Flatbush minhag hamakom tznius

amother

Lemon

Mon, May 30 2016, 2:55 pm

Hi,
I know that some communities have minhag hamakom in regards to tznius. I am curious about the minhag hamakom in flatbush.
Does everyone for the most part cover their legs?
Cover collarbone, elbows, knees?
Or is it different based on hashkafa?

ruchelbuckle

Thu, Jul 14 2016, 11:18 pm

My understanding is that "minhag Hamakom" only applies to a place that is one unified community, with one Rav that everyone follows. An example of this might be Moshav Mattisyahu (where you need to agree to follow Rav Leff in order to be accepted) or New Square.

I wouldn't worry about Flatbush having a minhag hamakom, just try your best to be sensitive.

amother

Rose

Fri, Jul 15 2016, 7:21 am

amother wrote:

from what I know covering knees, elbows and collar bone is halacha and has nothing to do with minhag hamakom. something like wearing stockings is minhag hamakom.

This is not accurate.

cnc

Fri, Jul 15 2016, 7:25 am

ruchelbuckle wrote:

Is that really the case? I always assumed that in a place like Boro Park for example which is primarily chassidish-socks would be required. (Even though it's not unified. )

I'm almost sure that is what I remember learning and reading....it's possible that I'm wrong though.

TeachersNotebook

Tue, Jul 19 2016, 12:49 am

amother wrote:

from what I know covering knees, elbows and collar bone is halacha and has nothing to do with minhag hamakom. something like wearing stockings is minhag hamakom.

Why is this not accurate, Amother Rose? This is exactly how I thought it worked too. I mean, there may be some mikomos where you need to cover 4 inches over the knee rather than 1 inch, etc. etc. But the basic "cover knees, elbows, and collarbone" is halacha and is not place/time dependent. Covering anything else is place/time dependent.

In regards to a "makom." A halachic makom is defined if there is one chief rabbi of the place. Flatbush, and even Boro Park, don't have chief rabbis (interestingly, they tried to import one all the way in the beginning of Jewish NY history, but it didn't work), so they technically aren't mikomos. However, they do contain many different communities. I don't know the actual halacha (if someone does, can you please clarify this??) but I think that if a community holds a tznius minhag, a member of that community must abide. I grew up in a yeshivish Flatbush community, so I wear stockings. But I also mixed with the MO Flatbush crowd, and they wore socks. I don't think they would have had any obligation towards stockings.

amother

Rose

Tue, Jul 19 2016, 7:20 am

TeachersNotebook wrote:

My sefarim interpret the halachos differently, and state that collarbone, knees and elbows do not have to be covered. My point is that even if it is not dependent on minhag hamakom, it is also not Halacha for a lot of us.

TeachersNotebook

Tue, Jul 19 2016, 8:02 am

amother wrote:

Which seforim are you quoting?