"Srini Ramakrishnan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Today is a particularly hot day in Zurich, I am sitting barefoot after > shedding my shoes and socks which were uncomfortably warm, but I saw a > Hasidic jew on the street earlier today - I wonder how he must feel > under all that attire borne of religious compulsion.
FYI, none of 613 commandments an orthodox Jew follows require that one dress in the winter garb of an 18th century Polish nobleman year round. Indeed, I don't believe there were any Polish noblemen walking about when the first five books of the old testament were drafted. You can check Maimonides for yourself. There are some requirements to dress "modestly" but none of them can be easily construed as requiring overcoats on hot summer days. Why do they do it, then? It is not religious compulsion but peer pressure. The sub-sect you are observing tries to prevent assimilation of its brethren by culturally encouraging them to behave in ways that separate them from the society which surrounds them. Why this has to involve masochistic acts like wearing heavy woolens in summer, I have no idea. Religions are a great mystery to me in general. Perry
