(JTA) — The Hasidic Belz sect of Britain has barred its women from driving.
A letter sent out last week by the sect’s rabbinic leaders said that allowing women to drive goes against “the traditional rules of modesty in our camp,” the Jewish Chronicle reported Thursday.
The letter also said that as of August students would not be allowed to enter school if their mothers drove them there.
According to the letter, the increasing numbers of mothers who drive has led to “great resentment among parents of pupils in our institutions.”
The policy of not allowing students to come to school if their mothers drive came from the Belzer rebbe in Israel, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
Britain’s Belz community is centered in north London, where it runs a day school for boys and a second school for girls.
London’s Daily Mail reported Thursday that the Belz sect is being accused by critics of “trying to turn their London community into Saudi Arabia.”
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