Recap Until now we have explained that clothing protects us from the klippos, which try to redirect our focus onto the body and make it appear as its own independent entity. This is the sur mei’ra aspect of clothing, guarding ourselves from the klippos. But there is another side to clothing as well: the asei tov aspect. These are the great spiritual levels we can access through the clothes we wear.
We all know that every person has a neshama. The Arizal teaches that there are really five levels of the neshama: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chayah, and Yechidah. The first three are within us, while the last two surround us. These surrounding levels are called makifin. Although this may sound abstract, there are also very practical applications of this idea.
Every morning a person wakes up with holy spiritual aspirations. He has things he wants to accomplish that day, and ways in which he wants to grow in his avodas Hashem. These yearnings and spiritual goals are expressions of his holy makifin (makifin d’kedusha). They are not yet fully part of who he is, but they surround him and pull him upward. Throughout the day, a person should strive to bring those makifin inward until they become part of his inner spiritual makeup.
The klippos, however, also have their own makifin (makifin d’klippah). They try to surround a person with unholy aspirations and desires, and they have new frontiers of aveiros they would like to drag us to do.
Just as clothing surrounds the body, it also symbolizes the holy makifin that surround us. Our clothing gives us strength to connect to those holy aspirations while protecting us from the makifei d’klippah that seek to influence us in negative ways instead.
This also helps us understand why it is important to wear Yiddishe clothing. The clothing we wear is not only about covering the body. It also connects us to holy makifin. Non-Jewish styles of dress connect a person to different kinds of makifin. This is why one of the first things that often changes when a person makes a major change in his spiritual life is the way he dresses. A baal teshuvah often feels drawn to dress in a more Yiddishe way, while, chas v’shalom, the opposite is also true. A person’s clothing often reflects the world and aspirations he wants to surround himself with.
The more a Yid believes in his own greatness, the more careful he will be about how he dresses. The Rambam writes that a person should dress like a yerei Shamayim. Every generation has what is considered “Yiddishe clothing.” By dressing this way, we are doing much more than simply covering the body. We are actively surrounding ourselves with holiness and revealing Hashem’s Presence through the way we present ourselves.
For this reason, we should also try to stay away from the trends and styles of dress of the nations of the world, even when they are not halachically immodest. Those styles tend to make the body more into a separate entity, whereas Yiddishe clothing conceals the body and thereby allows the holiness of the Yiddishe neshama to shine through.
If one finds himself being pursued by makifin d’klippah, and his yetzer hara is always chasing him to try new aveiros, the antidote is to actively pursue more makifin d’kedusha. As we’ve explained, this could be done by choosing Yiddishe clothing that helps him aspire to live with more holiness, and by putting them on with that intention, that they should surround you with holy aspirations. But this can also be done by anything else that expands one’s spiritual horizons, such as by going to a tzadik, or reading stories of tzadikim.
Recap Until now we have explained that clothing protects us from the klippos, which try to redirect our focus onto the body and make it appear as its own independent entity. This is the sur mei’ra aspect of clothing, guarding ourselves from the klippos. But there is another side to clothing as well: the asei tov aspect. These are the great spiritual levels we can access through the clothes we wear.
We all know that every person has a neshama. The Arizal teaches that there are really five levels of the neshama: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chayah, and Yechidah. The first three are within us, while the last two surround us. These surrounding levels are called makifin. Although this may sound abstract, there are also very practical applications of this idea.
Every morning a person wakes up with holy spiritual aspirations. He has things he wants to accomplish that day, and ways in which he wants to grow in his avodas Hashem. These yearnings and spiritual goals are expressions of his holy makifin (makifin d’kedusha). They are not yet fully part of who he is, but they surround him and pull him upward. Throughout the day, a person should strive to bring those makifin inward until they become part of his inner spiritual makeup.
The klippos, however, also have their own makifin (makifin d’klippah). They try to surround a person with unholy aspirations and desires, and they have new frontiers of aveiros they would like to drag us to do.
Just as clothing surrounds the body, it also symbolizes the holy makifin that surround us. Our clothing gives us strength to connect to those holy aspirations while protecting us from the makifei d’klippah that seek to influence us in negative ways instead.
This also helps us understand why it is important to wear Yiddishe clothing. The clothing we wear is not only about covering the body. It also connects us to holy makifin. Non-Jewish styles of dress connect a person to different kinds of makifin. This is why one of the first things that often changes when a person makes a major change in his spiritual life is the way he dresses. A baal teshuvah often feels drawn to dress in a more Yiddishe way, while, chas v’shalom, the opposite is also true. A person’s clothing often reflects the world and aspirations he wants to surround himself with.
The more a Yid believes in his own greatness, the more careful he will be about how he dresses. The Rambam writes that a person should dress like a yerei Shamayim. Every generation has what is considered “Yiddishe clothing.” By dressing this way, we are doing much more than simply covering the body. We are actively surrounding ourselves with holiness and revealing Hashem’s Presence through the way we present ourselves.
For this reason, we should also try to stay away from the trends and styles of dress of the nations of the world, even when they are not halachically immodest. Those styles tend to make the body more into a separate entity, whereas Yiddishe clothing conceals the body and thereby allows the holiness of the Yiddishe neshama to shine through.
If one finds himself being pursued by makifin d’klippah, and his yetzer hara is always chasing him to try new aveiros, the antidote is to actively pursue more makifin d’kedusha. As we’ve explained, this could be done by choosing Yiddishe clothing that helps him aspire to live with more holiness, and by putting them on with that intention, that they should surround you with holy aspirations. But this can also be done by anything else that expands one’s spiritual horizons, such as by going to a tzadik, or reading stories of tzadikim.
Moment of Mindfulness
As you get dressed in the morning, think for a moment: “Hashem, as I surround my body with clothes and remind myself that my body is just a vehicle through which I carry out the mission of my neshama, please surround me with holy aspirations and help me reach new frontiers in avodas Hashem today, and not cha”v the opposite.
As you get dressed in the morning, think for a moment: “Hashem, as I surround my body with clothes and remind myself that my body is just a vehicle through which I carry out the mission of my neshama, please surround me with holy aspirations and help me reach new frontiers in avodas Hashem today, and not cha”v the opposite.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 94.
