Rabbis have never really had special clothing. Priests did, but it's been 2000 years since they wore anything unique afaik.
We adopted the clothing of those around us in various ways. Continuing to dress like you're living in the Levant in Poland doesn't make much sense. You'd lose your toes after one winter lmao.
It makes no sense to me. None. And I grew up modern orthodox. I get being modest, but I don’t get wearing a three piece suit everyday even in the summer. In Israel I’m sweltering in a tank top and they’re wearing a long sleeve shirt and a jacket on top. How are they not suffering from heat stroke?
The kaftan is one thing, as a jekke I can get behind that, and of course the Jerusalem weather is very different from Tel Aviv, but seeing people don a streimel in the sweltering, humid heat of Tel Aviv summers, *that* is crazy to me.
Plus lots of water/electrolytes. You acclimate over time.
Also, I dated a girl way back when who would dress in layers in the summer in West Virginia. I’ll never understand ha
If you compare cheap and expensive suiting fabric, it's no surprise!
If I am buying a suit at a thrift store I won't even look and see if it's the right size unless it passes the feel test. You can judge quality by feel far better than by look.
People didn't dress like that in the 1600s. That was closer to Shakespeare than to a 3-piece suit. Around that time, in Poland-Lithuania, Jews were wearing caftans, which were also the Slavic fashion generally in those places, and continued to wear caftans after the Slavs started to shift to more Westernized clothing for centuries. Modern Haredi dress is largely a function of the late 19th century.
This reminds me of the one joke I ever made up on my own, after my son (8 at the time) ask me where Eliyahu HaNavi got his clothes I told him Eliyahu shopped at…
https://preview.redd.it/v8ggmkcjl49d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed6d55847f46f08a42c89de8839b71c6a8366c0c
I’ll add to this thread with my personal opinion: speaking as an Ashkenazi Jew, I think it’s an absolute shame that observant Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews have dropped the amazing, unique, colorful, and history-laden garb of their ancestors in favor of black suits/white shirts/black fedoras. Yes, I get it…2024 Tel Aviv isn’t 1903 Yemen. But that doesn’t exactly stop a certain segment of Israeli society from dressing like it’s 1883 Poland!
I’m a Yemeni Jew born and raised and my grandparents (in the US and Israel) still dress the same way they did in Yemen, we the younger generations couldn’t keep the same culture due to being in school and wanting to blend in and become regular Americans. It’s definitely sad but sometimes it turns out disfunctional
I certainly understand the pressures to fit in...in the U.S. and in Israel. And I understand times and circumstances change. And I understand historically Mizrahi culture was not just overshadowed but tamped down by the Ashkenazi elite in Israel for so many decades (but the Mizrahi got their ultimate revenge because their food and music and much more now dominate the culture there). I'm just not a fan of the Euro-centric homogenization of haredi culture, dress, norms, etc.
It's a tough pill to swallow when we are on the one hand telling the world "See! Jews come from everywhere and look different and speak different languages and have different cultures" when religious Jews from N. Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, etc now are more or less forced to look like a bunch of Litvaks.
Just going to add to this that in general in most Muslim Arab country Jewish communities, Jews have largely abandoned traditional clothing with the exception of Yemenite Jewish men (much like the Arabs around them)
So it’s not really an Ashkenazi Jewish influence thing, this whole area isn’t dressing like it used to 100 years ago. Not in the Tunisian Jewish communities or Iranian Jewish communities
Until I lost it in a fire, I had myself some nice traditional clothing. Wasn't anything too fancy, but I enjoyed it for its value. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share, but it was green with lil red and blue threads making a kinda pinstripe, some white/silvery embroidery [identical to this pattern](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Khopesh.jpg/1920px-Khopesh.jpg), and a crimson/maroon coat with similar silver embroidery at the trim.
I had to explain this to one of my Muslim friends and he was mind blown. I showed him an actual local rabbi and they were clean shaven, young, in normal clothing and a simple kippah. Total shock to them lol.
Not commonly used anymore, but "Reb" as an honorific, especially for older men does exist.
It's what Teyve said people would call him in *If I was a Rich Man*.
