Regarding all that has been said about white shirts, some facts do ring true. (1) if you look at the pictures that portray the old yeshivos, you will see that they are not dressed in the same fashion that is prevalent today, nor are they neccessarily wearing white shirts.
my dear “KFB”, i think you are making a sad mistake by making a generalization of white shirts versus colored shirts. I personally know plenty of people of both colors who are good, and not as good as we would hope that they would be.
To summarize, every person has his own set of unique nisyonos that define his character. To judge his character based on a shirt does not seem to be logically correct.
BTGuy, on what basis do you know that white shirts make a person a better person that seeing someone in Lakewood not wearing a white shirt would make you feel “off”?
Baal Habooze, you are correct that everyone has a tzelem elokim. however, one of the reasons why people should not put to much focus on “a white shirt makes me a yeshivah bochur” is that when a yeshiva bochur joins the real world and divests himself o his white shirt, he loses the identity of being a jew to his max, and takes on a different mindset which allows him to be lenient in his desire to grow as a jew. this being said , you dhould be proud of your son that he is learning hashem’s holy torah in yeshivah, but not neccesarily proud that one may not share the same drive to grow closer to hashem when one changes his identity, based on his uniform.
In response to skiaddict, the fact that rebbeim in the gemora would wear a special levush is not neccessarily a logical connection to why bochurim should wear white shirts. somebody who is a rebbe is bound to have a slightly higher code of dress do to his position. A yeshiva bochur is not in the same position as his rebbe.
coreytothecup, you have touched upon one of the points that i mentioned earlier on. just because you wear a white shirt, it does not mea that you necesarily are a better person. while there is a standard of dress that a person must confine himself to, a colored button-down shirt is acceptable as long as it was done in good taste.
To answer your previous question, the reason why the world of yeshivos has adopted the black pants white shirt uniform is because when Torah Vodaath was founded(which all of the present day yeshivos sprang from), the hanhala decided that the yeshivish world should conform to the chassidim. the chassidim place a great emphasis on their dress, which the yeshivish started leaning towards the chassidim in other areas as well, such as chassidishe minhagim (gartel, upsherin, mikva every friday,etc….)
midwesterner. what do you know about the alter of slabodka who was a giant of a man in Torah and mussar (and could wipe the floor with you in both areas, i should add) that he approved of polka dot shirts that his tamidim learnt that the derech from him was to be shtoltzy? do you even know what the phrase gadlus haadam really means?!!! The alter himself acc. to the derech hachaim that he lived by, would not care about white shirts vs. colored shirts. he would say wear whatever respectable shirt you wish as long as it is in good taste and conforms to the mesorah.
i apologize for being harsh, but it pains me to see someone say that a giant of mussar could have preached ideals that would make people act on vain and haughty ideas.!!!
Oh btguy, your second post is true, and reveals a dangerous fact. clothing do affect how you act(chitzonios meorair es hapenimiyos), yet if you wear white shirts and believe that you are a gadol already,you are not being honest with yourself and are faking yourself out as where you are holding in your avodas hashem.
sam432.i hate to point it out, but you are wrong regarding the uniform of a ben torah. The different clothing you wear conveys the attitude that you feel at the moment. for example, buisnessmen do not attend meeting in pajamas, but rather in a suit and dress shoes, because they dress for the occasion. same by a jew that recognizes that he possesses the Tzelem Elokim, which puts him of a high exalted nature- he dresses accordingly, corrresponding to the situation. (you dress differently on the golf green then you do while building a wooden shed ).
we have a definition of what the proper dress should be for people of all different stations and situations in life as as our rebbeim have told us how a jew should dress. the uniform remains the same wheter you are a bochur or married man or a college guy (with some exceptions of those who are in chinuch)