“If you dress the part you will live the part” is a famous saying, but is it true? We discover in life people dress with extreme piety and they don’t live the part or conversely dress in such a simple manner but are pious and learned. What is worse? Looking frum but not acting frum or being frum and not looking frum? When I was a child in 4th grade I asked my Rebbe, what is considered Yeshivish attire? He told me that if your mother would go to the flea market and buy the cheapest clothing possible, that was Yeshivish. How times have changed that it became more expensive to dressed Yeshivish. One also needs to be swathed in black. I am not just referring to men, the women too are all in black and its sad that a wedding looks like a levayah. When being modest means that one cannot be elegant or classy, the test of Tznius is greatly magnified. Being a Tzanuah yet remaining graceful and chic, is complimentary and a Kidush Hashem.
The Canaanite king of Arad, who dwelled in the south (Bamidbar 21:1) Rashi explains this is Amalek and not Canaan because Amalek lived in the south and not Canaan. Amalek changed their language and spoke the “mother tongue” of Canaan so that the Jewish people will be confused and pray that Hashem should make them victorious over the Canaan people and not Amalek. They didn’t however change their attire but kept the dress of Amalek. Never the less the Jewish people were confused and they prayed without specifying which nation Hashem should save them from. The Almighty, who knows everything, heeded their tefillos and the nation was successful over their enemies.
If you want to confuse your enemy it’s probably easier to change your attire rather than learn another language, and if you feel you need to learn the other language, for sure you should dress the part? If you’re going to scam me, do a good job and not something half baked.
The Bali Musssar explain that Amaleke could not change their dress code because then they would have become real Canaane. Because your clothing is everything it’s who you are, and the Jewish people would daven to be victorious on Canaan and it would work. This is hard for the Sockover Rebbe to digest as it gives too much credit to the external demeanor of a person. Maybe this is how Amalek thinks but it can’t be the way we think. We need to look into the neshama of a person and see his purity, and if we start to think that way we are thinking like Amalek. Do you really think the dor of the midbar looked like a chosid does today? Or was it the dress of a nobleman from Eastern Europe that today has become kodesh kadashim?
In the passing of Aaron Hakohen it says, “Moshe stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Elazar his son.” There are two terms for clothing: Beged and Lebush. Beged is the type of clothing that is not befitting to you, from the word boged, to cheat you. Lebush is from to words “lo bush” not to be embarrassed from you clothing. If you go to a wedding in work out gear, it’s a beged and it works against. When you wear clothing that is appropriate then it’s called a lebush; no embarrassment. When Aaron’s time was up Moshe removed the Kohain Gadols clothing as “begadav his clothing” that is no longer appropriate for him as it was time for his passing. He then put it on Elazar as a “labush” because it was appropriate for him.
Clothing is very important to one’s identity but it does not define a person. As one dresses he needs to contemplate does this kind of clothing express who I am or who I wish to be. Although the clothes do not necessarily portray the inner person, it does reveal who you wish to portray yourself as.