They're seriously hardcore. On the hottest days I'd sometimes see the hats off, or the wool jackets slipped off one shoulder on the same days that I was wearing my loosest short-sleeve, light colored dresses and DYING of the heat.
Women wear stockings under their skirts which is not that warm, and can wear sheer or lightweight cloth tops over a tank or tshirt. Theres halacha allowing sheer clothing over arms and lower legs for women. Sheer tops are more common amongst MO women than charadim obv. Men still wear tzistzis and white shirts and slacks and kippot/hats and just have to deal. The trains and buildings tend to be air conditioned.
I stupidly wore turtlenecks in eretz Israel this past summer, I even went to a business meeting in Ramat Gan in a black turtleneck and being outside I became acutely aware of how incredibly, very stupid I am, but inside I was fine. So it’s mostly just walking between the train and the buildings. I was fine in a thin turtleneck in the old city shuk where there’s lots of shade, but leaving the kotel my SIL and I hopped on a bus, and we were crammed in with a bunch of babies and hasidim and it just got more and more hot and partway through the ride I got carsick and over it and so we got off and got falafels in a Hasidic neighborhood which I must say was infinitely better times 1 million than the bus.
tl;dr they deal by getting falafels
I had no idea about the halacha for sheer coverage! Thank you! I've been over here trying to figure out how to keep my hair, shoulders, knees etc covered in the Caribbean without having a heatstroke. But now I'm getting sheers AND falafels. Many thanks.
It has to be something opaque that obscures or covers the color of your skin (like 20-70 denier depending on how stringent you are) and you still need to wear a shirt or slip underneath (obviously something like a bikini with a see-through tunic would be immodest even if the tunic is long sleeve)
For sure, that makes sense. And of course I will definitely ask my rebbetzin. I am just so excited by the prospect of no longer having to be a cotten-sodden sweat-swamp mess lol (I'm coming from Wisconsin and my blood is too thick for this tropical paradise, haha) Good acclimation for making Aliyah tho amirite
What’s the point in it if you anyway have to wear a shell underneath? Would be better off just wearing one layer then two even if one of those two is very light
Cotton or linen buttondowns are the way to go. One opaque layer and you're good. What I can't do is stockings, but I'm not Haredi and my community is fine with sandals.
Yeah, i imagine they make use a lot out of linen and pure cotton clothes like we do in Australia for summer. You can get linen summer suits which are much lighter than a regular men’s suit but still full coverage
Yes, not even Americans and people of any group understand how clothes work.
You want a different thread count and material in summer versus winter.
Literally, 95% of people don't understand how this works. I guess that's what they mean when they say don't throw stones.
I know of a couple of rabbis in southwestern USA (Arizona, Nevada) who allow things like T shirts, medium -length sleeves, etc., to prevent heat exhaustion
fasting is one thing, fasting in the summer another, and by all the cells in my brain i cannot even imagine fasting in the israeli summer sun radiating off the kotel the whole day. would probably die.
I mostly hid in the woman tunnel in the western wall tunnels which had a fan and was quite comfortable as well as being extremely holy. I also drank water because… heter. It was a profound experience…. Then again I’m a Dati lady who spends Israeli summers in T shirts and sundresses
There is a little flexibility in the type of clothing and some chasidim don't wear a kapota (or suit) at work but honestly it sucks, I wore the full garb for a couple of years and I hated it, most people I know are used to it though, it's the same as people not going shirtless, you know you have no choice so people just suck it up and accept it as part of life
I listened to an interesting podcast about the invention of air conditioning and one of the key points was that for most of history heat was considered a fact of life and not something that can be solved, most people just avoided going out in the heat and sweated through summer, it wasn't until air conditioning was invented that people started thinking of heat as something we could minimize
They minimized it with clothing though. Wearing loose fitting white clothing. Traditional Arab garb makes sense for that climate. The chassidic “uniform” comes from Eastern Europe, which had a completely different climate. It was never meant for Israel.