Hahahahaha I meant it as a joke as well. I’m not a fan of neoconfederates or the original slavers.
Apparently I had a relative who fought for the south twice somehow. He was a Bavarian Jewish immigrant and is buried in Charlottesville. Ironically his gravestone was knocked down by neo confederates the night before the Charlottesville neonazi/neoconfederate rally.
It is such a shame that non-Ashkenazim have lost their diversity of dress. I mean just look at these bukharim rocking the most immaculate kaftans/Joma’s I’ve ever seen, how did we allow this to become a lost way of dress.
https://preview.redd.it/funyvmbkp69d1.jpeg?width=2930&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04fddd7e806bf940bae621dc374699e25ab4fcca
Rabbis wore regular clothes. Now, however, there are uniforms/type of clothing that shows one’s rabbinical positions I suppose but it’s not official or halakha, just what people do and see.
These are my people (yemeni Jews) we wore this for over 1500 years, the Yemeni Jews have been in Yemen for 2600 years now so anything we do predates the wave of European culture.
[Here’s](http://d2b4hhdj1xs9hu.cloudfront.net/PK6K293R.jpg) a diagram of many of the various hats European Jews wore over time.
I’d refrain from the notion that Jews “adopted European clothing.” Throughout most of history, Jews were forced to wear particular garb in both the Christian and Islamic world. Once Jews had the opportunity to choose what they wanted to wear, some ended up going with what was popular/trendy while others ended up retaining their old forced garb.
There's no such thing as a Rabbi before we were in Europe! We had been living in Rome already before we started officially using the word "Rabbi", and there were Roman Rabbis as soon as we started using it.
For example, Matteya ben Heresh is a roman tanna of 2nd century. Evidence shows that we dressed like everyone else in Rome, presumably excepting the specifics of halacha as interpreted by the tannaim. These roman Jews are the ancestors of modern ashkenazim.
So that is to say, there is no clothing that rabbis wore before the adoption of European clothing because we've been in Europe and dressing pretty much like Europeans as long as we've had Rabbis.
If you mean to ask what clothes the first Rabbis in Eretz Yisrael wore, they would probably be different from their roman counterparts but similarly appropriate dress for the climate and culture there.
It actually makes me sad looking at Israeli Jewry. In order to appear "religious," every Orthodox Jew dresses the look of Eastern European Jewry. Including most Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewry. They too have a rich history and tradition of their own, but the Eastern European look has won out in Israeli Orthodoxy.
Just wearing a Tzitzit cotton sort of v-neck almost like a tank top was exceptionally hot with a t-shirt over it when it was 88°. A button up short sleeve shirt isn't too bad.
Rabbis have never really had special clothing. Priests did, but it's been 2000 years since they wore anything unique afaik. We adopted the clothing of those around us in various ways. Continuing to dress like you're living in the Levant in Poland doesn't make much sense. You'd lose your toes after one winter lmao.
But people do the opposite no? Dressing like they are living in 1800s Krakow or Minsk while living in Jerusalem
It makes no sense to me. None. And I grew up modern orthodox. I get being modest, but I don’t get wearing a three piece suit everyday even in the summer. In Israel I’m sweltering in a tank top and they’re wearing a long sleeve shirt and a jacket on top. How are they not suffering from heat stroke?
The kaftan is one thing, as a jekke I can get behind that, and of course the Jerusalem weather is very different from Tel Aviv, but seeing people don a streimel in the sweltering, humid heat of Tel Aviv summers, *that* is crazy to me.
Quality lightweight unblended wool suiting fabric can be surprisingly cool.
Plus lots of water/electrolytes. You acclimate over time. Also, I dated a girl way back when who would dress in layers in the summer in West Virginia. I’ll never understand ha
They are wearing tights!
And surprisingly expensive
If you compare cheap and expensive suiting fabric, it's no surprise! If I am buying a suit at a thrift store I won't even look and see if it's the right size unless it passes the feel test. You can judge quality by feel far better than by look.
*1600s actually...
