“If you are worried about “what will the Nochrim say”, you would have left home without your yalmukah”
That is the part of your comment that prompted my reply. what has one thing to do with the other? The fact that a non-Jew might think a frum Jew dressed in a black hat and dark suit in the heat of the summer, playing ball outdoors looks like a heat stroke waiting to happen (and which makes me concerned about what they are thinking of us), has NOTHING to do with someone leaving home without a yarmulke. That was just a poor analogy. I do worry what non-Jews think of our actions and how stupid we might look to them, WHEN WE DON’T HAVE TO. Anyone normal, seeing a rebbie playing ball in his black suit in hot weather is going to think he looks inappropriately dressed for the weather and the activity. And when I say inappropriately dressed, I really mean, he looks silly. If for some reason, you do not agree that this is so, ask anyone on the street who does not dress that way (frum Jews, frei Jews, non-Jews) and they will tell you how uncomfortable that person looks to them, and what kind of a religion demands that someone dress in stifling hot clothing? Don’t you think that when you see Muslima women? Be honest.
And Moish is right, everything we (and the yeshivah boys) are wearing is the levush of the goyim. There were no Borsalino hats and dressy suits in the Midbar. The clothing we wear today is only “Jewish” because that is what we deem it to be in this day and time. RAMBAM dressed in a turban. amd certainly had no black suit. If what I wear is modest and covers me, it is Jewish attire.
Joseph, NO NON-JEW respects the Jews for dressing that way in the summer. It makes them physically uncomfortable to see us that way, and they think we are “morons.” That is a direct quote from my neighbor, who cannot fathom why she sees Jewish men walking around like that. I have no answer for her, because I think it is wrong, too. And during the Nine Days when they are dressed like that and not showering… THAT potentially causes a major chillul Hashem. We live in a goyishe country, and we DO have to have some sensitivity to the sensibilities and opinions of others whether we choose to like that or not. There are always kosher compromises, if one does not wish to remain stuck in the 19th century.