It is a shame to see this Seminary directly contradicting Jewish law by sending off these girls to start their lives on the wrong path stuck in medival thinking. The Halacha that sticks out the most to me is brought down in Masechet Shabbat Daf Samach Daled Amud Bet in which Rabbi Akiva chastized the other rabbis that prohibitted a woman from wearing makeup at certain times. Rabbi Akiva ruled that such a ruling is a recipe for disaster. This decision by the Seminary is not Jewish or Halachic but simply conservative. I do not believe that someone who follows Jewish Halacha gets to choose which ones he likes and which ones he doesn't. These people should put the rocks that they throw at the cops on Shabbat down for a moment to study some Halacha.

Seems like some cynical bias got into this story. It's pretty clear that the school isn't "imposing a regulation" -- they don't have a rule forbidding wearing makeup at a wedding. They are trying to provide motivation for a value they believe to be worth aiming for. While I don't agree with this goal as a true value (at least, it's not an aspiration of mine for my girls), I can respect it, and applaud the administration for providing positive incentive, rather than criticism. By the way, this isn't a new project at that school; the program has been in place for at least a year.

Females have been using makeup since time began. Archeologists have found vessels holding Cleopatra’s makeup. The Haredi community accepts the use of makeup. So what is this school trying to do? Redefine the already restrictive Haredi concept of modesty. Haredi women have to be brought into the 21st century not left in some 18th century life style or worse.

You could benefit us and yourself by living here.

make up is fine - if worn modestly. i see so-called religious girls dressed like nuns with faces made up like harlots. teach them how to put it on so they don't look like streetwalkers!

Yes, these are "the most righteous girls" if they need to be paid not to wear makeup. The man who provided the quote really needs to look the definition of "righteous."

excellent article in Hebrew Ynet yesterday, translated for all here to read, than this boring monotonous sick fixation with the narrow norms of the chareidi females. Who the hell cares about their stupid make up, or anything else about them? How much their Jennifer Aniston copied sheitels cost maybe? Who cares? Only Ynet ! This self centred lot don't deserve all the free publicity you seem so obsessed with giving them. They're lapping up all this dumb attention. You're boring your normal zionist middle of the road readers Ynet , and insulting us too. Please stop translating the rubbish and give us the quality stuff. We deserve it.

It has been a takanah since the time of Ezra for women to use cosmetics to enhance their beauty. There are many, many anecdotes in the gemara of the greatest rabbis giving cosmetics, perfumes, oils, hair decorations, to poor brides. These people are completely ignorant of the Judaism they claim to uphold. What's next, the niqab?

why in the world NOT to wear makeup- especially on your wedding day?! what nonsense!

This is insane. I sell make up and you do not need to look like a whore or a clown when you wear make up. I show women how to wear make up tastefully. Its so easy to have a natural look that is polished. I have found that most Israeli men secular men included just hate make up. I have had Israeli men come up to me and try to rub the make up off of my face. No I do not wear too much of it!! They just have issues with it. I find it to be an issue of controlling women. There is no reason why women need to go around looking dumpy and plain. Last time I was in Jerusalem I saw so many cute girls with bad acne who never covered it up. If it does not bother them then its fine. However, I think it would bother most girls and they are probably being prevented from wearing even foundation because of a few control freak men.

I think many are lost focusing on being 'Hareidi' instead of focusing on what Hashem expects in the Torah. The terms 'Hareidi", "Frum" "Yiddishkeit" are becoming a new religions. Do we need Moshiach to bring us round? It's time people decided whether they wish to be Torah Observant - keeping the Halachos of Biblical and Rabbinic origin - or if they wish to be "hareidi" which is a culture, based mainly on external appearance and appearing to be keeping what all others in the 'frum' culture do. I think it's bordering on becoming a new religion.

