Culture Club

Jewish Community Asks Visitors to Dress Appropriately, Complaints Arise

The tradition in the village of Satmar Hasidic Jews is modesty. Even on the hottest of days, most residents cover up from head to toe. But visitors don’t necessarily follow that tradition, and now the main synagogue is asking them to comply.

Congregation Yetev Lev posted signs at the village’s entrance – in both English and Spanish – asking outsiders to cover their legs and arms, use appropriate language and maintain gender separation in public. . .

But the sign struck a sour note with some.

“They’re telling us that we can’t come into their community unless we dress a certain way,” said Adia Parker, an Orange County resident.

“I feel like my constitutional rights are being violated,” said Tyrone Wheeler, a day laborer in the village seeking work.

This is a perfect example of how the media and government have managed to twist the minds of the American people through the fraud of "political correctness." So a traditional, observant religious Jewish village wishes people to dress according to their beliefs, which evidently is head-to-toe covering, even in the heat of the summer. And this article, complaining about that request, not only makes it into the mainstream media but appears high up on the Drudge Report.

I can guarantee you that if the community in question were a village of Muslims, the media would be falling all over themselves to promote the wondrous example of religious freedom and tolerance in America. The request for visitors to dress modestly is just that in this Jewish area. Try sending one the media's favorites over to the Middle East and see what happens. Send Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian to Saudi Arabia in their standard dress and see how tolerant and respectful of Americans' style of dress our friends of the Religion of Peace are.

The bottom line is this: in America we have the freedom of movement, of association, of speech and religion. If Tyrone Wheeler, a "day laborer," feels that his constitutional rights are being violated by a welcome sign bearing a request, he needs to read the Constitution. He typifies the average idiot American who knows nothing of that document other than it allows him and his ilk to continuously claim victim status. I am neither pro- nor anti-Israel, I have no stake in that battlefield. I am pro-American and support the Constitution and Bill of Rights. No one's rights are being violated by this Jewish community. They are not bothering anyone, so everyone should leave them alone. If Mr. Wheeler feels the need to dress in a Speedo when he is "laboring," he can find work elsewhere.