Haredi burqa sect

The "Haredi burqa sect" (Hebrew: נשות השָאלִים, romanized: Neshót haShalím, lit. 'shawl-wearing women') is a community of Haredi Jews that ordains the full covering of a woman's entire body and face, including her eyes, for the preservation of modesty (tzniut) in public. In effect, the community asserts that a Jewish woman must not expose her bare skin to anyone but her husband and immediate family. The garment in question, known as a shal (שָאל, lit. 'shawl'), is also referred to as a frumka—a portmanteau of the Yiddish-language word frum and the Arabic-language word burqa. The Haredi burqa sect, with an estimated population of several hundred people as of 2011, is primarily concentrated in Israel, and particularly in the city of Beit Shemesh. These Haredim rarely leave their homes; the married women who do come out in public are accompanied by their daughters, who also don long robes.

In both Israel and the Jewish diaspora, the Haredi burqa sect is controversial, even among the broader Haredi community itself. Several notable Haredi religious organizations, including the Jerusalem-based Edah HaChareidis, have issued strong and vocal statements condemning the burqa sect's radical tenets with regard to women's clothing.

History

The frumka as a mode of dress for Haredi women was initiated by Bruria Keren, an Israeli religious leader who taught a strict (by Orthodox standards) interpretation of Jewish scripture for female adherents. Keren, who covers herself in several layers of clothing, claimed that covering women was originally a Jewish tradition, and that she had seen a 400-year-old picture of Jewish women covered from head to toe. There are also Sephardic women who claim that their mothers covered their bodies entirely, so that their figures could not be discerned.