Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Seriously, What Orthodox Women Wear to the Beach Is No Different From a Burkini

Moshe Sebbag, the rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, announced this week that he supports the French ban on burkinis, the modest swimwear some Muslim women wear to cover up on the beach.

Wearing a burkini, he said, is not “innocent” and it sends a message.

But, we ask Sebbag, what difference exactly is there between the garb Orthodox Jewish women wear to the beach than the burkinis that some Muslim women wear?

And why should one religious group of women be allowed to follow their traditions over another?

Muslim woman at the beach.

Image by FETHI BELAID/AFP

Orthodox Jewish woman at the beach.

Image by Flickr

Muslim woman.

Image by Reuters/Tim Wimborne

Jewish woman.

Burkini

Image by Amazon

Modest Swimsuit for Orthodox Woman.

Image by AQUA MODESTA

Enough said.

Thea Glassman is the Forward’s multimedia fellow. Contact her at glassman@forward.com or on Twitter, @theakglassman

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version