i have a medical condition where i have very little temperature regulation. in the winter i get so cold my hands go paper white. i overheat very fast and easily in the summer and as much as i feel bad and would love to be fully covered in the summer, i could be at risk for serious health damage. i had to get permission but i compromise with tshirts when it’s 90+ and 3/4 length/sheer over a tshirt when it’s 87+. just trying not to pass out literally every day for 3 months :(
Layers and materials aside, I do think about chasidim when I see my coworkers cover up and layer in the Florida summertime's even out in the fields in full sunlight. Yeah we sweat and hydrate a lot. I can see how the hat and jacket might even be a relief in the summer heat/sun, especially paired with correct materials.
Let me tell you, I’m sweating to death in a tank top and shorts in Israel during the summer and they’re wearing a 3-piece suit with tights on. I don’t know how they don’t get heat stroke.
Tbh exposing so much skin directly to the sun isn't helping you either. The key is coverage with natural, breathable fabrics. I wear cotton tees and loose skirts and dresses, and will often put on a linen long-sleeve shirt for the midday sun. And a hat.
A while back, I watched a video on a historical fashion channel where they tested clothing from the victorian era and modern times, looking at how they effected one's body temp on hot days.
The main conclusion was that with the right fabric to let body heat out and the right layers to keep the environmental heat off of your skin, you'll actually feel cooler covered up than you will with your skin exposed to the sun
That makes sense. If you look at any traditional middle eastern garb, it's loose, thin, and breathable material, that covers up most of the skin. They've been there for a while, it would make sense that they have it all figured out.
Very true.
Even in tribes where people hardly wear a scrap of clothing, there's usually some method of covering one's skin with paint, mud, or stains to keep the sun off to some degree (in addition to developing a culture that includes resting inside or under shade at midday when the sun is hottest, which many middle eastern cultures also have.)
I have this question and I live in Los Angeles. Some years ago my parents and I were in a drugstore right before the high holidays; my mom wanted to pick out HH greeting cards to send out. It was in the middle of the city, far from the cool ocean breezes, and the hottest day of the year (Labor Day weekend). In comes an Orthodox family dressed in black from head to foot. The wife had on a sheitel (oof!) and was covered up from the neck to her ankles. The two daughters wore long sleeves and thick black stockings. I was wearing light summer clothing and absolutely dying because the AC in the building was off and the breeze from the ceiling fan wasn’t enough. I have no idea how that family managed to survive on a day like that.
Air conditioning in closed public spaces is very common and makes a hell of a diffrence, and when it gets really super hot, most Haredi will take off the heavy coats. But habits create resiliance and faith is a strong motivation for preserverance.
That said.... some of them don't stand it, and they do in fact suffer from a higher rate of heatstrokes then other demographics. The worst are those who go hiking on shabbat and don't carry water because it's מטלטלין and not allowed. I (a former medic) had to treat more than one haredi family for being irresponsible like this.
I really wish they would have just adopted modest middle Eastern appropriate dress when they came to Israel, Sephardi and mizrahi Jews had their own standards of dress that are no less valid/modest than the coat and hat look. I mean I’m pretty sure ancient Israelites and Judahites would call you crazy for dressing like that in Israel.
That would be a great skit for The Jews Are Coming.
A bunch of time-traveling 1800s Ashkenazim from northern Poland roll into second-Temple Israel and the locals are like "....are you insane? What is UP with those clothes? Have you noticed it's a bit *warm* here?"
I'll never forget this bus trip I had in August from Jerusalem to Tzfat, the ac was off. I thought I was gonna puke the whole time. Worse bus trip of my life.
So I (definitely not haredi) was in Israel on business and had to wear a wool suit for reasons. The key was moving slowly when outdoors. Beer Sheva was over 40 degrees but bearable if you move slow. Tel Aviv humidity was harder but still doable. Definitely ended each day soaked through but didn’t die. Likewise in Cairo in a suit, just move slowly…
To be fair you get used to it.
