also very careful in terms of the way that he handled the clothing. We also look at the quality of clothing for prayer in a unique way. Both in terms of hav- ing special clothing for prayer. But also, when you come to pray, if it’s a time of trouble and suffering, you’re supposed to specifically dress down. Whereas if it’s a time when things are good, then you dress in a more regal way, to reflect that. It becomes a reli- gious identification. We’re getting a little bit away from your point about how rabbis dress, but I think there is the sense of clothing as a communicator. There’s a classic Talmudic idea about the soul, where they talk about a person’s responsibility to make sure that that one enters the next world ready to answer to God. And the phrase that’s used in the Hebrew is, Bechol et yihiyu begadach levanim: At all times, your clothing should be white. They talk about a servant who’s been given clothing by his master, and he never wears it, because he wants to return it clean at the end. He doesn’t know what day the master is going to demand it of him. Finegold: You brought up the type of cloth- ing that one wears during prayer. I find that the people that focus on this a lot, espe- cially in the Orthodox community, suffer in that time from what I would refer to as the triumph of halachic formalism. This idea that if you’re wearing shorts and a tank top, It’s all of a sudden regal clothing so long as you throw a jacket and a hat on top of it. Clothing ends up a crutch. Torczyner: It is silly, the formalism of a jack- et being worn and therefore you’re wearing something nice doesn’t take away from the fact that it doesn’t do the job. You haven’t convinced anybody that it’s respectful. You can’t make a pretense of it any more than when it comes to prayer. If a person says, well, I’m going to say the words really loudly and forcefully, but my head is com- pletely somewhere else. The fact that you said the words loudly and forcefully doesn’t make it a better prayer. So, if you’re dressing with a jacket on, but everything else about your outfit says the beach, it’s just like the prayer that’s loud and forceful, but has no thought behind it. Finegold: I was thinking about how uniforms sometimes come into conflict with the Tal- mudic idea of tzniut—how everybody is sup- posed to be dressing modestly when you’re wearing a uniform that doesn’t necessarily fit
Torczyner: Tzniut should be one of them. This idea that I’m not showy, that I don’t exist for public consumption, is definitely a value— not just because of its close association with clothing, but just in general. I think the world needs more privacy. Respect is also a value that the world needs. And if that can be expressed in clothing, all the better. I wonder about clothing that’s supposed to carry a message in the most literal sense. Someone wears a dress to the Met Gala that has a slogan on it, or a T-shirt with a slogan on it, or Melania Trump with her raincoat that said, “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” I wonder if people should wear clothing with bumper stickers. Maybe magnets more than bumper stickers. You don’t want to be stuck with it. And there should also be something that says I don’t take myself that seriously. That’s another value that you have within Judaism. We’re supposed to take our responsibilities seriously, but not to take ourselves that seriously—to understand that we’re a work in progress. If that could be conveyed also by one’s clothing, I don’t know what it looks like, but it’s a value the world needs. n
in with the rest of what the world is wearing at the time. You’re supposed to not draw attention to yourself as a Jewish individual because of your clothing. And yet, the haredi community dresses in a very specific uniform that really makes themselves stand out when they are out in the world. Torczyner: But what you’re dealing with is the question of competing values. Funda- mentally, I have one value that says, don’t attract attention. I have another value that says, stand apart from a community whose values you don’t share. Don’t present your- self as though you are part of a group that you shouldn’t be a part of. So it could be that I would blend in well walking down the street if I were wearing what they wear. But there will be a price that comes along with that, that maybe is an unacceptable price. It’s not a sole value. It’s part of a constellation of values. Finegold: If a fashion designer invited you to inspire a clothing collection that reflected Jew- ish values, what would you suggest they do?
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