Dress I: The Basics

And the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed a fig leaf and made themselves loincloths.

And God made Adam and his wife cloaks of skins and dressed them.

And for the sons of Aharon, make tunics and make them belts and make them turbans, for honor and for glory….And make them pants of cloth to cover the flesh of their nakedness. They will be from their loins until their thighs.

Adam and Chava sewed for themselves only fig leaves: they were ashamed of their sin, but did not comprehend fully the profundity of its significance…They made loincloths to cover their nakedness, but did not prepare new clothes. By clothing them in coats of skins, God brought them up to a new level: the garments gave them honor and beauty; it changed them and transformed them into new people…The primal, natural man who served God with tranquility, fully integrated in nature, was replaced by historical, cultural man – a completely different creature in terms of both his personal standing and his relationship with nature.

We obligate him to give her clothing fit for the rainy season and the sunny season, at least what every mistress of a household in that land wears…. So, too, we obligate him to give her adornments, like colored garments to wrap her head and her forehead…

…Linen and purple are her clothing… Strength and glory are her clothing and she laughs to the last day…False is grace and vain is beauty; a woman who fears God, she will be praised.

The dress of a scholar is attractive and clean…

It was taught in the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Yishmael: The Torah teaches you proper conduct. The clothes in which he cooked a pot for his master, he should not wear when mixing [and serving] his master’s drink.

And Mordechai knew all that had been done and Mordechai tore his clothing and dressed in sackcloth and ashes and went out within the city and cried out a great and bitter cry. And he came up to the front of the king’s gate, because one cannot come into the king’s gate in sackcloth.

And it will be on the day of God’s sacrifice and I will visit punishment on the princes and on the king’s sons and on all those who wear the clothes of the foreigner.

“And they became there a nation”: This teaches that Israel stood out there. For their clothing and their food and their language were different from the Egyptians’. They were singled out and it was known that they are a nation unto themselves apart from the Egyptians.

For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, so your camp shall be holy, that He not see in you any matter of nakedness, and turn away from you.

A woman sits and separates her challa while naked because she can cover her face [euphemism for genitalia] in the ground, but a man cannot. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak explained it: As when her ‘face’ was lowered onto the ground.

Ezra made ten enactments…That a woman should gird herself with a sinar [Rashi: like little pants] out of modesty.

Ezra enacted that a woman should gird herself in a sinar always within her home out of modesty.

He should not put on his robe when he is sitting but rather he should take his robe and bring his head and arms into it when he is still lying down. Thus when he gets up he will be covered. One should not say: Here I am in my private chamber; who sees me? For God – “the whole earth is filled with His honor” (Yeshaya 6:3).

…It is not among the prohibitions but a virtue, and the reason for taking care to be clothed even in private is “I have placed God before me”…Here the correct measure is like someone sitting in his room before people whom he does not need to honor, but before whom he does not wish to be contemptible. If he feels discomfort because it is too hot for him or some other reason, he is permitted to go [with less clothing]. With this, there is not even an ideal of extra piety, for thus when he is in discomfort, it is accepted to sit this way before people who know of his discomfort – and God knows his discomfort. But revealing erva is prohibited.

What is dat Yehudit? The modest [tzeniut] behavior that the daughters of Israel have practiced.

These [women] exit [marriage] without a ketuba: One who violates dat Moshe or Yehudit.

That which the daughters of Israel practiced, even though it is not written down.

But there is another prohibition for women from the law of dat Yehudit, that they not behave immodestly, in Ketubot 72a. But this aspect is only [a prohibition] when just she personally behaves thus. But when all the women in her city behave this way, it is not applicable to consider this “immodesty”…In any case, since this is how they dress and go about, one should not consider this an act of immodesty and prohibit them, but rather it [a high standard of modesty] is a matter of extra piety and modesty and a beracha will come upon them.

Dat Yehudit is that which the Jewish people practiced always and took upon themselves to be careful with out of tzeniut. This matter and the like are included in what the verse says “Do not abandon the Torah of your mother” (Mishlei 1:8).

Rava son of Rav Huna put on stockings and prayed. He said “Prepare to meet your God, Israel” (Amos 4:12)

For Rav Yehuda would metzayyen himself [Rashi: adorn himself with his clothing] and then pray.

[The person praying] arranges his clothes first and adorns himself and then goes back [to pray], as it is said, “Bow down to God with the glory of sanctity.” He should not stand in prayer [shemoneh esrei] while wearing his wallet and not with a bare head and not with bare legs, if the way of the people of the place is to stand before important people only with stockings.

