An advertisement in Community Connections, a Haredi magazine in Monsey, New York, announced that a new committee has formed to tighten restrictions on what boys may wear.

The ad, published in the magazine’s May 25 issue, includes a list of yeshivas that it claims have joined the committee. Though Shtetl has reached out to most of these, none has confirmed they endorsed the ad, or that the committee even exists.

The ad, which Shtetl had translated from Yiddish, criticizes what it calls “fashions and styles that have infiltrated among boys’ clothing, which come from the non-Jewish street and which are inappropriate for our students according to Jewish law and our religious beliefs.” It does not describe these styles in detail.

“Therefore, before you begin purchasing for the new season — winter 5784 [2024] — wait for the list of companies and styles that have been approved by the Committee for Proper Clothing,” the ad continues.

A Haredi woman in Monsey, who said her children attend local yeshivas, said she believes the ad is real because it’s in line with other actions that Haredi institutions have taken. She disagrees about the need for a committee. “I believe in parents being able to choose the clothing their kids wear,” she said.

The woman asked to remain anonymous to prevent retaliation by her kids’ schools. “If it comes out on any particular parent of any child in any of the schools that they would speak negatively about any committee, it can have a negative effect on the parent and the kid,” she said.

The ad says that the committee has been in contact with local clothing stores, though it doesn’t name any. Shtetl did not find one that could confirm it was contacted by the committee. One staff member at a large Haredi clothing store in Monsey, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said no one from the committee described in the ad has reached out to the store. They said leaders of the company believe that the ad may be illegitimate, and that the committee, if it exists, may not be motivated by purely religious concerns.

According to this staff person, management at the store believes “somebody is opening up a private brand, and in order for him to make business, if he puts it into religious law and manipulates the community, people are going to want to buy from him,” the source said. “It’s definitely not coming from a source where we need to take any action, so we’re just leaving it.”

A cashier at another Haredi men’s and boys’ clothing store told Shtetl he was unaware of the committee or any forthcoming guidelines.

The phone number for the committee that the ad provides was disconnected as of Friday afternoon.

The new committee, if real, would exist in addition to the famous Haredi modesty committees that have long enforced modesty rules and restrictions against things that they believe could lead to inappropriate behavior.

Haredi news organizations and magazines such as Community Connections can be powerful networks for the distribution of guidance from community leaders, such as religious edicts and political endorsements.

In a phone call, a secretary at Community Connections declined to say whether the advertisement was fact-checked, and who it came from. Community Connections did not answer these questions by email, either.

If you have any more information about the new clothing committee, please reach out to reporter Lauren Hakimi at lhakimi@shtetl.org.