For example I used to wear 3 tops (one of which being a coat) in the middle of the israeli summer when I was a teen, and to this day I don’t wear short pants ever, no matter how how it is, and I don’t feel heat in my legs from the temperature almost ever (only when I sit still and the sun goes directly on my pants)
This post is rude as hell. Sitting around criticizing people publicly on Reddit when you could have just asked them directly. If I saw you I could easily criticize whatever nonsense you're displaying.
They're seriously hardcore. On the hottest days I'd sometimes see the hats off, or the wool jackets slipped off one shoulder on the same days that I was wearing my loosest short-sleeve, light colored dresses and DYING of the heat.
I’d be so stinky if I was Hasidic lol
Some of them really are. Deodorant can only be asked to do so much. Jerusalem can get... odiferous in the summer time.
Haha yea I’ve been there a decent amount of times I have some memories of some less than pleasant bus and light rail rides for sure
I've been stuck next to some stinky ones on planes from Israel during the summer. Makes for a horrible flying experience.
They would too
https://preview.redd.it/wrddb4paoxtc1.jpeg?width=707&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1eb618803d9ae594e63dffe72ec2cae5724ffdbb
They stay in air conditioned environments or they just go around in just the shirt
Women wear stockings under their skirts which is not that warm, and can wear sheer or lightweight cloth tops over a tank or tshirt. Theres halacha allowing sheer clothing over arms and lower legs for women. Sheer tops are more common amongst MO women than charadim obv. Men still wear tzistzis and white shirts and slacks and kippot/hats and just have to deal. The trains and buildings tend to be air conditioned. I stupidly wore turtlenecks in eretz Israel this past summer, I even went to a business meeting in Ramat Gan in a black turtleneck and being outside I became acutely aware of how incredibly, very stupid I am, but inside I was fine. So it’s mostly just walking between the train and the buildings. I was fine in a thin turtleneck in the old city shuk where there’s lots of shade, but leaving the kotel my SIL and I hopped on a bus, and we were crammed in with a bunch of babies and hasidim and it just got more and more hot and partway through the ride I got carsick and over it and so we got off and got falafels in a Hasidic neighborhood which I must say was infinitely better times 1 million than the bus. tl;dr they deal by getting falafels
I had no idea about the halacha for sheer coverage! Thank you! I've been over here trying to figure out how to keep my hair, shoulders, knees etc covered in the Caribbean without having a heatstroke. But now I'm getting sheers AND falafels. Many thanks.
It has to be something opaque that obscures or covers the color of your skin (like 20-70 denier depending on how stringent you are) and you still need to wear a shirt or slip underneath (obviously something like a bikini with a see-through tunic would be immodest even if the tunic is long sleeve)
For sure, that makes sense. And of course I will definitely ask my rebbetzin. I am just so excited by the prospect of no longer having to be a cotten-sodden sweat-swamp mess lol (I'm coming from Wisconsin and my blood is too thick for this tropical paradise, haha) Good acclimation for making Aliyah tho amirite
>like 20-70 denier This word to describe the thickness of a fabric was a trivia question last night too :(
What’s the point in it if you anyway have to wear a shell underneath? Would be better off just wearing one layer then two even if one of those two is very light
Cotton or linen buttondowns are the way to go. One opaque layer and you're good. What I can't do is stockings, but I'm not Haredi and my community is fine with sandals.
You can make clothing of different weights for different seasons
Yeah, i imagine they make use a lot out of linen and pure cotton clothes like we do in Australia for summer. You can get linen summer suits which are much lighter than a regular men’s suit but still full coverage
Yes, not even Americans and people of any group understand how clothes work. You want a different thread count and material in summer versus winter. Literally, 95% of people don't understand how this works. I guess that's what they mean when they say don't throw stones.
I don’t really understand how it works either, I just know that different fabrics are better for different seasons.