Like the deed of the land of Egypt where you dwelled, you shall not do, and like the deed of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you, you shall not do, and you shall not go according to their ordinances. You will do my laws you will do and keep my ordinances, to go in them. I am the Lord your God.

That you not say, since they go out with a basket, I too will go out with a basket; since they go out in purple, I too will go out in purple; since they go out in sandals, I too will go out in sandals.

According to what has been mentioned in my opinion, one should prohibit due to “ordinances of the non-Jews,” that which the non-Jews practice if it involves any slight breach of the bounds of modesty and humility; also this is prohibited. And if the halacha is according to the Tana [sage] of the baraita of Sifrei, who taught that one should not say, ‘Since they go out in purple, I too will go out in purple; since they go out in sandals, I too,’ etc. For these statements are arrogant and haughty and Ya’akov’s portion is not in them. Rather the matters of Israel and their path is to be modest, “and the meek [who] will inherit the earth,” and not to turn to haughtiness. It appears that even this applies specifically when one does so [wears immodest clothing] to resemble them [the non-Jews] and not for a known purpose, as the language implies: “Since they wear it, I too will…”

But the really immodest fashions that were recently instituted in women’s clothing –in our great iniquity, since Jewish women also wear them, we should not consider them non-Jewish dress from the perspective of the clothes themselves. But from the perspective of immodesty, perhaps one should consider them among the ordinances of the idolater. In any case, one should prohibit these clothes to Jewish women, not only because of the matter of immodesty on its own terms but also as non-Jewish dress….When it comes to really immodest clothing, it is possible that even without Jewish women having the custom to avoid them, they should be prohibited. One must look into this prohibition more closely. But in practice, one should certainly say these clothes are prohibited to women on the basis of their immodesty in itself, even if we say they do not entail the prohibition of non-Jewish dress….

And the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed a fig leaf and made themselves loincloths.

And God made Adam and his wife cloaks of skins and dressed them.

And for the sons of Aharon, make tunics and make them belts and make them turbans, for honor and for glory….And make them pants of cloth to cover the flesh of their nakedness. They will be from their loins until their thighs.

Adam and Chava sewed for themselves only fig leaves: they were ashamed of their sin, but did not comprehend fully the profundity of its significance…They made loincloths to cover their nakedness, but did not prepare new clothes. By clothing them in coats of skins, God brought them up to a new level: the garments gave them honor and beauty; it changed them and transformed them into new people…The primal, natural man who served God with tranquility, fully integrated in nature, was replaced by historical, cultural man – a completely different creature in terms of both his personal standing and his relationship with nature.

We obligate him to give her clothing fit for the rainy season and the sunny season, at least what every mistress of a household in that land wears…. So, too, we obligate him to give her adornments, like colored garments to wrap her head and her forehead…

…Linen and purple are her clothing… Strength and glory are her clothing and she laughs to the last day…False is grace and vain is beauty; a woman who fears God, she will be praised.

The dress of a scholar is attractive and clean…

And it was on the third day and Esther dressed in royalty and she stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s house, across from the king’s house.

Tznius means getting beyond the superficiality that is all too pervasive in our world, and instead defining ourselves by who we truly are inside, at the essential level — our soul. It then means using our dress and behavior to project this “I am a soul” message outward, thereby encouraging others to relate to us for who we really are.

It was taught in the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Yishmael: The Torah teaches you proper conduct. The clothes in which he cooked a pot for his master, he should not wear when mixing [and serving] his master’s drink.

And Mordechai knew all that had been done and Mordechai tore his clothing and dressed in sackcloth and ashes and went out within the city and cried out a great and bitter cry. And he came up to the front of the king’s gate, because one cannot come into the king’s gate in sackcloth.

And it will be on the day of God’s sacrifice and I will visit punishment on the princes and on the king’s sons and on all those who wear the clothes of the foreigner.

“And they became there a nation”: This teaches that Israel stood out there. For their clothing and their food and their language were different from the Egyptians’. They were singled out and it was known that they are a nation unto themselves apart from the Egyptians.

I use the analogy of a Tiffany lamp–you are muting the light because you are putting a stained glass shade on it and the light is being transmitted in many different colors. The same thing happens when you are tznius–you are ‘covering your light’ and there is not a naked glare of what’s there…there are other parts of you that get to express themselves as well.