No-one's saying girls can't wear makeup, and after marriage it is strongly recommended to wear tasteful makeup, in order to look nice for one's husband. I think that what's happening here is that there are some girls (with good complexions!) who do not feel a need to wear makeup but are being pulled by peer pressure to layer it on. The school's saying - you don't need to follow the masses - if you stick to a bit of blush; eyeliner and lipstick, we'll give you a reward. Believe me - no-one who wants to wear heavy makeup is going to be swayed by the money

I personally think they would be better advised to pay them not to wear make-up (or heavy make-up, as another TB'er pointed out) than not to wear it on their wedding day... As an aside, when my my brother and I were kids our father paid us to restrict our TV-viewing time. we got an extra $1/wk in our (chores-linked) allowance...My dad is secular but he thought we should be outside playing instead of vegging out in front of the idiot box...

Torah is Torah. That is our obligation. Makeup free is not what I read in the blessings that describes the nose rings and gold with adorning beauty. How can we be this light to all nations if we are exclusionary and looking pale and blighty. People should look from all nations and say those are Jewish women and look those are Jewish men - what a blessed nation. That is part of beautiful "good" land Israel. No makup borders on looking gothic and it is wrong.

What about us? We dont wear make-up. What was you r question to imply?

stick that are absorbed through the skin, making it hazardous to one's health to wear makeup as a routine. The koal black chalk that ancients like Ruth in the Bible used to enhance her beauty to Boaz contains lead, too. The wedding picture usually has a place on the wall or in the home in sight of others, so a bride wishes to look her best with some makeup. But there is a beauty in the plain look of Leah who was not considered beautiful like Rachel, the wives of Israel's Patriarch Jacob. Jewish Rabbis believe that the reason the sons of Judah would not spill seed into Tamar was because she was so beautiful that they did not want to spoil her beauty with a pregnancy. They preferred to maintain her beauty as long as possible. So a male may be reluctant to do his duty and produce children if the wife is too beautiful and there are constant reminders of that around the house like a wedding photo with makeup.

We're lucky we can rely on you to insert the crazy into any discussion. There has been an exciting advance in cosmetics in the last hundred years - it's called "testing". Advanced countries generally ban dangerous products, and cosmetics are no exception. I don't know about Israel for sure, but in the US makeup is quite safe! That said, I agree with you that more is not always (or even usually) better with makeup. Speaking entirely personally, I prefer the looks of gals who do not wear any makeup and minimal (if any) jewelry. If I were to marry someone who wore makeup, they would be doing it entirely for themself.

When it comes to preposterous articles about the Haredim, you always have plenty of anonymous sources (aka: you made it up). What a lot of hooey! I' m Haredi (Chasidish, yet) and lots of us wear makeup. As with anyone, however, it should be tasteful and not garish. The M.O. of Haredi women in the looks department is to be attractIVE, but not attractING (not calling everyone to turn and stare at oneself) - a modesty in comportment. Not everyone is gifted in applying makeup and need a little help refining it. I have a friend who used to be a makeup artist for Chanel. She says that if someone compliments you on your makeup, you've failed, but if someone compliments you on your looks, you've succeeded. You have to highlight your own qualities, not mask them with too much makeup.

lipstick still has lead in it. PETA obstructs a lot of animal testing or haven't you noticed? Many products have "No Animal Testing Used" on labels. So it is being tested on humans instead. To get the organic nontoxic cosmetics is expensive (like Swiss Arbonne products) but worth the investment. Long ago, I took teenage girls to John Robert Powers School of Modeling to boost their self esteem but found the makeups that were affordable for teenagers caused skin problems. All kinds of lesser expensive makeup was used and it was all toxic on sensitive teenage skin. The girls would call, shrieking in horror, at the skin problems the makeups caused. So I am not as sure as you are that all the products on the market are safe. If the Red Chinese poisoned baby food, pet food, toys, salad dressings, children's cough syrup, WHAT do you think they are doing to cosmetics? Hmmm? Get a clue. There are enemies in the world and the manufacturers of many things want to dumb down and weaken the physical and mental health of a population they intend to attack. If Red China is not going to attack America, then who are the 2.2 billion people who are about to perish on the earth as prophesied in the Bible. By the way, calling my comments crazy when you fail to read the background material that leads up to my comments, is slander. I have a wide range of resources that are not available to everyone because of the expense and time required to read and study. Instead of being thankful, you attack. Few are wise enough to recognized wisdom.