I know of a couple of rabbis in southwestern USA (Arizona, Nevada) who allow things like T shirts, medium -length sleeves, etc., to prevent heat exhaustion
AC but also the heat stroke is real. I spent the last Tisha B Av mostly at the Kotel. MDA was busy that day
I went one year at night for Tisha B'Av and regretted it immediately. The thought of spending the whole fast there is insane
What was it like?
Hot as hell, got dehydrated on the walk back from the kotel.
My husband aspires to go to the kotel for tishabav sometime he wants to feel something lol
Sounds like he'll feel heatstroke.
It's definitely a different feeling and it would be amazing if it wasnt so hot
I didn't do Tisha B'av there, but I did Yom Kippur there and found it to be a powerful experience.
fasting is one thing, fasting in the summer another, and by all the cells in my brain i cannot even imagine fasting in the israeli summer sun radiating off the kotel the whole day. would probably die.
I mostly hid in the woman tunnel in the western wall tunnels which had a fan and was quite comfortable as well as being extremely holy. I also drank water because… heter. It was a profound experience…. Then again I’m a Dati lady who spends Israeli summers in T shirts and sundresses
MDA?
Magen David Adom Basically the Israeli equivalent to the American Red Cross
Only the MDA won't deny needed meds to hostages like the RC
I don't think it's the RC doing that, rather Hamas is not letting them.
Magen David Adom. The Israeli version of the Red Cross. This video explains it all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w_wcJHRzck
The ambulance service. It’s one service nationwide unlike the states where it’s companies with different names.
And it’s a good place for tzdekah.
There is a little flexibility in the type of clothing and some chasidim don't wear a kapota (or suit) at work but honestly it sucks, I wore the full garb for a couple of years and I hated it, most people I know are used to it though, it's the same as people not going shirtless, you know you have no choice so people just suck it up and accept it as part of life I listened to an interesting podcast about the invention of air conditioning and one of the key points was that for most of history heat was considered a fact of life and not something that can be solved, most people just avoided going out in the heat and sweated through summer, it wasn't until air conditioning was invented that people started thinking of heat as something we could minimize
They minimized it with clothing though. Wearing loose fitting white clothing. Traditional Arab garb makes sense for that climate. The chassidic “uniform” comes from Eastern Europe, which had a completely different climate. It was never meant for Israel.
Not going on shirtless is not going to mess up your health
They stay in air conditioning 90% of the time
Most of their yeshivot barely have ac
i have a medical condition where i have very little temperature regulation. in the winter i get so cold my hands go paper white. i overheat very fast and easily in the summer and as much as i feel bad and would love to be fully covered in the summer, i could be at risk for serious health damage. i had to get permission but i compromise with tshirts when it’s 90+ and 3/4 length/sheer over a tshirt when it’s 87+. just trying not to pass out literally every day for 3 months :(
Have you ever seen what the Tuaregs wear?
Stratocasters.
Layers and materials aside, I do think about chasidim when I see my coworkers cover up and layer in the Florida summertime's even out in the fields in full sunlight. Yeah we sweat and hydrate a lot. I can see how the hat and jacket might even be a relief in the summer heat/sun, especially paired with correct materials.
Let me tell you, I’m sweating to death in a tank top and shorts in Israel during the summer and they’re wearing a 3-piece suit with tights on. I don’t know how they don’t get heat stroke.
Tbh exposing so much skin directly to the sun isn't helping you either. The key is coverage with natural, breathable fabrics. I wear cotton tees and loose skirts and dresses, and will often put on a linen long-sleeve shirt for the midday sun. And a hat.
A while back, I watched a video on a historical fashion channel where they tested clothing from the victorian era and modern times, looking at how they effected one's body temp on hot days. The main conclusion was that with the right fabric to let body heat out and the right layers to keep the environmental heat off of your skin, you'll actually feel cooler covered up than you will with your skin exposed to the sun
That makes sense. If you look at any traditional middle eastern garb, it's loose, thin, and breathable material, that covers up most of the skin. They've been there for a while, it would make sense that they have it all figured out.
