A few years ago, I happened to be shopping in the Nordstrom Rack located in Baltimore, MD, when a fellow approached me and sincerely said, "Excuse me sir, can I ask you a question?"
Hesitantly, I responded, "Sure." I was feeling a little uncertain as to what and why he was asking me something. Did he think I worked there? Do I have that look that makes random people want to ask me random questions? Did he somehow know my last name, Strum, and assume I must be a co-owner of Nordstrom? I'll never know. But what I do know is the question that he asked me. He showed me a pair of bright green pants that he had just picked off the rack, and while putting it up against a bright orange shirt that he also just picked off the rack, he said, “Do you think I look like a carrot?”
How are you supposed to answer a question that should never have been asked? How are you supposed to respond to a question from a random person asking if what he chose as an outfit makes him look like a carrot? I don't know what it was exactly, perhaps a moment of prophecy and Divine inspiration, but Hashem gave me an idea. I said, "Sir, that combination does not make you look like a carrot. You see, a real carrot has the green part on top and the orange part on bottom, but here, you picked out an orange top and a green bottom, so I think your good. It looks great. You do not look like a carrot!" He thanked me and walked away.
My friends, so many people today walk around looking like a carrot and so many other things. The overall silly dress code of today’s society is a manifestation of the tremendous lowliness and shallowness that plagues the world. What do you even say to your children when you pass by a person wearing the most bizarre clothing and a pink mohawk? I told my kids, “I think they think it’s Purim!” People dress up all year round in the funniest looking styles.
The Chasam Sofer explains something incredibly important. The “honor and splendor” that the Torah uses to describe the Bigdei Kehunah, is NOT going on the clothing themselves; rather, the “honor and splendor” is actually describing Aharon HaKohen himself! The more righteous and wise a person is, and the more internally focused he is on his soul, the more his externality – his clothing – becomes secondary. Of course, clothing is important. But it is meant to reflect the pureness and kedushah that exists within a person. Whereas the rest of the world is so stubbornly focused on the outside, a Jew’s focus is meant to be on that which is inside.
Dress codes and styles come and go all the time, as such, if a person attributes his sense of self and greatness to his outer expression of clothes, then think about it, his identity will come and go along with the changing tides of societal norms. This is a dangerous place to tread. On the contrary, though, if a person attributes his sense of self and greatness to his inner expression of soul, then think about it, his identity of pureness and holiness will stay steadfast and strong despite the overall surrounding changes that happen in the world at large. Connecting internally has been our greatest secret to survive and keep our Jewish identity throughout all the ages. We can’t stop now!
Have a holy Shabbos!