#4 is right #1 should live in Israel. And R"Akiva lived at a different age. Who acts today similar to Industrial-sexist behavior, also gets put into that scheme. And as just in 50 years (not 50times more) dignity of women has been MultiMedia-degraded and Handy-Pic-ed for eternety too often to the negative, a new ruling should be instituted from Rabbonim today. U cant think about outside self-representation without taking the internet into account - at an Internet website ;) :D :D Shalom sameach, salomon

This program is just another of the haredi rabbinate's attempts to distract from their being unproductive and expensive.

Go to snopes.com and do a search - they debunk the urban legend that lipstick has dangerous amounts of lead in it. The Chinese are not Red anymore - since Deng Xiaopeng, they have had a mixed market. I don't believe China is about to attack America (why would they?), nor do I think that either the Bible does or can prophesy death. It's an old book. That's all. You're not the only person to read and study.

warned against using scented soaps (liquid or hard) because the fragrances are toxic and made from plastic derivatives instead of plant based eau de parfum's that are expensive. I had had a lot of problems with pain from rheumatoid arthritis and never suspected the Shikai scented liquid soap I was using. So I stopped using it and went back to plain old scentfree Ivory bar soap. Voila. The pain subsided. I was being poisoned by scented bath soap! What do you think is put into cosmetics if even bathsoap has toxic additives?

Pravda (Russian news service) reported that Prime Minister Putin told the leaders of the EU that Russia and Red China (as opposed to Taiwan which is China to me since it is not communist, yet)...Putin told the leaders of the EU that Russian and Red China are about to attack America and for the EU to stay out of it or get hit, too. Russia and Red China think America's HAARP Electromagnetic weapons are causing earthquakes in Mainland China. What is actually happening is that Russia and Red China are attacking America with HAARP weather weapons to cause droughts in California and they also caused Hurricane Katrina since the eye of that storm was geometrical in a hexagon pattern, not found in natural forming hurricanes according to Richard C. Hoagland's websites that had satellite photos of the storm's eye. Bill Snoebellen gave a lecture to the Prophecy Club of Topeka, Kansas, about many things including what caused the nuclear plant meltdown at Chernobyl. Russia was attacking the San Andreas Fault with HAARP over the horizon electromagnetic weapons trying to cause an earthquake in Califonria. A Japanese consortium deflected the attack and the energy hit Chernobyl instead, causing the meltdown. These weapons have been around since the 1920's and were invented by Nikola Tesla. The massive destruction of a forest in Siberia in the 1920's that was attributed to an asteroid impact was actually a Tesla weapons test for the Soviets. The world decided such weapons were too powerful for warfare and treaties were signed banning them. But slowly, they crept back into arsenals.

putting on red lipstick once, but many times. Eating tuna once in a while does not make a person toxic in mercury, but eating tuna every day does. How sad your lack of faith is in the Bible. It is an old book that tells people how to live their lives in the old paths which the Prophet Jeremiah said is the good way. You reject the good way. The Bible says the Lord will do nothing except He first tells His servants, the Prophets. So learning what the Prophets in the Bible say is important to understanding not only what God's will is but what is coming to pass in the future. I am glad you read and study, too. Why not upgrade your study time with the Torah and Tanakh?

I have already studied Torah. I have also studied Quran, the Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and many other texts. I do not do this because I believe in them, but because I am curious about how they see (or saw) the world. I don't believe that these books have much truth, but they do have a lot of interesting ideas. They may be how our ancestors lived and believed, but we have learned new things in modern times. Nowadays we don't need mythical heroes like gods and prophets - we have facts. We still need to seek virtue, but for that we have philosophy (Rabbi Kaplan gave many of us a bridge into the modern world). You should not trust Prophecy clubs - that's a terrible source of information because most of the people in such a thing believe in things because they're interesting, not because they're true. I don't know if Pravda reported what you say, but I do not trust Pravda (I used to read it). China is not attacking America with weather weapons, nor did they cause Hurricane Katrina. That's crazy.