistil well covered underneath your long skirt rose.
I remember when my morot used to impart the tale of the girl who pinned who skirt to the flesh of her knees so it wouldn’t ride up and expose her when she was dragged across the ground by wild horses.
Scarred the 10-year-old me for life.
Is the creator of this ruler familiar with the brilliant art of Georgia O’Keefe? 😉
What a disgusting story
Every girl I know who was on the yeshiva system assembly line heard that story multiple times throughout the years. I don’t know if it’s true or not, I just know that I’d rather it was wiped from my memory. Idiot teachers, idiot system.
We boys heard the same story too. In fact, I’d say that if you don’t know the story, I’d be willing to bet you are not an FFB.
Totally agree about the horrible message it conveyed.
I’m virtually FFB (family went BT when I was five) and I don’t recall this story. But I was in MO day schools until sixth grade, so maybe I missed it.
The story of the woman who pinned her skirt to her legs is part of the Story “The Three Giftss” written by Yiddish Author I.L . Pertez..
To the best of my knowledge, the story is fiction and is not based on any historical event, and the story was written by a “Maskil” who didn’t regard himself as religious, although did write many stories about hassidim that are today considered authentic Ba’al Shem Tov stories.
I only heard this one last year, in my sophomore year of BY HS. Everyone thought I was an am ha’aretz that I never heard it before. (I went to MO elementary school…does that qualify me as an am ha’aretz according to BY standards?) The rabbi who told it to us made the context the Spanish Inquisition, and when I told everyone that I’ve done extensive research on that era and I’ve never heard this story before, therefore I doubt it’s true, none of them would believe me. Finally, beautiful proof! The joys of validation!
And a hearty thank you to you, too!
The pinning-her-skirt-to-her-legs story, along with the running-back-through-the-gauntlet-to-pick-up-his-yarmulke story come from a novel written in 1904 by a maskil, Isaac Leib Peretz. Both acts are “gifts” that the main character, a wandering Jewish soul who was denied entry to heaven, collects and brings to God. Both are complete fiction, and both are repeated in yeshivas as true stories illustrating the importance of tznius/wearing a yarmulke.
Outstanding how a modern work of fiction becomes “part of the mesorah.”
But we know that the mesorah goes back in an unbroken line all the way to Sinai. If you say differently you’re a godless aporikos!
Kinda like the Etz Chaim chumash……
Thank you for the reference.
Let me tell you a better one. While the girl was being dragged she pulled out a large, sharp pin. Holding it in her teeth she pulled herself up the rope and jabbed the horse in the tendon.
The horse reared, throwing its rider.
The other Cossack stopped and got off his horse to beat the girl to death. Instead of cringing she hurled herself at him burying the pin in his eye and piercing his brain, killing him instantly.
She took the kindjal from his body and cut off the head of his injured companion.
Then, taking their money, their weapons and their horses she rode for the frontier leaving the benighted country behind.
And if she didn’t live happily ever after she lived a lot happier than she would have as a beaten-down brainwashed peasant.
Good God. A woman fighting back is so untznius!
Not if the Cossack didn’t see her hoo-hah while she was standing over him
Yes, but riding a horse is EXTREMELY untznius. No way she could get out of that one.
Aren’t Jewish girls supposed to be “like the daughters of a King”? Royalty ride horses.
Ah, but was she riding side-saddle or with one leg over each side of the horse?
You win the internet!
I heard that story too. It made me sick to my stomach. It was supposed to inspire us to be more tznius. All it did was make me think of tznius as being a way to torture women. The way I heard this story it took place during the Holocaust and the Nazis were trying to get her to pull up her skirt above her knees to humiliate her. She refused so they dragged her all over town with the pins etc. *shudders*
Every girl I know who was on the yeshiva system assembly line heard that story multiple times throughout the years. I don’t know if it’s true or not, I just know that I’d rather it was wiped from my memory. Idiot teachers, idiot system.
Worse than that. An idiot lacks the capacity. These people might have, but have gleefully turned themselves into idiots and done the same thing to generations of innocent children. It is a crime against God and Nature.
Religion is like a shmekele. It is useful. It can give you great pleasure. But please don’t ram it down little children’s throats.
have gleefully turned themselves into idiots and done the same thing to generations of innocent children
Idiots and carbon copies. Ignorance is death.
>Religion is like a shmekele. It is useful. It can give you great pleasure. But please don’t ram it down little children’s throats.
This. Best thing I’ve seen on the internet in a long time.
Wish I could take credit for it
Well, I’m a complete BT, never touched institutionalized Jewish education before I turned 18. And I read that story somewhere – until now thought it was true….
Wait, am I misinterpreting those instructions, or does this ruler allow the skirt to go 4″ above the knee when you bend over?
hmmm, good point. I’m not sure how far you actually have to bend over in order to get the 4 inches. It seems to be missing the other instructions — they start with “Stand here and lean over. Now put your elbows on the desk with your palms facing down, and close your eyes.”
I was misinterpreting it, I think. You attach it so it goes up the skirt, rather than hanging from the bottom.
Well, at Bais Yaakov I had a bad rep for wearing super long skirts and *gasp* short socks.
So, they made it mandatory for me to go to the office and lift my skirt above my knees every morning.
In retrospect, I could probably sue for sexual harassment or something.
good grief! you can’t make this stuff up. and that flower is truly over the top. i agree with outskirt , very georgia o’keefe indeed!
Victoria’s Secret ad on the side bar, do they use rulers?
Granted, I am new to being Jewish – but I really think the whole tznuit thang has taken on an unfortunate and exaggerated sense of importance.
