Shabbos 10
“Rava bar Rav Huna would don expensive socks and pray and he said he would do this as it is written: “Prepare to greet your God, Israel.”
There are lots of interesting perspectives to consider today and some of it is contrary to what I have always believed.
Today’s text establishes principles for appearing before God during prayer. Rav Huna would wear his fanciest socks, while Rava would remove his cloak, and Rav Kahana would dress according to whether there is peace in the world. A distinction is made between prayer and study of Torah, with the Torah taking precedence over all else. I am inferring that this is because all knowledge flows from the Torah, and it is central to how we live our lives, pray, and determine judgments.
I certainly wish I could live by the Rabbis’ suggested schedule of working half-a-day and studying the rest. And the Rabbis certainly don’t expound a theory that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and instead suggest we should suffer a little hunger and through that hunger honor our humanity through delayed eating for several hours after waking: “The Sages taught in a baraita: Eating in the first hour of the morning is the time of eating for Ludim, who are members of a nation of cannibals, and they are ravenous and hurry to eat. The second hour is the time of the eating of robbers. Since they spend the night stealing, they eat early in the morning. The third hour is the time of eating for heirs, i.e., people who inherited a lot of money and do not work for their sustenance. Their only preoccupation in the early hours of the morning is eating. The fourth hour is the time of eating for workers. The fifth hour is the time of eating for all people.”
Today’s reading also somewhat contradicts the belief I have held that giving a gift anonymously and without the need of acknowledgement is an act conducted from one’s heart and without ego: “Rav said: One who gives a gift to another must inform him that he is giving it to him.”
I may not recommend during these times of social distancing (or any time) to offer a child you do not know a slice of bread or any type of food and to leave a mark of the gift for his parents to discover through smearing him with oil or blue eyeshadow, as it will likely end very badly. We are offered further refinement of the guidance, by smearing the child with the same food he has been offered (in the case of bread, you might need to moisten it first in order to properly leave a sign for the parent), because eyeshadow can be associated with witchcraft. (This is not the first time that eyeshadow has appeared in the Talmud. See Berakhot18.)
“Fine wool is precious to those who wear it.” I am intrigued by the discussion apparel plays in today’s text. We are reminded how badly things ended for Joseph when he was given the coat of many colors: “As, due to the weight of two sela of fine wool [meilat] that Jacob gave to Joseph, beyond what he gave the rest of his sons, in making him the striped coat, his brothers became jealous of him and the matter unfolded and our forefathers descended to Egypt.” There is a lesson in this story about favoritism, but perhaps also in dressing too ostentatiously and being too “showy.”
I have a confession: I love clothes, although I don’t consider myself a “showy” person. I have fond memories of buying new clothes as a child for special occasions, such as the first day of school, bar mitzvahs and weddings, and the High Holidays. I grew up in the dressing room of Loehmann’s in New Jersey, fetching sizes for my mother and her friends who would shop the backroom. Performing the job of size runner was how I was able to spend the afternoon with the women whose conversations were much more interesting than that of the children my age.
The open dressing room was a bonding exercise among women who would offer advice of fit and style to each other as garments were tossed back and forth. It was ingrained in me growing up that as much as my family loved clothes, we were never to pay retail, and Loehmann’s was our go-to-place for bargains on designer clothes. As a young professional, I relied on the Loehmann’s in New York for my first work wardrobe. As much of our purchasing has moved online to sample sales (which I love!) something has been lost through the disappearance of community that was present in those dressing rooms. The last Loehmann’s stores closed in 2014, but by that time they were a shadow of what they once had been, with a few cut-rate garments hanging on the stands. The world of grandmothers, mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces and friends bonding in the communal dressing rooms of discount stores (does anyone remember Daffy’s?) is sadly long gone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/fashion/loehmanns-stores-close-for-business.html