Last Friday, Di Tzeitung, a Yiddish-language newspaper published in Brooklyn and read primarily by ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, ran the now-iconic photograph of President Obama and his advisors in the White House Situation Room, watching the Bin Laden story unfold. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director for Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason weren’t there. Di Tzeitung airbrushed them out. For religious reasons.
Di Tzeitung has a policy of not printing pictures of women because pictures of women are “sexually suggestive.” As the story of Di Tzeitung‘s censorship made the rounds, the paper explained that its readers “believe that women should be appreciated for who they are and what they do, not for what they look like, and the Jewish laws of modesty are an expression of respect for women, not the opposite.” Answering criticism that the paper violated the White House mandate not to manipulate photographs it’s released, the statement continues: “We should not have published the altered picture, and we have conveyed our regrets and apologies to the White House and to the State Department.” And finally: “The allegations that religious Jews denigrate women or do not respect women in public office, is a malicious slander and libel.”
As you might imagine, the entire incident has produced a tremendous amount of commentary throughout the Jewish community. Some commentators, like Orthodox Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Congregation Ohev Sholom in Washington, DC, point out the array of Jewish laws they believe Di Tzeitung broke in altering the photo. Others are up in arms over the treatment of women by the Hasidic community. Still others think the White House should take action against the paper for altering its photograph.
One thing’s for sure, though ….. Audrey Tomason’s never gotten so much ink!
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