Outside Inside (P.B) / Gila Manolson - צניעות (אנגלית)
For Men and Women - A Fresh Look at Tzniut

One of the first things people notice upon entering an Orthodox Jewish community is that people are dressed modestly—particularly the girls and women. The popular misconception is that Judaism imposes this dress code upon females to protect males against sexual distraction, a convenient dumping of men's problem on women's doorstep.

This is a tragic reduction of a profound concept: tzniut, popularly understood as modesty, but better translated as internal self-definition.

Modest dress is merely one expression of tzniut. Tzniut is not a dress code, but the consciousness that you are a soul. It allows you to express your truest self by letting your body and everything else about you, including your talents and achievements, reflect your soul rather than overshadow it. Tzniut, therefore, is infinitely more than what we wear—it's the spiritual potential within every one of us, male and female, and Judaism enjoins us all to actualize it.

Outside/Inside: A Fresh Look at Tzniut takes us through the various levels of who we are, peeling each one off to reveal our core identity. And it describes how, in the process, tzniut transforms us and our relationships, giving us the chance for real love.