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Jewish laws on modesty are fairly specific. The body is to be covered from below the bend in the knee, up to the collarbone, and then down to below the bend in the elbow -- even when one is stretching tall, bending over, or sitting down. Also, clothing should be loose enough and/or long enough so that one cannot clearly distinguish the place where the legs meet together, the exact line of the thigh, and the exact shape of the figure (that is, no overly tight clothing). This includes, of course, all parts in between: upper arms, torso, hips, and upper legs. Finally, any boy or man over the age of three years is to cover his head with a hat, cap, or other covering, and is not to shave his beard (though it may be trimmed), nor to cut the "corners of the beard," also known as peyot -- he must keep the locks directly in front of the ears at least long enough to twirl once entirely around his finger. A girl or woman should keep her hair restrained in some way (barrette, headband, ponytail, braid) once she reaches the age of twelve, and once she marries, she should cover her hair; authorities disagree on how much (could stay with the barrette/braid/ponytail philosophy, or it could be all the way into covering every single strand of hair on the head).

For men, the body-covering rules mean that trousers should be loose enough to avoid 'definition' in the groin area, and that he must not allow a woman (other than his wife) to see him without these parts covered. Most modern clothing for men actually does follow the rules, as long as the sleeves and legs are long enough and the clothing is not too tight. It's hard to tell whether a Jewish man is keeping the laws of modesty simply because the non-Jewish world tends to wear clothing that's modest by Jewish standards, too. Jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a baseball cap would work fine for a Jewish man, though if he enters a place where one shouldn't wear a baseball cap, he should remove it and reveal his kippah, which also fulfills the requirement of head covering for men.

For women, the clothing rules mean loose trousers, if trousers are worn; preferably, a tunic or shirt should go over them, long enough to cover the pelvic/groinal area. Dresses or skirts are also encouraged, since they disguise the line of the thigh as well as avoiding definition of the groin area. With skirts and dresses, hems should be long enough to cover the knee even while one is sitting down or stretching up to reach something high. Hair coverings for married women can, according to some authorities, be identical to those for men, or they can be fully covering (such as a snood or a cleverly tied scarf), or they can simply be accomplished by letting the hair cover itself, such as in a braid, in which each hair is partly covered by the others in taking turns. The woman's hair can be covered by a wig as well, even if the wig is made out of her own hair! As long as the hair is not growing out of her own head at the time, any hair (real or imitation, her own or someone else's) is fine.

There are MANY different reasons one could cite for the Jewish laws of modesty, but the truth is, we don't know for sure why G*D instituted those laws. We follow them, in the hope that eventually we will understand.

(That said, I'm glad I've got a good reason to cover my hair. Not being able to brush it on Sabbath makes it very messy, and I'm glad no one can see it!)

First of all, sorry for removing your size code, but it was so small that I can't read it.

The modesty laws are for all times, in all situations in which the genders mix. I see a lot of women who affiliate with Orthodox congregations, but who don't cover there hair other than for synagogue. I think it's a good start and it's very commendable to honor the minhag (custom) of the congregation, but 'orthodox' means 'following the law', so inwardly I hope that they'll eventually aspire to a higher level of observance. By the same token, I'm sure that they hope I'll eventually have children. As long as they're polite to me and don't pressure me in that regard, I don't say a word about their lack of hair covering outside the synagogue.

can i get a translator site for what you just said.

And I'm asking you why. As in, why did we suddenly feel ashamed of our nakedness, to paraphrase Genesis?

oh, well I don't know exactly but I am assuming because we became more aware, of right and wrong remember the tree of the knowledge of good and Evil...yea that, maybe they became aware of the notion of shame because they realized they were not clothed.

Well, I know that much. I want to know why it was considered inappropriate.

Only in Christianity. Judaism also contains the verse in Isaiah which speaks against fancy-schmancy adornments. The Talmud explains that this means only the adornments which resemble those used in non-Jewish religious rites. Other adornments are fine, and in fact, encouraged, if they help a woman feel attractive and look beautiful to her spouse.