{"id":183527,"date":"2013-01-31T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T02:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2013\/01\/31\/whiskey-tango-foxtrot-20\/"},"modified":"2013-01-31T21:08:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T02:08:00","slug":"whiskey-tango-foxtrot-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2013\/01\/31\/whiskey-tango-foxtrot-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Brooklyn, Mafiaesque “Modesty Patrols” are terrorizing the Ultra Orthodox community<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn shopkeeper was already home for the night when her phone rang: a man who said he was from a neighborhood \u201cmodesty committee\u201d was concerned that the mannequins in her store\u2019s window, used to display women\u2019s clothing, might inadvertently arouse passing men and boys.<\/span>

<\/span>\u201cThe man said, \u2018Do the neighborhood a favor and take it out of the window,\u2019 \u201d the store\u2019s manager recalled. \u201c \u2018We\u2019re trying to safeguard our community.\u2019 \u201d<\/span>

<\/span>In many neighborhoods, a store owner might shrug off such a call. But on Lee Avenue, the commercial spine of Hasidic Williamsburg, the warning carried an implied threat \u2014 comply with community standards or be shunned. It is a potent threat in a neighborhood where shadowy, sometimes self-appointed modesty squads use social and economic leverage to enforce conformity.<\/span>

<\/span>The owner wrestled with the request for a day or two, but decided to follow it. \u201cWe can sell it without mannequins, so we might as well do what the public wants,\u201d the owner told the manager, who asked not to be identified because of fear of reprisals for talking. <\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, who prosecuted the Weberman case, has now received allegations that members of a modesty committee forced their way into a home in the borough, confiscating an iPad and computer equipment deemed inappropriate for Orthodox children, officials say. Allegations have also surfaced that a modesty committee threatened to publicly shame a married man who was having an affair unless he paid the members money for what they described as therapy.<\/span>

<\/span>\u201cThey operate like the Mafia,\u201d said Rabbi Allan Nadler, director of the Jewish studies program at Drew University in Madison, N.J.<\/span>

<\/span>Rabbi Nadler, who testified at Mr. Weberman\u2019s trial, said that modesty committees did not have addresses, stationery or business cards, and that few people seemed to know where their authority originated, though it was doubtful, he said, that they could continue operating without the tacit blessings of rabbinical leaders. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jeebus.<\/p>\n

Another  Shanda before the Goyim<\/a>,.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Brooklyn, Mafiaesque “Modesty Patrols” are terrorizing the Ultra Orthodox community: The Brooklyn shopkeeper was already home for the night when her phone rang: a man who said he was from a neighborhood \u201cmodesty committee\u201d was concerned that the mannequins in her store\u2019s window, used to display women\u2019s clothing, might inadvertently arouse passing men and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1052,1051,1232,1021],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crimes","category-hypocrisy","category-judaism","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}