BS”D
We all know that what was considered acceptable dress in any other historical time period has NO bearing on what is accepted today.
Were socks even invented during the time of the emahois? Certainly, KitchenAid mixers were not around during that time, yet we have adopted them and elevate them by using them to make kosher food and especially, from what I understand, the dough for the challah which is an integral part of kedushas Shabbos.
The whole purpose of Judaism is to elevate one’s self and one’s surroundings by serving Hashem. We show that we are doing this by our manner of dress, and while when something is not outright ossur there is no reason to forbid it at the right time and place (in this case camp, the mountains, running errands), we have to
Keep in mind also that in earlier times (just as it still is where I live, as non-Jews here, while respectful, basically get rowdy and drunk once the sun goes down), there was little attractive to us in the way our neighbors lived. So, we kept to ourselves, and whatever our level of observance was given the conditions in which we lived, it was clear who we were and who they were.
Now, let’s face it, in the US and the rest of the Western world, the lifestyle of an educated non-Jew is not repulsive at all. We can interact with our neighbors on the street, in the workplace, and in general, and find that we do have things in common with them on a professional and even a personal level.
However, Hashem made us different from them and especially when we are in a situation where the surrounding non-Jews are not “lowlives”, we have to strive even more to show that we are different, and that we are mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh.
And that means looking the part in ways where we show that we are acting the part. Copying the lowest common denominator in clothing style while remaining within baseline halacha is OK, but does it really communicate the message we want to communicate? Covering feet is a minor detail, but when we look respectable, and stand out for looking respectable, we are making the statement the Torah wants us to make.
See my story about “Is he a Jew?” in the closed thread that discusses dress to better understand what I mean.
BTW this is my last post until 9 Av, not because of this thread but because I went against what a rav told me about certain types of humor during the 9 days by posting my joke about contact lenses as well as the request to Google a humor blog that I am suspected of being linked to in other threads.
When I am on here I am tempted, so I am off and the site is back in my filter until 11 Av, although hopefully Moshiach will be here first and then I will be able to perform with Lipa and the Pester and the Yarmer and while we’re at it, Pinky Weber, at the biggest event of them all in Yerushalayim!