Want to go swimming in the Bnei Brak pool in Petach Tikvah? Well, then, better bring your clothing. Or so it would seem from the advertisement.
Now, I'm not complaining that the advertisement has no women. Really, I understand that 100%. But it seems that we've now arrived at the point where it is not only unacceptable to show women at all, but it is also unacceptable to show men in anything less than full dress attire... even when the result is absurd.
Seriously, I can understand it if they didn't want to show any bare-chested men. Really. But they could have had a shoulders-and-up view of the man in the pool. Or even just his head (with the water up to his neck). But, apparently, it seems that it is only acceptable to show a man in a pool if he's fully dressed, including shirt, jacket, tie and hat. And glasses! Oh yeah, and bare feet are no good either... the kid diving into the pool is wearing shoes! I hope the weight of his shoes doesn't drag him under.
I think we've got a serious problem when you can't portray a man in a pool unless he's in full chareidi garb. After all, presumably, the men actually see each other in swimming attire when in the pool, right? If so, then how can a picture of it be any worse? Or maybe they *do* swim in full clothing?
The Wolf
Hat tip: Shaul Reznik
UPDATE: Yeesh! Mention "swim" in your post and all of a sudden you get the most interesting Google advertisements!. I've disabled the sidebar ad for Google until I figure out how to get it to only show appropriate ads. Thanks to those who alerted me to this.
The Wolf
25 comments:
That is indeed hilarious! It is worthy as a spoof ad for an anti-chareidi site.
Wolf - do you speak Russian? It seems that as a software developer in Brooklyn who reads Shaul Reznik and onionsoupmix, you should be able to speak Russian :-)
As for the dressed Hareidi people in the ad - I think that due to the lack of physical education and activity, most hareidi people look better dressed than not. As you should know, it's not a pretty sight when you go to a mikvah.
(just being a realist here - I'm also a far cry from a body builder)
What about the fact that it's Bnei Brak's pool but it's located in Petach Tikva?
That is FUNNY! I actually surfed over to your blog to see if you had any comments about Noah Feldman's story in the Times Magazine last weekend or Shmuley Boteach's commentary on the piece in the J.Post.
Gregory... I don't speak Russian. I've never been to Russia in my life.
I don't usually read Shaul Reznik either (obviously). Someone else pointed me to it.
The Wolf
Carol,
I was thinking about commenting on the piece, but I'm not certain yet that I have anything original to say that hasn't already been said by others.
I usually like to wait a few days on things like that and see if there is some point that I can make that hasn't yet been mentioned.
The Wolf
That is utterly hilarious. *tears of laughter*
This ad juxtaposes really well with the female lifeguard in a bikini on the left hand side of your blog, center
Wolf,
Here is my comment on DovBear's blog:
I've actually seen this!! I went to Lake Tahoe many years ago with a bunch of people from my community, including a very frum rav (right wing, but the correct way...) who ACTUALLY WENT SWIMMING IN HIS SUIT AND TIE!! YES! THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS!! I HAVE SEEN AND CAN PROVIDE OTHER EYEWITNESSES!!
ROFL. You must be fully dressed (hat and jacket) to enter the pool - but white shirt is adequate for sitting under an umbrella (rear of the ad)
I don't know why you people think this is funny. This extremism is going to turn so many yidden away from frumkeit. Your own laughter is part of it! You laugh, I cry.
Gives new meaning to the word "swimsuit".
The tzniut police strike again!
[The sad part is that there are misguided frum people out there who would take this advertisement as a "p'sak" for tznua swimwear.]
Better to wear an old suit than a newer one...
i still see an ad for SpikeTV's "sexiest bartenders"
Wolf,
I actually would, very much,like to hear your take on the Noah Feldman article.
Off topic, but I wonder if there is any chance if these styles catching on in the frum velt? Or not tsniusdik enough?
http://www.ahiida.com/index.php?a=details&cat=0&subcat=65&id=189&page=1
Ditto Steg's last post, Husband
(i.e. You still need to get rid of the chick!)
That's....odd.
I commented that block out of the template.
It doesn't show up in Firefox (which is what I usually use), but it does show up in IE.
I'll have to look at it again (the code and the template, not the ad) when I get home.
The Wolf
Now I'm wondering how Chareidim dress when they go to the mikvah.
There we go.
Note to people who use the Google ads: commenting out the code will disable it in Firefox, but not in IE. To disable it in IE, you have to actually take the code out.
The Wolf
"As for the dressed Hareidi people in the ad - I think that due to the lack of physical education and activity, most hareidi people look better dressed than not."
LOL. I don't think I'd be welcome in Bnei Brak's pool (check out my pic).
"As you should know, it's not a pretty sight when you go to a mikvah."
What about the adolescent boys bursting with powerful sex hormones who never see a girl, but see plenty of naked men every Friday at the mikvah. Need I say more?
I wanted to post this on my egroup, AframJews. but was so embarrassed because I knew there were conservatives and reforms there. they'd laugh me right off the planet if they knew orthodoxy did this.
I'm not sure if charedim actually dress this way in the pool, or if this is just a joking way of communicating "pool for the charedi population, no undressed secular ladies here". And to make that point, the guy in front is all dressed up with coat and tie, while the guys in the background are less distinctively dressed.
And judging by where I live (Haifa), the charedi kids' clothing is realistic. Little kids do in fact wear colored clothing and polo shirts etc.; the transition from "more or less conservative style" to "black and white uniform" occurs gradually between the ages of roughly 8 to 12.
I detect virulent pritzus in the poster - The two men in the background are not wearing jackets AND THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS WEARING SHORT SLEEVES WITH ELBOWS SHOWING!!!!!
QUICK! THE TZNIUS BRIGADE!
though it's not an issue of tznius, it's more an issue of keeping macho/animalism out of UO media.
But I really think it's irresponsible to have kept the jacket and black hat on - people emulating this could have their clothing ruined!
Great skit idea for WPLJ-
"I got my brand new Suit ruined coz of you people! I'm gonna sue your Borsalinos off!"
I think the poster is tongue-in-cheek. The bold blue letters say "THE POOL OF BNEI BRAK", and the picture, tongue-in-cheek, shows someone meant to look like a very, very typical BB yungerman - inside the swimming pool. It's an example of advertising that is funny, noticeable, memorable and cool - as advertising should be.
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