Isaac Kaplan

"Is it any wonder I've got too much time on my hands?"

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Why White?

Let's face it. White shirts are boring. After wearing nothing but white shabbos shirts for as long as I can remember, I'm getting tired of it.

Of course, in judgmental Brooklyn, I'm probably better off walking into shul in my boxers than wearing a blue shabbos shirt. Why is it such a big deal? Is it because the MO do it? Is it not part of the mesorah or something?

When you think about it, much of the shabbos garb that we wear has changed drastically over the years, and I don't just mean the emergence of single-breasted suits. Take ties, for example. Ties as we know them have only been around for a couple hundred years, according to Wikipedia. Yes folks, the Rambam did not wear a tie. Neither did the Gra. So wearing ties on shabbos is not a Jewish tradition. And that's one of the reasons the chassidim don't do it.

So our shabbos dress code has evolved with what's considered formal in each generation. And these days, colored shirts are fine. Plenty of people wear blue shirts for interviews. Even President Bush wears one on special occasions.

Besides, the machers with the bright ties would probably look half-normal if they wore a colored shirt. Those bright orange ties go better with blue than with white.

The whole thing makes no sense. A suit with loud orange pinstripes? No problem. A loud, hot pink tie? Totally fine. But if someone walks in with a striped shirt? The guy's an oddball. Folks, there are some very stupid people out there.

1 Comments:

Blogger Michelle said...

For some reason, I find the striped shirt odd-ball-ish, but a blue shirt is cool. Perhaps it appeals to the rebel in me.

10:40 AM  

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