"Moses' streimel must have been darn inconvenient in the desert. Anyway, he was very brave to risk it crossing the Reed Sea; a bit of spray and that'd be £4000 down the toilet"
It's this kind of Biblical Criticism that should keep us good Orthodox Jews far away from academia and their heretical ways. You have been warned of the misleading moral axioms, and mocking ways, that underlie a study of the history of Judaism. Even having taken on this criticism, we must be astounded by the none-too-Orthodox ways of the past.
This is so, at least in the manner of dress. Examine old photos of rabbonim and you will not find a Borsalino in sight. You are far more likely to find turbans and ottoman-style shoes than you are to find shtreimals and stockings. Whilst we- today- see a vast uniformity in the frum velt; the old photos show far more individuality and variety than we would ever expect. These days we open the 'rabbi page' of Hamodia and know exactly what to expect- the same as last week (Purim excluded, of course). One could reprint the same pictures, change the captions, change 'bris' to 'chasuna' and one wouldn't notice the difference.
Sure, the Rabonim in the old photos do not look like a shmock like myself in jeans and a T-shirt. They would endeavour to look smart and respectable and thus, distinguish themselves from the general run of men. There is no better of example of this than the picture of the Rebbe below in his pressed Western suits and stylish creme hat! It is certainly the case that were Rambam to time travel to the modern world, he would be far more comfortable speaking to a chareidi person dressed as they are, than to myself in my casual clothes. This is a point ably made in "One above and seven below: a consumer's guide to Orthodox Judaism from the perspective of the Chareidim" of which I read an extract in Hamodia. This indeed is an imperative I should take to dress in a way such that I would be happy to meet the King of Kings.
However, what Yechezkel Hirshman (the author of the aforementioned book) may not have emphasized is that this gives us no reason to dress in a chareidi or chassidic (as opposed to modern) way. There is no need to davka look Jewish. There is no reason dress in a Jewish way- a universal style that transcends culture, country or time. As is often pointed out, this Jewish way is simply the style of Polish noblemen of a few hundred years ago.
The Rabbis of old presumably followed the edict 'do not walk after the ways of the gentiles'- they didn't follow every fashion and especially kept far away from ones with relation to idolatrous practices. However, this didn't mean that they should davka dress differently to the surrounding culture. In fact, they may very well- like Hirsch- have had some derech eretz and intentionally dressed in the (respectable) manner of the time. See Emden's Renaissance clothing; Hirsch and British Chief Rabbi's clergyman clothing, the Rebbe's fashionable French ware and the Sdei Chemed's Ottoman finery.
You will too find- although I haven't reproduced them here- that even when a Rebbe of a particular chassidic group wore what you would expect them to, there Chassidim do not. The chassidim themselves (in the 30s) wore Western clothing. Why then the change? Why, for example, did the Rebbe (although he wasn't Rebbe at the time) go from a guy known to the Seridei Aish as the "well dressed young man at the back of my lectures" to dressing in the manner we know him to have done?
This change is one that has gone hand-in-hand with a change in Judaism itself and its attitude to the outside world. Gone are the glory days when three Gedolei Yisrael- The Rav (Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik), The Rebbe (Rabbi Schneerson) and Rav Hutner- could all be found attending the same lecture at the University of Berlin. Three great rabbis- three great friends- who went on to lead three very different (and sometimes antagonistic) kinds of Judaism, all to be found in the same lecture hall of a secular university!! Who would have thought? Sure, this was pre-Holocaust and a very different kind of world. Plus, no doubt the Rebbe had good reasons for his decisions. Only through securing a strong personal identity could his group have the strength to go out in the world in the way they have done. Still, it's a great shame.
Seperate? Judaism has always been this. Seperatist? Well, there's a question.
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Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson- The Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. Leading the Lubavitch movement in an era when it has become the most inclusive, most extensive and geographically expansice chassidic group ever. He is the living/the temporarily dead/bechezkat/hopefully the/ a false/ a failed/ never claimed to be (delete as appropriate) messiah.
The picture on the left situates him perfectly in early twentieth century France in the "Jardin du Luxembourg". The picture on the right, I think, was taken in Berlin. Very stylish
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch- Gaon of the 19th Century who created a towering commentary on Chumash, tehillim and Siddur; as well as creating a monumental philosophical work on the reasons for the commandments. A critique of both rationalism and Kabbalah, he took a keen interest in both the grammatical and ethical aspects of Judaism.
A proponent of "Torah im derech eretz" and creator of a "Neo-Orthodoxy" he was a Religious Humanist. Interestingly, despite his written testimony to the contrary he only believed in studying secular subjects for 'parnasa' and that 'Torah im derech eretz' was a concession to his time.
He has a striking resemblance to a young athletic Henry VIII. However, his morality and spiritual grandeur was far in excess of any known monarch.
Rabbi Samuel Luzatto (The Shadal)- Expert talmudist, grammatician, and poet of the Nineteenth Century. He wrote aessays, Hebrew Grammar, a commentary of the Targum, a collection of piyyutim, a commentary on the Petntateuch and many of the prophets, as well as many essay on topics such as Kabbalah.
He was a fierce proponent of the style of Biblical and Talmudical Judaism as opposed to the more philosophical understandings of Rambam and Ibn Ezra. He was the first from a traditional perspective to question authorship of Kohelet and The Zohar.
He looks very gentrified!
Rabbi Chaim Joseph David Azulai ("The Chida")- Student of the Ohr ha- Chaim, he was a strict talmudist and kabbalist of the 18th Century. His scholarship encompassed the whole range of Judaism and earned him the right to be emissary of the small Jewish community in the Land of Israel. This meant he was a great Jewish traveller of the day taking him places such as Tunisia, Britain and Amsterdam.
His most famous contribition was his Shem ha-Gedolim, inspired by an interest in the history of Rabbinic literature. The work is a scientific travel guide of his journeys, recording information about all the works and their authors of all the places he visited. There is valuable information that would otherwise be lost.
Shimon Bar Yochai- One of the greatest and most famous talmudic rabbis whose oral tradition was later incorporated in The Zohar in the 13th Century. As such, he is seen as a major torch bearer of kabbalah.
After many years in a cave with his son, he came out and almost destroyed the world due to his insistence that people should be in kollel full-time. G-d sent him back to the cave for another year to mature. After this, he went through some more lessons in order to answer a question that eerily preceeds Monty Python's "What did the Romans ever do for us?" scene.
He is included here, not because the picture is an accurate portrayal of how he looked or what clothes he wore. Instead, it reflects the attitudes to fashion of the artists at the time in which it was drawn.
Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan- info to follow
Rabbi Herman Adler- info to follow
Rabbi Jacob Emden- info to follow
Rabbi Lipschitz (the Tiferet Yisrael)- info to follow
Rabbi Marcus Adler- info to follow
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