A Shanda Before the Goyim*

A prominent Orthodox rabbi has endorsed self-mutilation as a means to modesty:

What should a girl do if she wishes to dress modestly but her parents won't let her? According to Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein she can injure herself in order to use it as an excuse for dressing modestly.

Three weeks ago, Rabbi Zilberstein, the the son-in-law of prominent Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv, received an inquiry from a women's religious seminary (Midrasha) about a student who is growing increasingly religious. The student said she wanted to dress modestly but her parents were preventing her from doing so, because they were not religious.

…………

"The young woman thought that if she inflicted wounds on her legs she could tell her parents that she is wearing a long skirt to cover the wounds," the letter said.

Rabbi Zilberstein's reply came shortly after, with an unequivocal answer: "She is allowed to inflict wounds on her legs in order to dress modestly and evade sin."

In his reply, the rabbi commended the student's initiative, saying "the blood from the self-inflicted wound will atone for the people of Israel," adding that the coordinator [of the woman's seminary] should allow the student to commit the act.

This "Rabbi" is suggesting that self mutilation akin animal sacrifices last presented at the Temple more than 2000 years ago.

There is a word for people who believe that self inflicted injury is somehow holy, and that word is "nut-case."

Additionally, he, and the seminary coordinator, are being played as fools.  This girl is not being forced by her parents to dress in hot pants, but rather she is profoundly troubled, and looking for a "get out of jail free card" for cutting herself, a pathological behavior rather common among adolescent girls.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

H/t Failed Messiah dot Com.

^*An embarrassment before the rest of the world.