I arrived in Israel a about three hours ago. I made an observation on the trip that I want to share.
The entire El-Al flight was filled with Orthodox Jews. And of those almost 90 percent were either Charedi of Chasidic, and about 10% were Modern Orthodox. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the three or four non Frum Jews on board were security people. I have never quite had this kind of experience.
One of the things that occurred to me while I was waiting in line to get a boarding pass is the incongruity of dress between the Chasidic women and the Chasidic men. The wives of Chasidim dress quite fashionably. If not for the fact their husbands were standing right next to them, I would not be able to tell them apart from any other well dressed as well as and modesty dressed woman Charedi, MO or even non Jewish. Their wigs were so good you could not tell that they were wigs. The discrepancy between the husbands and wives was so stark that it makes one wonder if they were raised with the same values. It is almost as if they were somehow mismatched as a couple. The men had the typical Chasid “Levush”. The women… very “modern” looking.
I know that there are many Chasidic women who do have a distinctive “Chasidic” look to the way they dress, Satmar, for instance, wears a hat over their wigs, usually the pill box style worn by former First Lady Jackie Kennedy during her husbands Presidency. And if one goes to Meah Shaarim, the women there are quite... well... Chasidic looking.
But I do not think that is the case with most other Chasidim. And it really stood out for me this time in this particular setting. The question arises, “What exactly is the purpose of the Chasidic style of dress?” I have been told that it is based on Lo Selechu B’Chukas HGoy. Chasidim wish to dress in a manner that is distinctively apart form the manner of dress of non-Jews.
If that is the case, then how do you explain the way their wives dress? Why must the Chasidic men look so radically different from the norm while woman, although dressed Tznius, sometimes look like the walked off of an ad in a fashion magazine?