For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, so your camp shall be holy, that He not see in you any matter of nakedness, and turn away from you.

A woman sits and separates her challa while naked because she can cover her face [euphemism for genitalia] in the ground, but a man cannot. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak explained it: As when her ‘face’ was lowered onto the ground.

Ezra made ten enactments…That a woman should gird herself with a sinar [Rashi: like little pants] out of modesty.

Ezra enacted that a woman should gird herself in a sinar always within her home out of modesty.

He should not put on his robe when he is sitting but rather he should take his robe and bring his head and arms into it when he is still lying down. Thus when he gets up he will be covered. One should not say: Here I am in my private chamber; who sees me? For God – “the whole earth is filled with His honor” (Yeshaya 6:3).

…It is not among the prohibitions but a virtue, and the reason for taking care to be clothed even in private is “I have placed God before me”…Here the correct measure is like someone sitting in his room before people whom he does not need to honor, but before whom he does not wish to be contemptible. If he feels discomfort because it is too hot for him or some other reason, he is permitted to go [with less clothing]. With this, there is not even an ideal of extra piety, for thus when he is in discomfort, it is accepted to sit this way before people who know of his discomfort – and God knows his discomfort. But revealing erva is prohibited.

What is dat Yehudit? The modest [tzeniut] behavior that the daughters of Israel have practiced.

These [women] exit [marriage] without a ketuba: One who violates dat Moshe or Yehudit.

That which the daughters of Israel practiced, even though it is not written down.

But there is another prohibition for women from the law of dat Yehudit, that they not behave immodestly, in Ketubot 72a. But this aspect is only [a prohibition] when just she personally behaves thus. But when all the women in her city behave this way, it is not applicable to consider this “immodesty”…In any case, since this is how they dress and go about, one should not consider this an act of immodesty and prohibit them, but rather it [a high standard of modesty] is a matter of extra piety and modesty and a beracha will come upon them.

Dat Yehudit is that which the Jewish people practiced always and took upon themselves to be careful with out of tzeniut. This matter and the like are included in what the verse says “Do not abandon the Torah of your mother” (Mishlei 1:8).

Rava son of Rav Huna put on stockings and prayed. He said “Prepare to meet your God, Israel” (Amos 4:12)

For Rav Yehuda would metzayyen himself [Rashi: adorn himself with his clothing] and then pray.

[The person praying] arranges his clothes first and adorns himself and then goes back [to pray], as it is said, “Bow down to God with the glory of sanctity.” He should not stand in prayer [shemoneh esrei] while wearing his wallet and not with a bare head and not with bare legs, if the way of the people of the place is to stand before important people only with stockings.

Like the deed of the land of Egypt where you dwelled, you shall not do, and like the deed of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you, you shall not do, and you shall not go according to their ordinances. You will do my laws you will do and keep my ordinances, to go in them. I am the Lord your God.

That you not say, since they go out with a basket, I too will go out with a basket; since they go out in purple, I too will go out in purple; since they go out in sandals, I too will go out in sandals.

According to what has been mentioned in my opinion, one should prohibit due to “ordinances of the non-Jews,”  that which the non-Jews practice if it involves any slight breach of the bounds of modesty and humility; also this is prohibited. And if the halacha is according to the Tana [sage] of the baraita of Sifrei, who taught that one should not say ‘Since they go out in purple, I too will go out in purple; since they go out in sandals, I too,’ etc. For these statements are arrogant and haughty and Ya’akov’s portion is not in them. Rather the matters of Israel and their path is to be modest, “and the meek [who] will inherit the earth,” and not to turn to haughtiness. It appears that even this applies specifically when one does so [wears immodest clothing] to resemble them [the non-Jews] and not for a known purpose, as the language implies: “Since they wear it, I too will…”

But the really immodest fashions that were recently instituted in women’s clothing –in our great iniquity, since Jewish women also wear them, we should not consider them non-Jewish dress from the perspective of the clothes themselves. But from the perspective of immodesty, perhaps one should consider them among the ordinances of the idolater. In any case, one should prohibit these clothes to Jewish women, not only because of the matter of immodesty on its own terms but also as non-Jewish dress….When it comes to really immodest clothing, it is possible that even without Jewish women having the custom to avoid them, they should be prohibited. One must look into this prohibition more closely. But in practice, one should certainly say these clothes are prohibited to women on the basis of their immodesty in itself, even if we say they do not entail the prohibition of non-Jewish dress….