Skevere auth. tightening their belts!

From the town we all love- to visit!

Forward :

..Meanwhile, in the Hasidic village of New Square, N.Y., religious leaders recently issued a document reminding residents that "women should not sit in the front of a car." Released in July by the community's top rabbinical court, the document was aimed at shoring up ( Y.O.: what's happening?!) several communal standards especially those regarding women's conduct.
"It's considered not tzniusdik [modest] for a woman to be a driver, not in keeping with the out-of-public-view [attitude]," village spokesman Rabbi Mayer Schiller said. "If you can imagine in Europe, would a woman have been a coach driver, a wagon driver? It would've been completely inappropriate."
The village's religious leaders have made an exemption for an 80-year-old woman who was one of the community's original residents and hadn't known about the driving prohibition before she moved there.
New Square, a 7,000-person enclave located 40 miles north of New York City, was founded by the late Skverer rebbe Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky, a Holocaust survivor, and his followers. The village was established in 1954 and officially incorporated seven years later. It relies heavily on private charitable donations and on government-assistance programs.
In the recent document, New Square religious leaders reiterated the prohibition against girls riding bicycles; also, women are forbidden from going outside in their long housecoats ?? a common fashion staple in many Orthodox communities...
"If you would poll the community... 97.5% would say, 'Yes, this is what we want,'" Schiller said....(Y.O.: The other two and a half % are are under two !)
The recent document in New Square addressed a wide range of prohibitions. One rule requires that a fence be constructed around houses that have a trampoline. Another states that exercise groups can be formed only with the permission of a rabbinical court and that they require a mashgiach (religious inspector) to oversee them.
Some of the regulations are targeted at men, including a clause instructing male worshippers to keep their cell phones off and to refrain from talking during prayer times. But it is the rules pertaining to women in particular, those related to driving that bear a striking resemblance to the Saudi practices criticized by the Bush administration.
"I can think of just a handful of cases over the years" in which someone was expelled from New Square's religious community, Schiller said.
"I don't think any of these transgressions would get you to be expelled from the community," Schiller said. But, he added, "If a young woman was driving, that would be fairly serious." ...
At the same time, the New Square spokesman was critical of the Bush administration's efforts in the Middle East.

What's their problem of Bush on the Middle East- he's trying to lay down rules?

Sounds like things there are slacking off and higher ups are trying to get it under control. reallyaly is a tremendous community and I'm all for them preserving their high standards. Though regarding the rabbinic ruling on the trampoline I'm outraged!

I hear even the IRS workers there wear a shpitsel!