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Parsha Tetzaveh: More Than Fashion (Ex. 27:20 – 30:10)

February 29, 2012 by Jeremiah

I have to admit I put writing this week’s thoughts on Torah off, well that’s not entirely true I followed my weekly process I just didn’t want to sit down and type up a few paragraphs on it; but I made a commitment to you, myself, and most importantly Hashem. So lets do this.

In Tetzaveh Hashem via Moses codifies instructions to consecrate everything priestly. This includes oil for the Tabernacle, priestly garments, ordination of the priesthood, the alter, and incense burning. In today’s age the Temple has been reduced to a wall supporting the earthly foundation of a Mosque and we no longer have a family of priests we have Rabbis and any Jew can be a Rabbi after the proper training. Looking at this week’s portion within the framework of the early 21st century we can apply these laws to how we as Jews view and present ourselves within the world surrounding us.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that in so many words I talk and act like I spent 3 years and 8 months in a federal penitentiary. The truth is I spent that time living and working a desk job in Charlotte, North Carolina and the culture shock of the mid south was something I never became accustomed to. During the past week while I reflected on Tetzaveh I was reminded of a co-worker in Charlotte who was adamant that I was not Jewish because I did not look like a Jew. I have absolutely no clue what a Southern Baptist thinks a Jew looks like and honestly I didn’t ask since we worked in an office building and that conversation would not have ended politely to say the least. Then I started to think about my misspent youth and how sometimes I would be followed through stores based on my “look” but we are not even through Shemot and I have talked about myself way too much. The inspiration for these reflections is how important our presentation is to our self image, our community, and to the non-Jewish community at large.

I really wanted to forget about Tetzaveh because challenging myself and asking how do I want my presentation to be, is a very heavy task. At this point in Torah, Aaron and his sons are finally at a point where dressing in priestly garments is a natural and comfortable expression of themselves and the greater Hebrew community is ready to except them as is. Before this point dressing as a priest would have resulted in a small flicker of awkardness emanating from the priestly caste and even a small flicker would have been blinding to those within the Hebrew camps doing more harm than good. Like Aaron I want to exude a complete and confident Jewish aura instead of an awkward or uneasy aura. The first thing I want Non-Jews whom I interact with to think when they hear the word Jew is something positive. I do not want that response to be something like “Oh, you mean your like that stiff, awkward guy Jeremiah.”

This week examine yourself. How do you find comfort in outward Jewish expression? Are there times when an outward expression makes you feel uncomfortable? In the past how did you overcome that discomfort?

Jeremiah@punktorah.org Twitter: @circlepitbimah

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: Aaron, Circle Pit The Bimah, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, exodus, jeremiah satterfield, jewish clothes, jewish fashion, online conversion, Parsha Tetzaveh, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, what do jews look like

Are You A Baal Teshuva Poser?

February 1, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

It’s really interesting to meet cool, forward thinking people who embrace Orthodox Judaism. It goes to show you how wide HaShem’s arms are — extending out to everyone, everywhere. That’s the kind of G-d I believe in.

But I realized recently that the Baal Teshuva movement (a semi-organized effort to help secular or progressive Jews become Orthodox) may have a weird unintended consequence: it can turn you into a gigantic poser.

Far be it from me to call anyone, Jewish or not, a poser. I know myself. I’m lame. I’ve had it pointed out to me by the authority on contemporary Jewish life (aka FrumSatire) that I am, in fact, a hipster. I bemoan that title, while accepting my lot in life.

But I have noticed something about the mini tribes of Baal Teshuva 20-somethings that flock around dynamic Modern-ish Orthodox rabbis: they all start to look alike, after a while. I don’t mean this in a Black Hat way. No, I mean that in addition to following the derech (path) of the Lord, you also weirdly end up following the path of your new Frum Family. You switch your Bob Marley tee shirt for a Moshav Band shirt. Your skinny jeans turn into not-so-skinny pants. You find yourself buying one of each knock off vintage hat from Target. Throw in the tzitzits, beard, etc. and you just…well…kinda end up looking like everyone else.

It reminds me of being in high school in the south. Over the summer, a few kids I knew started going to the “youth church” where they skateboarded and listened to Christian emo and read Bibles with titles like, “Jesus Freak Manual” and “EXTREME Faith!!!!!” You kinda knew it was dorky, but at the same time, isn’t it nice to belong to something?

Looks aren’t everything. I remember a Chabad that I went to, where the rabbi said (and I’m loosely paraphrasing), “go to Crown Heights and you’ll see the entire Chabad Lubavitch community dressed exactly the same. Some people think that means that you’re not being yourself. But what does it mean to be you? Does wearing a pink shirt make up who you are? No! It’s who you are on the inside. Your personality. Who cares about what’s on the outside?”

