Proud to be Modest: Lessons from Judaism – Part II

Yesterday, in Part I, we introduced you to Allison Josephs from Jew in The City.  You can read that part of the interview here.

Let’s continue our interview:

LH: So, is it true you have some famous friends who also dress modestly?

AJ: I’m friends with author and speaker, Wendy Shalit – I blog for her site. (I haven’t blogged in a while, but I used to blog quite frequently there) http://blogs.modestlyyours.net

I’m also friends (and study regularly about Judaism) with actress Mayim Bialik. She was always a pretty modest dresser for Hollywood, but our learning about tznius together inspired her to wear skirts only and she’s managed to wear skirts for basically every role she’s gotten since she took it on.

LH: What’s your biggest challenge in dressing modestly?

AJ: I happen to have very low knees – you wouldn’t think I looked out of the ordinary if you saw me walking down the street or anything, but I’m 5’ 7 1/2” and my mom’s 5’ 3” and years ago we realized that our knees were in the same exact place! Needless to say my low knees make finding skirts that cover my knees quite challenging, especially as skirt lengths have gotten shorter in most stores in the last few seasons. One of my tricks has been to buy “tall” sized skirts from stores like GAP.com and OldNavy.com since they’re cut for long-legged women!

LH: Who is your modesty role model?

AJ: I don’t have a role model per se, but my best friend Tammy’s pretty great at finding that modest/cute balance. And the best part is, she’s always lending me stuff!

LH: Why do some Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair? Is that part of modesty?

AJ: It’s an extra form of modesty that married women take on since when they get married, there’s a new sexuality that they’re tapping into (since Jewish law prohibits couples to even touch before they’re married). This sexuality is a very positive thing, but getting back to the privacy issue, it’s meant for only a certain time and place (i.e. within the marriage). Hair has a certain sensuality to it – think of the expressions “running fingers through hair” or “letting hair down.” So keeping the hair covered in front of other men is an opportunity to keep the sensuality of hair just between the husband and wife.

LH: Is it true that some Orthodox Jewish women wear wigs?

AJ: Yes – the law is to cover only one’s own hair- but it doesn’t specify what to cover the hair with.

LH: How can I tell if it’s a wig?

AJ: Many of them are pretty hard to tell! If you’re trying to figure out if a woman’s wearing one, you could try tugging on her hair and see what happens. (I can’t guarantee what the results will be though!)

LH: We love your clothes! What’s your favorite online modest clothing shop?

AJ: Junees.com

LH: Can you leave us with an inspirational story?

A woman emailed me after watching my hair covering video and explained that she had been thinking about becoming more observant, but hadn’t really done anything about it. After watching the video she said it made total sense, so she decided to cover her hair which started her down the path of observance and she’s now totally religious!

Thanks, Allison, we loved the chat. Check out Allison’s blog at www.jewinthecity.com.

Leah Helfgott is the designer behind www.i-pointwebdesign.com she also writes for In Fashion, a modest fashion magazine (www.InFashionFT.com). She is an Orthodox Jewish woman and a mom of 2 from New Jersey.