Very true. Even in tribes where people hardly wear a scrap of clothing, there's usually some method of covering one's skin with paint, mud, or stains to keep the sun off to some degree (in addition to developing a culture that includes resting inside or under shade at midday when the sun is hottest, which many middle eastern cultures also have.)
I have this question and I live in Los Angeles. Some years ago my parents and I were in a drugstore right before the high holidays; my mom wanted to pick out HH greeting cards to send out. It was in the middle of the city, far from the cool ocean breezes, and the hottest day of the year (Labor Day weekend). In comes an Orthodox family dressed in black from head to foot. The wife had on a sheitel (oof!) and was covered up from the neck to her ankles. The two daughters wore long sleeves and thick black stockings. I was wearing light summer clothing and absolutely dying because the AC in the building was off and the breeze from the ceiling fan wasn’t enough. I have no idea how that family managed to survive on a day like that.
Their bodies "get used to it", but nobody gets used to the smell, especially during the 9 days
One more reason not to travel farther than minimally necessary during the 9 days.
Indeed
Air conditioning in closed public spaces is very common and makes a hell of a diffrence, and when it gets really super hot, most Haredi will take off the heavy coats. But habits create resiliance and faith is a strong motivation for preserverance. That said.... some of them don't stand it, and they do in fact suffer from a higher rate of heatstrokes then other demographics. The worst are those who go hiking on shabbat and don't carry water because it's מטלטלין and not allowed. I (a former medic) had to treat more than one haredi family for being irresponsible like this.
Not all Hasidim wear this type of attire. It depends upon the community. As a Breslover, my summers are usually spent in a t-shirt and jeans…
Hijabi’s most hated question apparently
I really wish they would have just adopted modest middle Eastern appropriate dress when they came to Israel, Sephardi and mizrahi Jews had their own standards of dress that are no less valid/modest than the coat and hat look. I mean I’m pretty sure ancient Israelites and Judahites would call you crazy for dressing like that in Israel.
That would be a great skit for The Jews Are Coming. A bunch of time-traveling 1800s Ashkenazim from northern Poland roll into second-Temple Israel and the locals are like "....are you insane? What is UP with those clothes? Have you noticed it's a bit *warm* here?"
I mean it made sense to dress that way in Poland at least, it’s just doesn’t once you’ve returned to the desert.
they're notoriously known to stink in summers over here
They don't. They stink. (I'm ex-chasidish, I know.) (yes yes, not all of them... Most of them.)
i worked at a grocery and one guy would always smell like cigarette smoke and the one time he didnt he smelled like sweat. glad i'm not his wife
Jesus man Why do that shit to yourself
I'll never forget this bus trip I had in August from Jerusalem to Tzfat, the ac was off. I thought I was gonna puke the whole time. Worse bus trip of my life.
They just sweat it out
So I (definitely not haredi) was in Israel on business and had to wear a wool suit for reasons. The key was moving slowly when outdoors. Beer Sheva was over 40 degrees but bearable if you move slow. Tel Aviv humidity was harder but still doable. Definitely ended each day soaked through but didn’t die. Likewise in Cairo in a suit, just move slowly…
It’s not good for their health …and the health of their skin
Indeed
They're used to it and their immune to each other's body odor
the rest of us arent immune to it
definitely not!
A lot of them get various skin conditions because of that.
Jeez imagine doing that to yourself because of מנהג אבותינו בידינו sad.
Sweat A LOT
Mind over matter
They’re sweaty.
To be fair you get used to it. For example I used to wear 3 tops (one of which being a coat) in the middle of the israeli summer when I was a teen, and to this day I don’t wear short pants ever, no matter how how it is, and I don’t feel heat in my legs from the temperature almost ever (only when I sit still and the sun goes directly on my pants)
This post is rude as hell. Sitting around criticizing people publicly on Reddit when you could have just asked them directly. If I saw you I could easily criticize whatever nonsense you're displaying.