2 haredi publications clash over photo of Clinton

After an haredi magazine printed a photo of Hillary Clinton, a rival newspaper accused it of breaking Jewish law.

Hamodia, a Hebrew newspaper in Israel, in an editorial this week denounced the decision by Mishpacha magazine to print a cover photo of Hillary Clinton.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s profile was seen opposite that of Donald Trump, her Republican rival, on the cover. Both candidates appear in negative exposure covered by their campaign’s symbols.

The editorial suggested that a “true” haredi newspaper would not publish any photos of women, regardless of their position, according to Yeshiva World News. Hamodia added that the decision not to print Clinton’s photo stemmed from concerns of protecting the modesty of women and has no bearing on whether haredim support her candidacy.

“There are no — there haven’t been, and there won’t be — any pictures of women in the true haredi press, not of those who have reached high positions of sovereignty and power in their countries, and also not pictures of women in Jewish life,” the editorial read.

“These are our ways of life, these are the fences that surround them, and they don’t change, and aren’t connected to political circumstances.”

Sruli Besser, a contributing editor for Mishpacha, responded to the editorial in a biting, sarcastic letter to Yeshiva World News, writing that the magazine consulted with rabbis before printing Clinton’s photo.

“I’m so sorry that you don’t find us to be true chareidim,” the letter reads. “I thought hours of conversation and deliberation with real rabbanim would give us some credibility, but I guess not. I’m sorry that when we asked genuine gedolim and poskim how to proceed and followed their advice, we didn’t think to ask you what true charedi papers have always done.

“I’m much sorrier that you thought it wise to make this a public issue, because the charedim (true, not true, whatever) don’t need this story in the secular media.”

In 2011, the Yiddish-language haredi newspaper Der Zeitung airbrushed Clinton and another woman from the photograph of the White House Situation Room during the assassination of Osama bin Laden. In August, Yated Neeman, another haredi paper, printed a photo of Clinton waving to a crowd — with her face hidden by a podium. JTA