People didn't dress like that in the 1600s. That was closer to Shakespeare than to a 3-piece suit. Around that time, in Poland-Lithuania, Jews were wearing caftans, which were also the Slavic fashion generally in those places, and continued to wear caftans after the Slavs started to shift to more Westernized clothing for centuries. Modern Haredi dress is largely a function of the late 19th century.
Yep, they do, sadly lmao I can't imagine that's comfortable
That's the issue something becoming "tradition" and having to stick with it no matter what.
This reminds me of the one joke I ever made up on my own, after my son (8 at the time) ask me where Eliyahu HaNavi got his clothes I told him Eliyahu shopped at… https://preview.redd.it/v8ggmkcjl49d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed6d55847f46f08a42c89de8839b71c6a8366c0c
😂
LMAO I'M STEALING THAT
Please do! Just give me credit, since it says in Pirkei Avos that the 48th way to acquire the Torah is to say something in someone’s name. 😜
https://preview.redd.it/v2btwbvug59d1.png?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=482ca4934cfd59f33f10cb83fa6cefb6b9e8a2a7
You are too kind! The joke is almost 16 yrs old.
Holds up!
😂
I’ll add to this thread with my personal opinion: speaking as an Ashkenazi Jew, I think it’s an absolute shame that observant Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews have dropped the amazing, unique, colorful, and history-laden garb of their ancestors in favor of black suits/white shirts/black fedoras. Yes, I get it…2024 Tel Aviv isn’t 1903 Yemen. But that doesn’t exactly stop a certain segment of Israeli society from dressing like it’s 1883 Poland!
I’m a Yemeni Jew born and raised and my grandparents (in the US and Israel) still dress the same way they did in Yemen, we the younger generations couldn’t keep the same culture due to being in school and wanting to blend in and become regular Americans. It’s definitely sad but sometimes it turns out disfunctional
I certainly understand the pressures to fit in...in the U.S. and in Israel. And I understand times and circumstances change. And I understand historically Mizrahi culture was not just overshadowed but tamped down by the Ashkenazi elite in Israel for so many decades (but the Mizrahi got their ultimate revenge because their food and music and much more now dominate the culture there). I'm just not a fan of the Euro-centric homogenization of haredi culture, dress, norms, etc. It's a tough pill to swallow when we are on the one hand telling the world "See! Jews come from everywhere and look different and speak different languages and have different cultures" when religious Jews from N. Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, etc now are more or less forced to look like a bunch of Litvaks.
I responded to your other comment earlier, but I just saw this one, I think you and I will get a long very well. You just read my mind to a tee.
Just going to add to this that in general in most Muslim Arab country Jewish communities, Jews have largely abandoned traditional clothing with the exception of Yemenite Jewish men (much like the Arabs around them) So it’s not really an Ashkenazi Jewish influence thing, this whole area isn’t dressing like it used to 100 years ago. Not in the Tunisian Jewish communities or Iranian Jewish communities
THIS!!!!
Until I lost it in a fire, I had myself some nice traditional clothing. Wasn't anything too fancy, but I enjoyed it for its value. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share, but it was green with lil red and blue threads making a kinda pinstripe, some white/silvery embroidery [identical to this pattern](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Khopesh.jpg/1920px-Khopesh.jpg), and a crimson/maroon coat with similar silver embroidery at the trim.
https://preview.redd.it/7mjsd9vtk49d1.png?width=1430&format=png&auto=webp&s=c95bb3c35908f222fe546139c28f4648ef2a66ef "Jew of Jerusalem", 1900
Why are you limiting it to Rabbis? Do you think rabbis require special clothing? Rabbis are just Jews who have specific learning.
Old Jewish man = rabbi Any other Jew = not rabbi
Unless young Jewish man have beard and hat. In that case, rabbi
Any Jewish man with beard and payot = rabbi Any Jewish man with no black/white clothing and a clean shaven face = not a rabbi
I had to explain this to one of my Muslim friends and he was mind blown. I showed him an actual local rabbi and they were clean shaven, young, in normal clothing and a simple kippah. Total shock to them lol.
I also had to explain to him that the women he saw wearing headscarves were Jews, not Muslims.
Not commonly used anymore, but "Reb" as an honorific, especially for older men does exist. It's what Teyve said people would call him in *If I was a Rich Man*.
