Happy Hanukkah — Cut the Chit Chat With Cousin Gertrude!

By Sam Kestenbaum December 28, 2016

It’s Hanukkah time, but don’t get carried away with the holiday spirit.

Fliers posted in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of New York City warn: amidst your Hanukkah parties, dreidel spinning and menorah lighting — don’t let the men and women mix. There should be no engaging in “unnecessary chatting,” “frivolous laughter,” or “playing games together.” This even includes socializing between brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and cousins.

“The separation between men and women,” the posters read, “must be completely enforced.”

The concept of modesty, tzniut in Hebrew, is used, mostly in Orthodox circles, to describe the character trait of modesty and a group of Jewish laws relating to conduct, especially between the sexes. Some of the most visible observances of these customs are the hair covering and long skirts worn by Orthodox women and the separation of sexes during prayer.

This poster, found in Boro Park was also published in 2015 in The Weekly Link, a premier Orthodox magazine.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO