But that’s precisely what one Israeli company is hoping to achieve with their new eyeglasses. Currently on sale in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods, the new specs blur the wearer’s vision beyond a few metres in front of them, aiming to block out any unpleasantness; and if you’re an ultra-Orthodox Jew that includes immodestly dressed females.

 

The new glasses are another tool in the ultra-Orthodox community’s struggle to insulate itself from secular Israeli society. Haredi men have long called for the segregation of men and women on public buses and in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods street signs remind women to wear long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.

 

But until wearing skimpy outfits goes out of fashion among non-Orthodox women, it would seem that “modesty spectacles” are the Haredim’s best line of defence.

 

Source: JN1