In yet another example of how similar extreme groups in Judaism and Islam can be, an ultra-orthodox Jewish leader has reportedly banned girls aged five and older from riding bicycles;claiming it is “immodest” and too “provocative” for men watching girls as young as six on a bicycle.You may recall the outrageous move by the city of New York to remove bike lanes in an area in New York to protect the sensibilities of Hasidic men. Previously, an influential rabbi moved to block women from driving –just as his Islamic counterparts have done in places like Saudi Arabia.

The rabbi in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Nahloat issued the decree to synagogues across the area. He warned that girls over five riding bikes could “cause serious damage to their modesty” and that bicycle seats caused young girls to sit in a way men found “provocative.” Accordingly, the Haredi ruling said: “We inform parents that they are obligated to forbid their daughters from age five and up from acting in this illegitimate way.”

This decision follows objections by ultra-orthodox rabbis to women in Bnei Brak studying in higher education because of the corrupting influence of secular ideas. Other rabbis have sought to block access to the Internet and to declare smartphones to be non-kosher.

While most of us see a five year old in the picture above, some ultra-Orthodox men apparently see something more like this picture. That seems particularly depressing in terms of the mentality of your supporters that they cannot see a five-year-old girl on a bike without being “provoked.”

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