In the course of his weekly shiur, Posk HaDor HaGaon HaRav Moseh Shternbuch spoke harshly about the phenomenon of yeshivah bochurim dressing up in secular clothing on Purim.
“There are yeshivah bochurim who dress up on Purim like chilonim,” HaRav Shternbuch said. “It’s muktzah for reasons of מיאוס to look at them. I can’t look at them, they look like goyim or chilonim – you can’t tell they’re yeshivah bochurim.”
“It’s necessary to know that clothing affects a person’s nefesh. Chazal say that when Amalek came to fight Yisrael, they changed their language -they spoke the language of Canaan in order that Am Yisrael wouldn’t recognize them and not know on whom to daven.”
“And the mefarshim had difficulties with this – why didn’t Amalek also change their clothing? And the Belzer Rebbe says that if they would have also changed their clothing, they would have truly become Canaanim because clothing affects the nefesh and a person becomes how he dresses.”
“And therefore it’s a great tzarah that there are bochurim who dress in street clothing. One should be extremely stringent not to dress, chas v’chalilah, in street clothing which is muktzah for reasons of מיאוס.”
“And on the other hand, it’s a true Kiddush Hashem when you see a yeshivah bochur dressing and behaving like a Ben Torah on Purim. Like Chazal said:
כמו שאמרו חז”ל ‘ואהבת את ה’ אלוקיך שיהא שם שמים מתאהב על ידך, ראו פלוני כמה נאים מעשים וכמה מתוקנים מעשיו, אשרי אביו שלמדו תורה ואשרי רבו שלמדו תורה’.
“We should strive that every bochur should be mekadeish Hashem – the sechar for Kiddush Hashem is limitless,” HaRav Shternbuch concluded.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
7 Responses
And what about these bachurim who walk around with ridiculously tight pants?
or small brims
or a large chup (hair in the front)
or very light blue suits
or goyish-looking extremely shiny and pointy shoes
Not getting involved —
Certainly rov shternbuch would not approve of that either but unfortunately for the state of yiddishkeit his word doesn’t hold much weight in the yeshivisher oylam here. We’d be in a much better place if it did
Wait, isn’t tight pants better
Rav Moshe is 100 percent correct. Chizuniut have an impact on Penimyot. This is exactly how Amalek tries to get within us. The midrash tells us that Yosef was punished for paying too much attention to his externals. Rav Moshe is 100% correct. Purim as a time for Teshuva Meahava has turned into a superficial Joke ChasVeshalom. So Amakik wins! Having said this, we have a much bigger problem in our hand, the dresses and styles that our frumist ladies that accept and copy from Amalek/Eisa. This affects their Nefesh and the nefesh of our children CHVS. Having said this, we have an obligation to love the chilonim who are for most part Tinuk Sheneshba. We are obligated to purify our own nefesh and our ladies Nefashot first and have a positive Hashbaa on our chilunim bretheren. In Israel, they still do a better job than us.
Rav Moshe is 100 percent correct. Chizuniut have an impact on Penimyot. This is exactly how Amalek tries to get within us. The midrash tells us that Yosef was punished for paying too much attention to his externals. Rav Moshe is 100% correct. Purim as a time for Teshuva Meahava has turned into a superficial Joke ChasVeshalom. So Amakik wins! Having said this, we have a much bigger problem in our hand: The dresses codes and styles that our frumist ladies accept and copy from Amalek/Eisa. Getting worse everyday. In this regard, we put the children of Amalek to shame. This affects our ladies Nefesh and the nefesh of our pure children CHVS. Having said this, we have an obligation to love the chilonim who are for the most part Tinuk Sheneshbim. We are obligated to purify our own nefesh and our ladies Nefashot first and have a positive Hashbaa on our chilunim bretheren. They look up to us for guidance and not attack. In Israel, they still do a better job than us.
But it’s a mitzvah to dress as a goy on purim!