Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Egyptian clothing

"Each woman shall request from her neighbor and housemate, silver and gold vessels and garments, and you shall place them on your sons and your daughters..." (Shemot 3:22)

Ancient Egypt was known for its immoral behavior (see Vayikra 18). If so, and given the hot desert climate, Egyptian clothing was likely quite immodest. Why then would God command the Israelites to take, and presumably wear, the Egyptian clothing?

Looking carefully at the verse, we can see the answer to the problem. The Jewish women requested clothing not so that they could wear it, but so that their children could wear it. An Egyptian miniskirt (or whatever other garment), while very revealing when worn by an Egyptian woman, would be completely modest and acceptable when worn by a young Jewish girl.

(Source: R' Mordechai Eliyahu)

:-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Pretty cute!

DF