I wonder, though, at what point in a person’s quest to find the knowledge of the Torah and embrace Orthodoxy, that it doesn’t turn into Hebrew Fashion Week. Or, put another way, is there vanity in collective modesty?

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: Are You A Baal Teshuva Poser?, baalat teshuva, Chabad, convert to judaism, darshan yeshiva, family christian store, frumsatire, jesus freak, jewish fashion, kiruv, modern orthodox, moshav, orthodox judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Kristin The Jewbie: Tzniut

October 4, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

To those that don’t know what Tzniut is, it sounds exotic, like some beautiful place or maybe even a silky piece of clothing. But when defined, or summed up, the first word that comes to mind would be “modesty”, which makes Tznius go from being an exotic, beautiful sounding word to a dirty one that some Jewish people spit out when speaking.

Tznius is a part of Halacha (Jewish Law) that incorporates how one (whether male or female) should dress and act. Though it can be defined as “modesty”, I prefer to refer to it as “being respectable”, because to me this sounds more enticing.

I’ve heard some people talk about it in the way that HaShem is King, and we are all  his children, and we would not want to be presented in front of the King in anything less then the best, and we would not want to act in a way that is disgraceful to him. I’ve also heard that, “all of the best things come covered, such as diamonds in dirt or pearls in seashells”. I love both of those analogies, because they are both very true and put Tzniut and why we honor it in a realistic and understandable view.

But try telling any of that to my fellow peers. No, I’m not talking down about them and their attitudes or clothes (and lack thereof), because I find myself in the same boat. From Goyim to Jewish teen, we all have our problems with how we are viewed, and dressing “modestly” doesn’t boost our popularity status up to the level we would all like it to be at.

In today’s society, we value ideals, and the ideal woman does not go around hiding all of her assets, and the ideal man is free to look at women as sexually as he wants. But is this always right? Should we value external beauty more than internal beauty? Unfortunately, that is exactly what we’re doing by showing “just a little more skin”, without looking at how it makes others perceive us (including Hashem).

I’ve recently had my own struggles with being Tznius. At first, I loved the idea, and I was very excited to start dressing more conservatively. I ran to the store and bought a few shells (shirts that are either long sleeve or sleeveless but have a high neckline and are used under everyday shirts to cover up more than regular clothes might) as well as a few knee-length skirts. I explained to my closest friends that my more “modest” style of dress was due to my beliefs, and for a while, I felt content. But then, I started to feel resentment. I hated the high necklines and hot long sleeves. I hated that I could no longer wear my “cute clothes” and that I could no longer look “fashionable” (my clothing is something I pride myself on). I felt self-conscious, like everyone was constantly examining and judging me and thinking that I was, oh, dare I say it, lame.  It was horrible, so I stopped. I pushed my shells to the back of the closet, and my long skirts only saw the light of day occasionally. Well, until yesterday…

Yesterday, I put on my long black skirt (I’ve never worn it before due to my brain telling me I’ll die of embarrassment as soon as I walked outside) and a nice shirt, and I felt beautiful. I felt more beautiful than I had in a very long time, and apparently it showed, as I got a few compliments. So I did the same thing today, dressing conservatively, hoping the experiment would get the same results, and it did. It felt amazing and empowering and, for once, people were paying attention to the things about me that really were beautiful instead of the parts of me that society deemed “beautiful”.

I know that no where in there did I talk about how I started acting more conservatively, but that’s just because that part was simple. I no longer cuss (at least, I’ve brought it down to an absolute bare minimum, and I only will do it if no one’s around and I get hurt really bad), I don’t talk about topics that some of my fellow peers would deem acceptable (such as talking about one’s…er…assets) and I try to act more mature. I won’t go to the parties that “everyone” is going to (you know, the typical high school “cheap alcohol/unsafe sex-fest”), and I also don’t act in a way that would be deemed as degrading or disgusting.

But I digress. Tzniut has changed my perception about things a little bit. I feel closer to Hashem, I feel more spiritually connected to the world around me, and I feel, well, I feel more beautiful. I feel like I no longer need to go out of my way to impress anyone besides myself and Hashem, and that sometimes, fashion isn’t everything (even though you can find a TON of cute clothes that are perfectly modest).

To me,Tzniut is about self-worth. Our bodies are G-d’s gift to us, and by dressing and acting more modestly, we are in turn doing our best to take care of that present. You wouldn’t smash a gift someone gave you just because everyone else is doing it, right? So why would you degrade the one that the greatest person (for lack of better term) of all gave to you?

Appreciate and love yourself like Hashem does, and in turn, others will learn to do the same for you.

With so much love and respect,

Kristin the Jewbie

(P.S. I just want to touch on something real quick, only because I know many girls feel like there is a “double standard”: men have to follow Tzniut just as much as woman do, we just don’t notice it as much because there’s is more internal, then external.)

Filed Under: Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish fashion, modesty, online conversion, orthodox feminism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tzuit, women's fashion

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