I do not mean to be offensive, but I am frankly finding the discussion here just a smidgen above useless. Here’s why.
Our experience of tefiloh has deteriorated greatly. We are invited to stand before the ??? ????? on special invitation three times daily. Many of us actually comply with the mandate. But it’s not a mandate! It is a privileged invitation. A goy can’t do it. He cannot approach the ??? ????? at all, ever. We walk into shul, and characteristically use our brains to attend to a multitude of matters that have no role in the davening itself. We might be looking for some precious space to place our tallis bag while we daven. We pay attention to whoever else might be there. Who davens for the amud. Let’s not exclude the socializing that occurs almost routinely. Are we engaged in our hearts with the tefiloh? Are we feeling the emotion in every word or every part of davening? Or are we just going through the rote behavior of reciting the words on the page of the siddur?
If someone is davening with every ounce of his being, his attire is secondary. But being dressed to the hilt, in the most respectful way will not ever replace the emotional connection with HKB”H through a heartfelt tefiloh.
Are we conscious of the relationship we have to HKB”H who is ????? ??????? He wants us to talk to him, out of the love of a parent to us, ???? ??? ??’ ??????. He wants this communication to be direct, not a voice mail message. Hashem wants to shower us with his infinite ??? of all that is good. He wants us to recognize it comes from Him, so we must ask for it. But if we simply mumble through the text as a chore that we need to bypass to continue on with our day, our hearts are not engaged. The smallest baby cries to its parent with more emotion than we typically do in our tefilos.
This sounds accusatory, and I do not mean it that way. But we desperately need to examine ourselves for the sincerity we speak about. Speeches might be informative, and there are many really good books and articles that shed great light. But we need to implement this when we daven. At that point, the discussion about jackets, etc. becomes moot. If I am truly bent on making my tefiloh experience meaningful, I will pay attention to how I dress, as well. But if it is a chore that is a necessary nuisance, I will seek to make it as convenient as possible (or the least possible inconvenient). I would hope a privilege like davening would get better treatment than that.