God, the ultimate Creator, gave to mankind an incredible world. Variety of things in the world? Innumerable. And the colors He used? Magnificent, vibrant offerings to gladden the heart of mankind. And how do we return the favor? By being "color blind."
I am just so sick and tired of the color blahs that the frum community, or at least part of it, have decided are tsniusdik. Is anyone really trying to tell us that certain colors and those colors alone are tsniusdik? Based on what? Are we really accusing God of having created untsniusdik colors?
It is the custom in both my husband's and my family going way back that the women wear robes at least for Friday night. Now, I am not talking about terrycloth here but what has been called hostess robes. When the kids asked me what I would want as a Chanukah present I said I'd love a new Shabbos robe. Grrrrrrr. My daughter went shopping when one of the manufacturers was holding a sale in her neighborhood specifically for Chanukah. And every single one of those robes, every single one, was black!
Black robes, black dresses, black suits, black skirts, black sweaters, black everything! Certainly enough to put me in a black mood! Go ahead, look all around the outside world and tell me where you find a black flower or even a black bush. There is no black in a rainbow. Even blackberries are not really black but a deep purplish blue. By comparison to all the other colors and shades in the world, black is the least visible, the least used. Want to see black in nature? Look for mold, not exactly something I want to be associated with.
I've been shopping around for material, and no, not in the Brooklyn fabric stores. That robe will get sewn up because I, for one, am refusing to blacken my life any more. I found some beautiful velvets and velours in ruby and sapphire and emerald and topaz. The mood I'm in now, I just may buy all the colors and make myself up a beautiful bouquet of robes to wear. Womankind is no less a beautiful flower than all the other blossoms God created, and we deserve to be decked in the abundance of colors God made available to us.
A color can be untsniusdik? For some, tsnius is in the mind of the beholder, and I'm no longer going to be pandering to some people's sick mental wanderings. If I wear blue or yellow or gold or ruby or emerald I'm going to be responsible for some man's immodest/immoral thoughts? Please, get a grip. Tsnius is a way of behaving, not a color. And when I stand in front of my lachter on Friday night, preparing to usher in the Shabbos and give thanks to Hashem for the wondrous gift of the world he gave to us and for His gift of the Shabbos I'm not going to insult Him by wearing a color He didn't favor much when creating the world.
24 comments:
Hear, hear!
You go girl!! I'll join you in a blackout of the color black.
I really don't get the black for robes business. You wear a robe inside your own home. It sure isn't a public tsnius issue. It should be something between husband and wife but everyone mixes in. Why?
What I really don't get is putting young girls in black. I see so many girls whose sabbath and yom tov dresses are black or dark blue. I was at friends last shabbat and their 6 year old daughter was in a black velour shabbas robe. Is it because they want to look like Mommy?
Amen!
I've long been the only (or one of only) guys in shul to wear (heaven forbid) a non-black suit, a non-white shirt, a nice, colorful tie, and non-black suits.
The "uniform" is just so boring and unflattering. I don't understand how people can wear such blah colors when they're in a good mood. Wearing blah colors just depresses me.
I'm with anonymous. Bad enough the clothing police are pushing black for adults. But for children?! Just what inyan of tsnius is there for a 16 month old? Someone bought a 2T sized black dress for our youngest--I returned it immediately.
Look at the colors used in the fabrics of the mishkan if you have any doubts about what Hashem considers beautiful!!
Don't know why they waste the money at frummy weddings to have color photography. They're all wearing black and white anyway. When you look at those groups of women standing around at a wedding or everywhere else they get together it's like seeing one black dress with 12 heads.
I agree with the whole post but is this just letting off steam or are you really going to ditch the black and get yourself into colors?
I am not crazy about black, especially all black. But here are some reasons people wear it that aren't related to tznius:
1) People think it's more formal
2) People think it's sexier
3) People think it's slimming
4) It hides the dirt
5) It's easy to get shoes that go with it
As for children, I let my children wear it when they were little if I happened to like the outfit. My own mother didn't let me wear anything, not one thread of black, until I was 14. Not even for shoes. I got so sick of navy blue.
Do you really think it's a coincidence that most manic-depressives dress in all-black?
And what does that tell us?
Yossi Ginzberg
PROFK
so boring! (not your post, but the black outfits)
ANON 10:40 am
LOL
Great post.
What's ironic is that the halachah makes allowances for a woman needing to feel pretty. Of course with a bit of sense for tzniut; but that isn't the issue here at all.
It becomes a distortion of Hashem's Torah, and Judaism becomes very sad, when we remove all the color and variety.
So do you have a good robe pattern? I'm in need of a new Shabbos robe too.
Surprisingly, I've never heard anyone claim that women should only dress in black for Tznius reasons.Moreover even the most Yeshivshe people I know (who are VERY yeshivshe)don't think that there is any halachic reason per se for men to always wear black.But somehow, once a certain mode of dress gets adopted, it takes a life of its own
Go you!
You Go Girl! That is awesome!
Miriamp,
Haven't found a pattern yet I like but will post it when I find it.
Trudy,
I haven't buckled under as yet to the all black "rule" and have been wearing colors all along but it can get a bit uncomfortable to say the least to find yourself as the lone holdout in a sea of black.
Yesterday I wore a black skirt but a cherry red sweater and matching knit beret. Sure enough someone in the elevator at work threw out a comment that I look like Santa Claus. Sigh. Other than the sex being wrong, no beard, the shape being wrong, the height being wrong and no ermine trimming the outfit I was a dead ringer for the man apparently.
Seriously? You wore a red sweater where you work? Brave person. I've got one outfit in my closet that I call my wear this if you are forced to go to Brooklyn outfit. Are the rules this crazy in SI also?
Trudy,
You are talking to someone whose bridesmaids all those years ago wore red velvet gowns, who carried red roses to the chupah, whose first couch was red etc..
Aren't really any rules in SI for the community as a whole. Sure, there are a few who are into the black only mode but mostly from the shtiblach in the area. The YI crowd pretty much wears what they want to wear, except when they are heading to simchas held in the black areas of the city. Then there is some debating about giving in or going as you want to go.
I like to wear black sometimes when I really like the outfit. Tesyaa is right that it can be slimming if that's what you are looking for an outfit to do. But I won't wear it all the time because it is really boring and black sure doesn't fit every mood or even every season. So not a color to wear when the weather is warm. But even liking black I don't like it that some people insist that you have to wear it or be labeled less frum.
I didn't actually say black is slimming; I said that's what people think. As with any other color, it depends on the cut and fit of the particular outfit.
Some people are saying the color issue is about tzniut but I think that's just the excuse. I think it's more about conformity and becoming part of a herd that can be controlled easier.The hanhollahs don't want individuality and people who will think for themselves. They want their authority as final with no challenges. Easier to do that if you have a group mentality with the group keeping any stragglers or dissidents in line. And with the black clothing if you see that everyone around you looks exactly like you do it's easier to believe that you are all the same, believe the same and will always act the same no individualism necessary or wanted.
And no my wife doesn't dress all in black, but like someone said above we're oot and it's lots more normal where we are.
You know what puzzles me in all this black is the best talk? All those frum Jews who go to Israel and buy those red bands against an ayin horah. So red is a positive color and can protect you? Then why aren't people insisting that all of us wear red?
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