Kim Kardashian Airbrushed Out of Ultra-Orthodox Website | Sojourners

Kim Kardashian Airbrushed Out of Ultra-Orthodox Website

Photo via REUTERS / Ammar Awad / RNS
Kim Kardashian leaves the Cathedral of Saint James in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo via REUTERS / Ammar Awad / RNS

This has gotta be a first: Kim Kardashian is not in the picture.

But it’s happened, in Israel, on an ultra-Orthodox Jewish news website, which covered or blurred her face in a picture taken of her during her stopover in Jerusalem this week.

Kim and husband Kanye West had dinner on April 13 with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, but the picture of the three of them was altered.

It showed only Kanye and the mayor, with Kim’s face covered by a picture of a receipt or just blurred to the point of oblivion.

Nissim Ben Haim, an editor at the Kikar HaShabbat website, said April 15 they removed Kim because she is a “pornographic symbol” who contradicts ultra-Orthodox values, according to The Associated Press.

The website wasn’t too happy with Barkat, either, because he dined with the couple at a high-end but non-kosher restaurant, and supposedly the bill was was nearly $700.

In its article, the website referred to Kim as merely “West’s wife,” which must have been amusing to both.

Ultra-Orthodox values in Israel are very conservative: Women are expected to remain in the background, their heads usually covered, their dress modest. They are rarely shown in public or in pictures because it’s believed to be immodest.

But judging from the pictures, Kim’s attire while in Jerusalem was relatively modest, including long dresses.

When it comes to being Photoshopped out of history, Kim is in good company: In January, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli newspaper altered a photo taken of European leaders to excise German chancellor Angela Merkel, the only woman in the group.

Kim, Kanye, and daughter North West have been on a “roots tour” with some of the Kardashian clan: Last week, they were in their ancestral homeland, Armenia; on April 13, they arrived in Jerusalem, where they visited the Armenian St. James Cathedral to have North baptized.

But by April 15, all was back to normal. Kim had moved on to Paris to launch her Kardashian Beauty Hair line, posing for the media in her customary low-cut, sexy frock.

Maria Puente writes for USA Today. Via RNS.