Fort Wayne, IN - Religious Garb Fashionably Modest

Fort Wayne, IN - When the heat waves hit us, some people didn't dress down to stay cool, their clothes stayed on. Modesty is the best - and only - policy, they say. Keeping their clothes on – even when heat and the humidity rise – is their religious lifestyle.

Regardless of the weather, Orthodox Jewish tradition requires men to wear long-sleeved shirts and women to wear ankle-length skirts.
Although Jeff Gubitz, executive director of the Fort Wayne Jewish Federation, says there are few Orthodox Jewish families in the area, that doesn’t mean that Jewish families don’t adhere to the dressing tradition. “Our dress is traditional and conservative,” he says. “Men keep their arms covered, and women keep their bodies covered. “When it is hot, you wear more cotton that helps to stay cool in hot weather.
We are modest. But some of the dressing you see isn’t so much a question of modesty but a question of taste.”