work of a sociologist named Rich Sosis, who did a lot of work on the sociology of Jewish communities, for example kibbutzim in Israel, And he writes about the concept of costly signaling, which is an idea that when you identify as a part of a particular group based on a behaviour that comes with a cost, then people in the group are more apt to trust you. So you could think of that in terms of somebody who’s wearing a heavy black ma- terial during the summer must be a believer. I can trust this person. He’s for sure part of the group. Somebody who wears a kippah to take a subway ride through a dangerous part of town, you’re more apt to think, yeah, he’s probably really in this, or he wouldn’t be doing that. There’s an element of dress that convinces you—because it has a price to it. Finegold: I was at a couple of haredi wed- dings recently, and I realized that my dress automatically brands me as an outsider even though I grew up in those communities. I’m not putting on the tie that everybody else would expect me to wear or changing my fabric yarmulke for a velvet one or one that’s three sizes bigger in order to signal to the in-group that I’m part of them. I’m signalling that this is who I am now, and that’s how I live. The way in which we signal our Judaism using clothing to whatever other groups are there often actually says something. Am I trying to be part of your group or am I spe- cifically trying not to be part of that group? Clothing functions in that way more often than we realize. And I find that fascinating. It goes to something very personal. I know you’re not someone who dresses extravagantly—you have a very specific wardrobe. While I’m not saying that you fit this stereotype, there is the image of the schleppy rabbi that exists, often because of what they’re wearing. Where do you think this idea comes from? Because it seems like, on the one hand, it makes per- fect sense. I’m spending time studying and preparing sermons. I don’t have time for my clothing. And yet rabbis are often poised and have a demeanor that signals something. When you look at the priests in the temple, why do you think that rabbis got to the point where it’s a point of pride to say they don’t think about their clothing? Torczyner: The Talmud emphasizes that a Torah scholar is required to be careful in the sense that if there’s a little bit of food that gets on their garb, they’re actually liable for death. And while that language is hyperbolic, there’s a sense that you have to dress in a
way that respects the Torah that you repre- sent. We generally assume it has to do with wearing clean, respectable clothing, and going beyond that manifests a certain concern for worldliness which is considered somewhat im- proper. There’s a Midrashic line about Joseph in the biblical story that he was playing with his hair—kind of curling his hair—and it was a demonstration of immaturity. The idea that you’re gonna try to keep up with trends says, well, your values are in the wrong place. Why is that what you’re focusing on? This isn’t at all my philosophy. Mine is just that I don’t have the head space to keep up with the different things. I tried years and years ago. I tried to learn how to match ties to striped shirts and I couldn’t do it. Finegold: I think about this a lot because I care about clothes. I also remember that when I was the rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal I wore canonicals. On the one hand, it covered up everything that I was going to wear that
Shabbat until kiddush, by which point every- body’s made up their mind about how they feel about me based on the sermon. On the other hand, wearing a robe and a special hat really imparts leadership, and the type of clothing that you wear creates a reality, the world approaches you in a certain way. I think that rabbis would want to approach their day-to-day interactions in some specific fashion. And, until recently, a rabbi that wasn’t wearing canonical clothes in the streets was considered untoward. You were supposed to be presenting as a rabbi. I have a hard time figuring out why rabbis say, I’m going to be presentable, but I shouldn’t be regal. I’m not saying that people should be flashy, but I’ve always wanted to have a day-long seminar for rabbinical students to explain to them, this is how you dress. This is how to pick out a suit, even if it’s a plain navy suit. This is going to affect how you are perceived. What to wear to a funeral, what to wear to a wedding, when you should wear a tuxedo to a wedding when you shouldn’t.
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