Something Rubs Off
“Rivkah took Esav’s garments ... and dressed Yaakov, her younger son” (Bereshit 27:15).
Rivkah knew that Yaakov would find it difficult to utter a falsehood, for his essential quality was truth, as expressed in the verse, “You grant truth to Yaakov.” She therefore dressed him in Esav’s garments. When one dresses like Esav, some of Esav’s character rubs off.
Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz
In Need of a Blessing
Our mother Rivkah foresaw that when Yaakov’s descendants would be in exile, forced to wear Esav’s garments, they would be unable to endure without Yitzchak’s blessing.
Rabbi Bunim of Peshischa
The Decline Begins
A man who had grown-up amongst chassidim visited the Chozeh of Lublin wearing a coat buttoned left over right, in the manner of the non-Jews. The Chozeh told him, “Such is the way of the yetzer hara. Today it tells a person, ‘do this,’ and tomorrow, ‘do that,’ until it tells him, ‘go and worship idols.’” And that is indeed what happened.
A Segulah for Livelihood
Arranging a garment’s buttons so that the right side overlaps the left is a segulah for a good livelihood.
Chassidic saying
The Nobelman and the Dog
When the Rebbe Rayatz was ten, his father, the Rebbe Rashab, noticed his care to keep his new Pesach clothes clean and his new shoes shiny. Said his father, “Chassidus describes a nobleman sitting at a table with many delicacies. Beneath the table, a dog gnaws on bones. Would the nobleman leave his chair and crawl beneath the table to gnaw on bones?!”
Clothing Is Like a Clock
A student in the Netziv’s yeshiva in Volozhin began wearing clothing unsuitable for a yeshiva student. The Netziv said, “When a clock malfunctions, the fault lies in its inner mechanism, not its hands. So too, the clothing is not at fault. It shows something is wrong within.”