Women in the ultra-orthdox Jewish group Lev Tahor cover their bodies, even while sleeping. They say it was their decision to start wearing the long, black clothing and they would feel uncomfortable wearing anything else.
16×9 spent a week with the highly controversial group after gaining unprecedented access to their community. Our cameras captured the women of Lev Tahor sewing special garments to be worn in bed.
Orthodox Rabbi Reuben Poupko says, while the Torah can be interpreted in many ways, he has never seen anything like Lev Tahor.
“Go define modesty. Everybody has a different idea of what’s considered modest dress. There are certain objective criteria. Absolutely the orthodox world believes that certain parts of a woman’s body need to be covered, absolutely. I mean every culture believes that to a certain extent. … but they’ve taken this into an extreme that again has no parallel or precedent.”
Youth protection workers in Quebec raised concerns after they reported finding girls with fungus on their feet. They say the problem occurred because the women of Lev Tahor cover their feet in stockings at all times, even at night.
The women told 16×9 they came up with a new design, sleep sacks, to keep their feet clean and maintain their level of modesty. In this video, the women are sewing their new sleep sacks.