A diamond, a sunset, a living seascape of crashing, thrashing
waves, a newborn baby, a bride, a woman -- and even more so,
a Jewish woman.
This is beauty. Beauty in its perfect, natural, pristine
state. Beauty defined and redefined in a masterful and
magnificent, convincing and, pardon me but very professional
manner in the genre of today, a film presentation. A grand
production.
The packed audience of well over a thousand English-speaking
women were reluctant to exit the Tamir hall on that memorable
evening of the BNOS MELOCHIM Tzniyus Rally. I am certain the
message had a deep impact on each and every one, with enough
spiritual propulsion to move something, make a dent, turn
every spectator into a participant with a forward push,
towards a new goal.
To be beautiful. Even -- rather, especially -- femininely so.
Because we saw that very beauty through a different spectrum
and understood femininity on a different, very poignantly
real level.
Actually, a good many of the women came to be impressed.
Looking around you, you spotted many of your friends and
neighbors, and they already looked different to you. With the
raging issue that is the talk of the town, the question of
the human hair content of sheitels being of pagan
sacrificial origin, many women, pending a definitive halachic
decision on the matter, have already taken the initiative and
exchanged hirsute fashion for fabric headcoverings of all
kinds.
These women, it seems, are setting the new trend. To be
holier and even more beautiful, since it is their inner
beauty that will shine and illuminate their faces now,
instead of the wig which is designed to simulate the real
thing.
Why shouldn't a noticeable headcovering be a badge of
matrimonial status? And why shouldn't we be proud of it?
But the presentation that night had nothing to do with the
issue of wigs, only of wigwams, that is, the Jewish home and
the message of a Jewish woman. In fact, most of the speakers
wore wigs!
To begin with, our hearts and intellects were keyed up with
screened messages by Gedolei Hador Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetzky
and Pinchos Jung, followed by filmed talks featuring
Rebbetzins Ruchoma Shain, Ruth Assaf and Pearl Beinish.
The bulk of the two-hour presentation was a panel discussion,
moderated with humor and skill by Rebbetzin Shlomtzy Weiss,
which set a lively pace and tone to the evening. No one
panelist spoke for more than fifteen minutes at a time, and
attention was sustained throughout, as message after message
was delivered and absorbed by a captive audience.
Taking turns were Rebbetzins Zahava Braunstein, Tzipporah
Heller, Leah Kohn, each with a distinct style and audience
appeal, emotional, intellectual, factual and very moving.
The climax of the evening, which caused the previously
mentioned reluctance to leave the hall, was an amazing slide
presentation by Tobi Einhorn which contrasted the beauty-
concept of the street (it showed the degenerate look of the
world's famous fashion designers and their `street' products)
and the genuine beauty of an infant, a Jewish child in
kindergarten, a Jewish bride praying behind a Tehillim...
Sorry, but I can't do justice to that film presentation.
You've got to see it. You've got to hear every single word of
its script, a brilliant work of art. To do justice would be
to transcribe it in its beautiful verbatim entirety. That is
what I kept on thinking, knowing that I would want to review
the evening's experience for the YATED readership. I am sorry
to disappoint, but you've got to see it yourself!
"It's Your Turn! Effective Strategies for a Fulfilling
Life" is a powerful message in modern-day terms, with
modern-day technology, that is being promoted by Monsey-based
BNOS MELOCHIM in fifty communities in six continents
throughout the world, from Brazil to Johannesburg to
Switzerland and of course, England, the U.S. and Eretz
Yisroel.
The fulcrum for the self-improvement movement is certainly
the study of the laws of Tzniyus, either through a wide
variety of tapes but even better, through a calendarized
daily learning program of Rabbi Pesach Eliyohu Falk's
monumental and comprehensive work "Oz Vehodor
Levusho."
More information and a complete catalogue can be gotten
directly from BNOS MELOCHIM at POB 853, Monsey, N.Y. 10952,
phone 845-425-9222. Free booklets can be obtained by calling
1-718-853-4730 or 1-718-377-8180.
An audio-cassette of this memorable presentation can also be
obtained. Do so.
If the Jewish world has, in these recent decades, been
aroused to Teshuva, to Shemiras Haloshon, to intensified
Torah study through Daf Hayomi, Ovos uVonim, Kollelim and
Bein Hazemanim study, to improved Shemiras Shabbos -- we must
continue from there to the much-needed area of Tzniyus. And
if women are destined to bring the Geula, we must take
the lead! With dignity.
