CJN: Canada – The May 17�30 edition of the Community Link, a Jewish equivalent to the clump of advertisements and coupons that arrive with your weekly community newspaper, was pretty much true to form. There were ads for such things as kosher pizza parlours, maternity wear, quality linens and real estate agents � just what you would expect from such an advertisement-geared publication. But on page 69, there was something different: a message from an organization called F.A.I.M.A.?

F.A.I.M.A stands for Families Against Immodest Advertising, a recently founded Ortho-watch group. It took out a full-page ad in Community Link to advise the Jewish community about the latest step in an ongoing plan to ghettoize the Orthodox � or, as F.A.I.M.A would say, shelter the community from the dangers and filth of the non-Jewish world.

�Much effort is being invested on behalf of our community in order to maintain our sensitivities and protect our children from offensive advertising displays,� the confusingly vague message began. �Thus, when visiting certain stores� members of our community are being urged to shop at designated aisles only. By doing so, they will be displaying their commitment to the values we hold so dear.�

The message went on to specify that certain checkout lanes at your local Dominion and Fortinos supermarkets have been deemed �family friendly� (for those keeping score, aisles 1-6 at the former and 7-14 at the latter). The notice then ended with this: �Our Rabbanim have advised that one is required to use one of the above aisles.�

This latest attempt at religious manipulation raises a few questions that other, more blatant attempts by rabbinic authorities and kashrut boards have at least been up front about. Who is this F.A.I.M.A? Who are these �rabbanim�? What do they consider �our community�?

The vagueness of F.A.I.M.A�s message makes it difficult to decode, but here�s the basic idea: the covers of magazines that we all eye while waiting on line at the grocery store � Cosmo, TV Guide, People and Seventeen � are polluting our religious minds and exposing Orthodox youth to things they shouldn�t be seeing. Sex, women and television � that unholy trinity � are plastered all over these publications, and there�s no way to avoid seeing them when waiting in line. This is, according to F.A.I.M.A, what we need to avoid � for our sake and the sake of our children.

Of course, on the surface, this looks like a straightforward, run-of-the-mill attempt to shelter religious people from the rest of the world. There have been a lot of these lately, ranging from decrees on how late popular restaurants can remain open on weekends to bans on an ever-growing list of fruits and vegetables amid advances in microscopic testing. It seems that just about every other week, something new is disallowed or deemed unkosher.

But while previous plots to self-ostrasize the Orthodox community have always come from official organizations, this is a faceless attempt at religious exploitation by a mysterious group trying to solve a problem we never knew we had, with the support of rabbis they are unwilling to name. It makes perfect sense, then, that the F.A.I.M.A notice contains no number or address where readers can potentially reach the group for questions or comments. The intent is clear: no questions, no discussion. Just do as you�re told.

F.A.I.M.A�s message is a bold manoeuvre and a dangerous precedent that must not be permitted to take root. The stakes involved with religious edicts get much higher when every zealot out there thinks they�ve got the right to tell the rest of us what to do. Until this group steps forward to reveal who they are and what authority they possess, everyone should disregard page 69 of the Community Link. Once we know who or what F.A.I.M.A is, we can all decide how to respond to its message.