A Torah Approach to Clothing: Enhancement or Treachery?

From the beginning of the Creation narrative, our attention is drawn to the significance of clothing. The pasuk tells us¹ ‘They were naked, but they were not ashamed.’ Rashi explains that their lack of shame came from their lack of knowledge of tzniut. They had no concept of good and evil and therefore saw no need for clothing. Interestingly, the word for clothing ‘beged’ is etymologically derived from the Hebrew root ‘bagad’ which means ‘betrayal.’ In some sense, clothing is deeply tied to our moral conduct, a theme woven throughout the Torah.

Immediately after Adam and Chava’s sin, the Torah tells us that they realised they were naked (3:7). From the moment they were given an understanding of good and evil, they wanted to clothe themselves. Indeed, the Torah describes how they made themselves garments from fig leaves. Pre-sin, Adam and Chava were so pure that all they saw were each other’s souls. Nakedness was not an embarrassment because the body was an almost irrelevant shell of the soul. Once they ate from the eitz hada’at, however, and the evil inclination entered inside their hearts, they began to perceive themselves with the physical eyes we have – and realised the need for clothing. In a final act of compassion before expelling them from Gan Eden, Hashem clothes Adam and Chava at the end of this episode in clothing made of animal skin (ohr). This was to protect them from the elements, as they entered a post-paradise world. 

Some understand this clothing of Adam and Chava differently. Rabbi Meir writes that Hashem did not clothe Adam and Chava in ohr/skin but in ohr/light². These were Heavenly garments, clothing bathed in spiritual light which would provide them with both physical and spiritual protection. According to the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, this clothing travels throughout the narratives of Torah. First, it comes into Noach’s possession, then it is taken by his son Cham and passed to his grandson Nimrod who was eventually killed by Eisav as a strategy to obtain the powerful clothing. Eisav used this clothing for hunting purposes; when he wore the garment, cattle and other livestock would fall before him, making for effortless hunting. It was this piece of clothing which the Torah called ‘bigdei chamudot’ the desired clothing which Eisav left with mother Rivka for safekeeping which she, in turn, gave to Yaakov for his disguise, in order to receive the brachot from his father. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l pointed out that Sefer Bereishit is full of stories which involve clothing (beged) and treachery (bagad). Yaakov dresses up as Eisav in order to receive the brachot. Yosef’s brothers use his coat to pretend he is dead. Tamar takes off her widow garment in order to bring Yehuda to her. Potiphar’s wife accuses Yosef by showing everyone his garment left in her hands. Clothing is the mark of the person – it reflects an essence and on a more mundane level, it can act as a uniform to indicate a job such as police officer, baker or construction worker. Yet, clothing is also a mask which can be used to deceive. 

The Shelah, expounded in an essay by Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum³, explains beautifully how Yosef is next in line for the bigdei ohr/the clothing of light. The Torah tells us that Yaakov gives Yosef a ketonet pasim, a special garment. The Kli Yakar tells us that this tunic resembled the tunic which the kohanim wore. Far from favouritism or trying to pit one child against another, Yaakov was sending Yosef a message through the clothing that he was designated for a different role, the role of Kohen. While initially, Reuven, as firstborn, was destined for the Kehuna, his sin involving the switching of the bed removed this privilege from him. The name Yosef itself derives from the root ‘asaf’ to gather. It was Yosef’s mission to gather the lost shards of light post-Adam and rectify them. For this mission, he needed a garment of light and therefore, Yaakov gave him the Ketonet Pasim. The brothers’ act of dipping the garment into the blood was the inverse of this mission. Adam with his aleph, his holiness removed by the snake left behind dam/blood. The loss of his garments of light introduced death into the world. Yosef without his aleph, his light-filled garment and holy mission, leaves blood stains on his clothing. The snake, followed by Nimrod and subsequently Eisav, tried to steal the clothing of light. The pasuk in Ovadia (1:18) tells us that beit Yosef will be a flame, while beit Eisav will be straw. It is Yosef, specifically, who needs the special garment of light to conquer Eisav – and the force of the snake – eternally and restore the lost light of Gan Eden⁴.

This may all sound incredibly mystical – and indeed it is. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l pointed out that Sefer Bereishit is full of stories which involve clothing (beged) and treachery (bagad). Yaakov dresses up as Eisav in order to receive the brachot. Yosef’s brothers use his coat to pretend he is dead. Tamar takes off her widow garment in order to bring Yehuda to her. Potiphar’s wife accuses Yosef by showing everyone his garment left in her hands. Clothing is the mark of the person – it reflects an essence and on a more mundane level, it can act as a uniform to indicate a job such as police officer, baker or construction worker. Yet, clothing is also a mask which can be used to deceive. 

We treat clothing with great respect in Yiddishkeit. King David was punished for snipping a corner of King Shaul’s garment (a sign he left to demonstrate he was not after his life) and talmidei chachamim are forbidden from wearing stained clothing. Aside from the laws of tzniut, the Torah tells us to don the right-side of our clothing (right shoe, right sock etc) before the left side, another sign of respect. We accord honour to Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol Hamoed and Rosh Chodesh through upgrading our clothing. Our clothing on these days is finer than on a regular day. Clothing and kavod, honour, are interwoven concepts, literally.

Reading an article about clothing may seem like reading an article about the mundane. But in truth, there is nothing in our physical world that cannot be uplifted to the spiritual realm. Clothing is worn by all, yet, there is a Torah way to dress oneself. The Jewish people distinguish themselves through their clothing, to the extent that we merited our redemption from Egyptian slavery because we safeguarded this precious part of our identity. Throughout the generations, whatever trends or fads passed us by, the Jews clung to their modest, refined and distinctive way of dressing. In this merit, may we be zoche to behold the radiant beauty of the Kohen Gadol, attired in all his glory with the Beit Hamikdash restored, forever.

1. Bereishit 2:25 ↩︎
2. The Shelah writes that they were clothed in Ohr/light, complete spirituality until the sin where they were brought down a level to being clothed in ohr/skin ↩︎
3. Of Be’erot Bat Ayin ↩︎
4. Tiferet Shlomo, Parshat Vayeishev ↩︎