Last week, the Israeli media reported a surprising
"scientific discovery:" modest dress is dangerous to your
health. "Women who dress modestly are liable to suffer from
osteoporosis," the Yediot Acharonot daily screamed.
Its competitor, Ma'ariv was not far behind, although
its headline wasn't quite as sensational. The crucial
information appeared only in the article itself, which read:
"Chareidi or Moslem women who dress modestly even in the
sunny summer months are liable to suffer from various
difficult medical problems." The only problem was that this
was not the finding of the medical research, but the willful
interpretation and extrapolation of the medical reporters.
According to the reports, health hazards ensuing from a lack
of Vitamin D due to non-exposure to the summer sun --
supposedly as a result of tsnius -- were discovered in
a study conducted by Dr. Tsofia Ish Shalom, director of
Haifa's Rambam Hospital's Unit for Bone and Calcium
Metabolism. Findings of the study were presented at an
international convention in Switzerland. The conclusion was
that chareidi and other women should take frequent tests of
the level of Vitamin D in their bodies.
Someone unfamiliar with the nuances of incitement might think
that this was simply an objective report of medical research.
It is startling to discover the extent to which levels of
incitement have risen and this report is a good example of
demagoguery at its best. The incitement -- well-concealed
between the lines -- was intended to achieve an aim which is
clear to our readers, but not to the regular readership of
those daily papers. The aura of a medical study makes it
sound convincing.
If we may venture a wild guess, the source of the problem is
that the Israeli media has a complex. At the beginning of
every summer there is "Skin Awareness Week" to tell the
public to minimize its exposure to the sun in order to reduce
the danger of skin cancer. These warnings against sun
exposure remind everyone of the obvious fact that modest
dress serves as protection against skin cancer. The proven
fact that the incidence of this disease is relatively lower
in the chareidi community has been mentioned a number of
times in the Yated Ne'eman medical column. It isn't
surprising that this irritates the secular population. It
actually hurts them to the point that they search high and
low for material with which to counterattack.
That is how the sensational skin disease called the
"davener's syndrome" suffered by yeshiva students who sway
during their prayer and study came into being. That is also
how the report that Bnei Brak children are shorter and
skinnier then their secular counterparts was born, as well as
this despicable lie about the hazards of tsnius.
The original study, reported in the medical column of the
Hebrew Yated Ne'eman about three weeks ago, dealt only
with pelvic fractures among the elderly and found: "Seventy-
three percent of those hospitalized due to pelvic fractures
are elderly people suffering from Vitamin D deficiency."
The reason is twofold: The ability of the elderly to
manufacture the vitamin is low. In addition, the elderly
population usually doesn't get enough exposure to sun, a
crucial need for the manufacture of vitamin D in the body.
Dr. Tsofia Ish Shalom, director of the Unit for Bone and
Calcium Metabolism in Rambam Hospital, tells Yated
Ne'eman: "Previous studies have pointed to a link between
a Vitamin D deficiency and fractures. Within our study we
examined patients hospitalized in orthopedic departments with
pelvic fractures. We discovered that 73 percent of them
suffer from a low level of vitamin D. Fifty percent of the
elderly patients suffered from an extreme or complete Vitamin
D lack.
"Since Vitamin D is the sun vitamin, barely found in foods,
one who is exposed to too little sun is liable to suffer from
a lack of this vitamin.
"In my opinion, due to a decrease in the ability to
manufacture Vitamin D and lack of exposure to the sun, the
elderly population suffers from a lack of vitamin D, just
like babies. However, it is surely wrong to recommend
increased exposure to the sun, because of its own hazards due
to the dangerous effects of its rays including the
possibility of skin cancer. A lack of Vitamin D can be easily
treated at low cost by oral administration of the vitamin. It
is important to conduct additional studies in order to
ascertain if it is possible to prevent some cases of
osteoporosis and bone fractures by administration of a
vitamin supplement."
In response to our question, Dr. Ish Shalom adds, "The
newspapers were excited about the report and asked if someone
dressing modestly would suffer from a lack of Vitamin D. I
told them that this was a possibility. A study among young
Moslem women from Saudi Arabia who walk around with their
faces covered indicated that they lacked Vitamin D. No such
study, however, was made on young women in Israel [whose
faces are not covered]. I was quite angry about the
headlines, but that is not under our control.
"The only thing that is certain is that those who dress
modestly are more protected against skin cancer than those
who do not."
Those are the objective facts. The rest was added by the
journalists.
