Thursday 25 March 2010

bar / bat mitzvah




There are several levels to the observance of physical and personal modesty (tzniut) according to Orthodox Judaism as derived from various sources in halakha. Observance of these rules varies from aspirational to mandatory to routine across the spectrum of Orthodox stricture and observance.
  • A prohibition on dwelling on lascivious or immoral thoughts.
  • A prohibition on staring at members of the opposite sex, particularly at the reproductive anatomy.
  • A requirement to keep most of one's body clothed in respectable clothing.
  • A requirement to avoid the company of uncouth individuals and avoid frequenting places where an atmosphere of levity and depravity prevails.
  • A prohibition on looking at pictures or scenes that will be sexually arousing.
  • A prohibition on touching a person of the opposite sex, especially in a lingering arousing manner (shaking hands very quickly in greeting between sexes is a point of dispute, and depends on one's rabbi's halachic decision). See Negiah.
  • A prohibition on wearing the clothing of a member of the opposite sex.
  • A prohibition on looking at animals copulating.
  • A prohibition on erotically hugging (chibuk) or kissing (nishuk) one's spouse in public.
  • A prohibition on sexual contact or touching between spouses when the wife is a niddah (menstruant) or has not immersed in a mikvah following the niddah period.
  • A prohibition on seclusion with a person of the opposite sex who is not a spouse or close relative (Yichud).
  • A requirement that men and women be separated during prayer, dancing, and on certain other occasions (Mechitza)
  • A prohibition on hotza'at zera levatala -- "secreting semen in vain" by men. There is no equivalent prohibition for women since there is no secretion. However, masturbation by women is considered by most Rabbis to be a lewd act and is thus included in the general commandment "And you shall be holy".
  • A prohibition on sex between men, or with any type of animal, or with a corpse.
And of course, the synagogue is in Munich, Germany.

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