Last week, Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper Der Tzitung rubbed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason out of the now iconic photo of the White House War Room. Today, as discovered by blogger and friend of Heeb Shmarya Rosenberg, it turns out yet another Hasidic weekly, De Voch, felt the display of women in power was far too racy for Jewish eyes and published a similarly Photoshopped picture.
But don’t worry, they didn’t mean anything by it! In Der Tzitung’s official response, they let us know that it’s the rest of us that just got the wrong idea:
The allegations that religious Jews denigrate women or do not respect women in public office, is a malicious slander and libel…. The Jewish religion does not allow for discrimination based on gender, race, etc…. Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention. We apologize if this was seen as offensive.
No harm, no foul. In the great Jewish tradition of not denigrating women, we thought we should get in on the photo altering craze that’s sweeping the Diaspora. So here you have it, a brief and female-free Hasidic view of history.
Photoshoppery by Harrison Freeman
All the guys in the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes scene were gay anyway. Just sayin’.
I don’t get it, her elbows weren’t even exposed.
[…] Der Tzitung or De Voch editing Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason out of the situation room photo. That’s been done already elsewhere, and better than I could […]
When are these fundamentalists, of whatever religion, going to grow up about women and sex? What the HELL is so racy about women sitting in the situation room waiting for word on the raid on Bin ladin?
“So here you have it, a brief and female-free Hasidic view of history.”
Only problem here is that no Hasid would be aware of any of these events.
If modesty prevents you from showing pictures of women who are fully clothed, then, yes, that is denigrating to both men and women. It assumes men are weak and unable to control themselves and denies women their humanity.
[…] Rubbing women out of history: Last week, Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper Der Tzitung rubbed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason out of the now iconic photo of the White House War Room. Now another Hasidic weekly, De Voch, felt the display of women in power was far too racy for Jewish eyes and published a similarly Photoshopped picture. […]