If you want to be taken seriously as a woman of intellect, you can’t dress like a skank. If you want to attract a mate of quality, you shouldn’t have your ‘assets’ (or ass) hanging out all over the place. But arbitrary rules about what should be visible and what shouldn’t? How thick ones pantyhose should be? (If Rabbis and men had the joy of wearing pantyhose in weather hotter than 80 degrees, the tznuit standards would be different.)
I spent a lot of years attempting to attract certian men, as well as trying to get rid of others… Honestly, my bare elbows never did much for me either way.
HA! My mom printed those rulers for a local school here. She brought one home for me for kicks a few years ago. Can’t believe they’re still around. Crazt world.
Omg, this is real? And did she purposely go for an O’ Keefe type of thing (looked her up when a frum art teacher seemed to stop short when talking about her)?
Georgia O’Keefe? Honi soit qui mal y pense
Um, this IS French, right? Are you dissing me or the teacher?
The teacher. It means “Shame upon him who thinks evil of it”. It’s the motto of the Order of the Garter, highest order of British chivalry.
She works in a printing place so she just follows instructions given by the customer, who in this case was a rather right wing Bais Yaakov
The lack of arts education in yeshivot breaks my heart.
NYS has an arts requirement, that’s how it came up. We have art for 6 months. But then again, we’re just a bunch of girls, a little education can be wasted on us
It’s not as if you need it. Since you’re on a higher spiritual plane and all it’s a sin to teach you Talmud. Maybe a little bit of that Tanakh fluff. But you can’t really learn anything while you’re popping out a kid every two years.
For the hard of thinking, that was sarcasm
If I did that, I’d wake up one morning and kill all of them! No way am I having a lot of kids, I’ll leave that for everybody else, you know what I mean?
I think the rabbi of the school shoul watch every girl walk by and bend over. If its not clear the girl should repeat as many times as necessary and the Rabbi should decide for herself
School spies in US schools are so 90’s
they have similar rulers in frum womens’ clothing stores dressing rooms, but without the flower
“*A more reliable method is to have someone else check for you.”
I humbly volunteer my services.
Right now trying to find an appropriate skirt is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. Even the frum companies make skirts that are 26″ long. My test for a frum skirt is the hardest to pass. If you can sit down in your skirt without exposing any part of your knee, the skirt is acceptable. If it is calf length, ie: 29″ to 30″ it is respectable. If it is lower than that, “Al achad kama v kama. My test is not meant for kids at school, it is made for 57 yr. old bubbies like me.
Please, totally ignore the fact that people come in different heights and not everyone wears her skirt waistbands 3 inches above her bellybutton.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Lands’ End has a good selection of grandma-style skirts.
Tzivia, where are you shopping? I have trouble finding skirts short enough. Most skirts are 35-36 inches or are above the knee (I am talking mainstream clothing stores/catalogues). I am tiny short, and 34 inches is as long as I can go without having a dragging on the ground problem. I really want 30-33 inches which provides more than adequate coverage. I am not frum, far from it, but I was brought up to wear only long skirts (not any kind of pants/shorts) and three-quarter/long sleeves, and I still dress that way. It is super easy to find 34-36 inch A-line/gored skirts (not tight-fitting), no slits, black/navy/charcoal/dark brown. The places that carry tall sizes have skirts to 38 inches. If your local stores don’t have what you are looking for, try shopping online. You don’t have to go to online stores that advertise “modest” clothes. Mainstream online stores have what you are looking for. The clothing sites give measurements, so you shouldn’t have a problem with fit. There are lots of sales online and free shipping promotions, so it’s not overly expensive. I just bought a bunch of a-line cotton knit skirts in dark colors for $5 a piece–they were petites so just the right length for me, but they were also available in regular length. And I am in the bubbie age bracket too.
i’m not even a girl, but i know how to make a hem to shorten a skirt.
What gets me is the ban on skirts that are too long! They aren’t considered “tznius” because they were “fashionable” (this goes back about 10 years)
I don’t think they use that excuse anymore. Now it’s that long skirts make you look like you aren’t trying hard enough, or something, and therefore are not befitting a bas yisroel. At least that’s the excuse they were using by the time I got to sem, about 10 years ago.
What the farking fark?
Yeah supposedly they make you look “shlumpy” I was told.
yeah, that one completely cracked me up. when a girl can actually be in fashion and its tznius they have to try and find a way to muck it up.
The shulamis skirts? Those were hot and skanky and tznius. Whoever banned them has help to pay!
*hell. damn autocorrect.
This sick charedit frum world is obssessed with women’s dress to such an extent that it is litwrally sick.
Being “modest” is not only how long a woman’s skirt is (or an 8 yr old girl according to these perverts)
Lets see a ruler for how big your house can be, or what kind of car you can buy or the jewlery and diamonds some of these frum women have dripping off their bodies, or the silver and dining room sets and subzero/wolf kitchens these same people flaunt…NO! All i car e abiut is how long your daughter’s sleeves are
By the way, this creates not only girls who are sick, but the boys end up looking at girls and women as pure sex objects. Why shouldnt they! Thats what they are being told! Cover them up!! Sick
yea i’ve see these in some judaica stores on ave. j in brooklyn
I was always taught “what Torah is to a man is what tznius is to a woman” as if we have nothing more to contribute to klal Yisroel than fading into the background.
Chesed? Tefila? That’s a waste of time compared to using the tznius ruler and obsessing over inches.
After all I’m going crazy for this chasidisha girls with there long skirts ,its just a cover up for there nice makeup and high heels
I personally look for skirts 35-36 inches long so it covers my ankles. That way I can wear support knee highs and no one knows. BTW, knee highs are much more comfortable in hot weather than full fledged support nylons.
When I visited my Partner in Torah in Lakewood, who is big in the Lakewood community, she said I dressed very tznuis. So a too long a skirt is a puzzlement.
Perhaps the fact that I am 65 has something to do with the lack of criticism that a younger woman might experience.