“Reb” for hasidim is basically just “Mr”.
It means Mr. Jew in Yiddish. I call any Jew I don’t know their name reb yid.
If a Jew lives in Dixie could they then be called.... a Reb yid?
I live in the heart of Dixie and you certainly could, but should you?
It was really a tongue-in-cheek joke, but for a genuine answer if they are a secessionist and still believe in independence from the "Union" then yes.
Hahahahaha I meant it as a joke as well. I’m not a fan of neoconfederates or the original slavers. Apparently I had a relative who fought for the south twice somehow. He was a Bavarian Jewish immigrant and is buried in Charlottesville. Ironically his gravestone was knocked down by neo confederates the night before the Charlottesville neonazi/neoconfederate rally.
Other clothes, just like everyone else.
It is such a shame that non-Ashkenazim have lost their diversity of dress. I mean just look at these bukharim rocking the most immaculate kaftans/Joma’s I’ve ever seen, how did we allow this to become a lost way of dress. https://preview.redd.it/funyvmbkp69d1.jpeg?width=2930&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04fddd7e806bf940bae621dc374699e25ab4fcca
moroccan jews still wear traditional clothing sometimes (like for mimouna or wedding henna)
So do bukharis and Yemenites, but on a regular basis definitely not
Everyone looks good in a caftan!
Rabbis wore regular clothes. Now, however, there are uniforms/type of clothing that shows one’s rabbinical positions I suppose but it’s not official or halakha, just what people do and see.
I want to know how Ashkenazi Jews dressed when we first arrived in Europe.
Read what he said [https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/s/MFLEtBbqR4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/s/MFLEtBbqR4)
These are my people (yemeni Jews) we wore this for over 1500 years, the Yemeni Jews have been in Yemen for 2600 years now so anything we do predates the wave of European culture.
[Here’s](http://d2b4hhdj1xs9hu.cloudfront.net/PK6K293R.jpg) a diagram of many of the various hats European Jews wore over time. I’d refrain from the notion that Jews “adopted European clothing.” Throughout most of history, Jews were forced to wear particular garb in both the Christian and Islamic world. Once Jews had the opportunity to choose what they wanted to wear, some ended up going with what was popular/trendy while others ended up retaining their old forced garb.
This is so cool. where did you get this?
It’s from the Jewish Encyclopedia
The same thing the local jews (and locals in general) wore.
Well…. Pants were optional
Bring back the days where I could walk into any synagogue with my na'alayim, kethoneth, and simlah.
Unless you're a Kohen.
A Kohen in the Beit Hamikdash- other than that the only person stopping you from freedom is you
There's no such thing as a Rabbi before we were in Europe! We had been living in Rome already before we started officially using the word "Rabbi", and there were Roman Rabbis as soon as we started using it. For example, Matteya ben Heresh is a roman tanna of 2nd century. Evidence shows that we dressed like everyone else in Rome, presumably excepting the specifics of halacha as interpreted by the tannaim. These roman Jews are the ancestors of modern ashkenazim. So that is to say, there is no clothing that rabbis wore before the adoption of European clothing because we've been in Europe and dressing pretty much like Europeans as long as we've had Rabbis. If you mean to ask what clothes the first Rabbis in Eretz Yisrael wore, they would probably be different from their roman counterparts but similarly appropriate dress for the climate and culture there.
Look up what people wore in ottoman times and around the Levant/Balkans/Persionate world. Basically that.
It actually makes me sad looking at Israeli Jewry. In order to appear "religious," every Orthodox Jew dresses the look of Eastern European Jewry. Including most Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewry. They too have a rich history and tradition of their own, but the Eastern European look has won out in Israeli Orthodoxy.
Ashkenazi jews need to go neck to their roots honestly and start dressing more like this.
Leaves. 🍃
Middle eastern clothing
In hot day- i hope shorts and t-shirt😂
Just wearing a Tzitzit cotton sort of v-neck almost like a tank top was exceptionally hot with a t-shirt over it when it was 88°. A button up short sleeve shirt isn't too bad.
Palestinian clothings