Sep 20, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
Why are we drawn to what we can't quite see? Rabbi ShlomoLevin reflects on a house he passes on his walks - almost entirely hidden behind trees, and far more intriguing than the grand homes standing…
Shlomo LevinHost
Why am I more taken with what I can't see than what stands fully exposed before me? There's a truly shocking story that made headlines recently about a Member of Parliament who was violated while attending a work event and whose naked image was sent by her attacker to approximately 70 men.
What happens to a person's inner dignity when one's clothes are violently stripped away and one's nakedness is exposed for strangers to see? The amount of skin we choose to show changes with fashion.
and every woman has the right to expose as much of her body as she chooses, and conversely, no man has the right to expose an inch of her body without a consent.
But notwithstanding however much one chooses to publicly display, Each of us carries a sense of the inviolate self, a point beyond which one is not prepared to expose oneself willingly.
And while it is within a person's gift to share that space in intimacy with another human being, it may not be taken forcefully.
And that is the violation that occurred to the MP, both in her assault and in the spread of her naked images.
Judaism has a lot to say about modesty, and it's true that much of it does not accord with current social mores.
Many interpreted the word inside in this verse to mean that the place of a woman is in the home and that it is immodest for her to appear in the public street.
But the deeper interpretation of the word inside is not about whether a woman is inside or outside the home.
And the sages understood that attraction is often initially fired by external appearances, and that of course is perfectly normal.
But they wanted to suggest that the true allure of a person, the attraction upon which lasting relationships are built, lies in that which is hidden, not that which is exposed.
Which, I guess, brings us back to why I am so intrigued by the one house I can't fully see.
Why am I more taken with what I can't see than what stands fully exposed before me? There's a truly shocking story that made headlines recently about a Member of Parliament who was violated while attending a work event and whose naked image was sent by her attacker to approximately 70 men.
What happens to a person's inner dignity when one's clothes are violently stripped away and one's nakedness is exposed for strangers to see? The amount of skin we choose to show changes with fashion.
and every woman has the right to expose as much of her body as she chooses, and conversely, no man has the right to expose an inch of her body without a consent.
But notwithstanding however much one chooses to publicly display, Each of us carries a sense of the inviolate self, a point beyond which one is not prepared to expose oneself willingly.
And while it is within a person's gift to share that space in intimacy with another human being, it may not be taken forcefully.
And that is the violation that occurred to the MP, both in her assault and in the spread of her naked images.
Judaism has a lot to say about modesty, and it's true that much of it does not accord with current social mores.
Many interpreted the word inside in this verse to mean that the place of a woman is in the home and that it is immodest for her to appear in the public street.
But the deeper interpretation of the word inside is not about whether a woman is inside or outside the home.
And the sages understood that attraction is often initially fired by external appearances, and that of course is perfectly normal.
But they wanted to suggest that the true allure of a person, the attraction upon which lasting relationships are built, lies in that which is hidden, not that which is exposed.
Which, I guess, brings us back to why I am so intrigued by the one house I can't fully see.
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