mw13, its called for when someone repeatedly and constantly twists gemorahs not to her liking to reinterpert it to her liking — often with the exact opposite meaning the gemorah intended. I repeat, this has been a pattern. “
Helpful, I am going to word my post carefully, because when one is angered, it is better to refrain from response. I LOVE the Torah, which includes the Gemorah. Though I do not learn Gemorah, I know enough to know there is halacha and there is discussion about halacha. They are not the same thing. The halacha is what Hashem says it is. The discussion is the (granted) learned opinion of Chazal, many of whom could not agree with each other on some crucial issues. We follow what came down at the end, as the halacha. What the Gemorah intended should be what HASHEM intended.
Sometimes there seems to be a conflict, and that is what bothers me. If Hashem does not want women’s hair to be visible even in their own homes and actually SAID SO at HAr Sinai, then that is the halacha and i would never question it. I do not believe however, that Hashem said that EVER, and I certainly do not take as Torah m’Sinai the TAITCH of Kimchis’ answer to a question (and who asked her this question anyway – it surely could not have been the Gedolim, because that clearly would not be tzniusdig to have such a sicha with a married woman about her children, right? That’s also in the mishneh of al tarbeh sicha…).
And if you would open your mind just a teeny tiny bit, perhaps you would understand that not everything you hold to be true for yourself, is necessarily what other frum people hold and THEY MIGHT BE AS RIGHT AS YOU THINK YOU ARE. Don’t disparage someone because she does not believe that every medrash is to be taken literally (they actually can’t, because many contradict each other), or that everything written in the Gemarah is also meant to be followed as halacha, when in fact what it is doing is serving to teach an ideal that some people feel is right for them.
Off this issue, the entire discussion about tznius in exercise is naarishkeit. If a woman is alone, and all exercising women in general, she should be dressed comfortable so she doesn’t get heat stroke from the exercise. Zumba (I don’t do it myself), is a vigorous dancing type exercise, perhaps African in nature. It works all the muscles of the body and is quite effective, I have heard. If you believe women should dress in long sleeves and dresses to exercise, then dress that way. The rest of us want to be comfortable in the rpivacy of our own homes. And show me the source please for having to wear sox at all, much less to take them off under the covers. Maybe we should take our showers in a bathing dress, too.