# Orthodox Jew Vs. Handshaking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828 "2004-04-30T11:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/1 "2004-04-30T11:16:27Z")
Somewhere in this story, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4825959/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4825959/), the comment is made that an Orthodox Jew refused a handshake from Teresa Heinz Kerry. The story makes it sound that the refusal is a common thing among Orthodox Jews. It really made me curious. Do all Orthodox Jews refuse handshakes? If so, why? ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/2 "2004-04-30T11:31:04Z")
I think that among very religious Orthodox Jews, men and women do not touch in public. My wife would know whether that makes them “Ultra-Orthdox” or not, but she’s gone to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/3 "2004-04-30T11:46:20Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > I think that among very religious Orthodox Jews, men and women do not touch in public. [This is true](http://www.bangitout.com/torah.html), although I don’t know how common it is… Grim ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/4 "2004-04-30T12:03:48Z")
[Or even…](http://www.bangitout.com/torah.html) ---
**Author:** ![akohl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@akohl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akohl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/5 "2004-04-30T12:15:56Z")
The reason for this is the value of modesty. ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/6 "2004-04-30T12:28:21Z")
[Maybe he read this.](http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12187) ;j \ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/7 "2004-04-30T13:13:20Z")
IIRC an Orthodox Jewish male may not touch any woman other than his wife. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/8 "2004-04-30T13:17:53Z")
It is true that, for the sake of modesty, Orthodox Jewish men do not touch women other than their wives, and for that matter, neither do Othodox Jewish women touch men other than their husbands. Often, for the sake of politeness, an Orthodox Jew will accept a handshake offered by an opposite-sex person who does not know of this and might be offended by the refusal. But either the Jew in the Kerry story was more of a stickler, or he sensed that she would not be offended and a simple explanation would suffice. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/9 "2004-04-30T14:07:50Z")
> [@Necro Romancer](#): > > [Maybe he read this.](http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12187) > ;j \ **Necro Romancer** has provided a link to a venomous far-right website. The column in the link is stuffed with lies and distortions about John Kerry’s wife Teresa. The truth is that the Heinz Foundations’ donations to the Tides foundation were specifically earmarked for environmental projects **in Western Pennsylvania.** Front Page Magazine’s writer took one little fact, and he spun a web of nonexistant connections out of it. This story, and the smear that grew out of it, illustrates perfectly how the far-right slime machine works. Within hours, the phony story was repeated as true on all the right wing talk shows. Real journalists would check the facts. Real journalists would be embarassed to spread smears like these. Link: [http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040412&s=alterman](http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040412&s=alterman) Scroll down to the 7th paragraph, “Here are the facts…” ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orthodox-jew-vs-handshaking/242828/10 "2004-04-30T14:24:47Z")
Ah, thanks **AskNott**. I read the article on another forum sometime ago, but I see from the homepage that Ann Coulter writes for them. I apologize.