Reactions to Frum Garb on a Flier

This post started off as a "musings"/reaction post. Once I started writing it, I realized that I have never written a blog post about Tzfanya's criticism of religious garb. I might come back and write a full post on that nevuah in the future. For now, I'll just reference it in the context of my reaction, and leave the readers to draw their own conclusions. 

Reactions to Frum Garb on a Flier

This past weekend I came across a flier that someone had left on a table in my yeshiva. I will not mention the name of the organization associated with the flier because I don't want anyone to mistakenly view this blog post as a criticism of that organization.

According to the flier, objective of the organization in question is "helping teens and young adults overcome life’s everyday challenges one step at a time" and "to provide all of our members with the necessary tools and skills to empower them to live a healthy and productive lifestyle and become the leaders of tomorrow." 

Sounds good, right? I certainly think so. And from what I've heard, the organization does good work, and provides a variety of much needed services for those who have nowhere else to turn. 

But what bothered me was the picture on the flier: 

This picture shows a Jewish teenager from behind, divided vertically down the center. The right half of him is wearing a blue t-shirt, a backwards baseball cap, and a golden necklace. In the background is a dingy pool hall. The left half of him is wearing a black jacket, a white shirt, and a black velvet yarmulke. In the background is a throng of similarly dressed yeshivish bochrim, all shteiging away in a beis medrash. 

I found this image to be upsetting on multiple levels. My reaction can be summed up in three parts:

Reaction #1: How does this make the target audience feel?

I thought to myself: If I were a Jewish teen who happened to dress like the boy in the right half of the photo, what message would I feel is being communicated to me by the people who made this flier? Probably something along the lines of:

"Hey there, young man. Do you look like THIS? ::: points to image on the right side ::: Ah, you do? Well, WE think you're broken, troubled, and in dire need of help and salvation. It's clear from what you're wearing; there's no denying it. But have no fear! Come to US and WE'LL fix you right up! We'll have you looking like THIS ::: points to image on the left side ::: in no time!"

How would that message make me feel? Certainly not respected, or recognized for who I am. I'd feel like I was being pigeon-holed based on my appearances. I'd feel like I was being patronized by those who purport to have my best interests in mind. And if I were on the fence about attending the program, seeing this flier certainly wouldn't help push me in the right direction.

Reaction #2: Do they really expect this approach to work?

I really wonder what the people who designed the flier were thinking. Do they really believe that a kid who dresses like this will see the flier and say, "Gee whiz! This is just the thing I was looking for! Finally I've been given a chance to shed this t-shirt and chain, escape the pool hall, and become shtark!"

If that's really what they were thinking, then perhaps they ought to rethink whether they should remain in the "youth organization" business. There are people out there who have great intentions and genuinely care about youth, but are so out of touch with the kids they work with that they set themselves up for failure without even realizing it.

Reaction #3: What would Tzfanya say?

But there is a more insidious message implicit in this flier: that a person's superficial trappings are indicative of one's religiosity. Yes, I realize that this critique cuts to a more fundamental problem in contemporary frum society - one which is not specific to the organization being advertised by the flier. But I was just dumbstruck by how blatantly this fallacy embodied in the flier.

I was reminded of a pasuk in Sefer Tzfanya, which doesn't get nearly as much press as it should (probably because Sefer Tzfanya doesn't get as much press as it should). The Navi says:

Be silent before Hashem-Elokim, for the day of Hashem is near! For Hashem has prepared a slaughter; He has invited His guests. And it will happen on the day of Hashem's slaughter that I will deal with the officials and the king's sons and all who wear foreign garments. And I will deal with all those who leap over the threshold on that day, [and with] those who fill the houses of their masters with injustice and deceit (Tzfanya 1:7-9).

The Radak cites a number of different interpretations of the phrase "kol ha'lovshim malbush nochri" ("all those who wear foreign garments"), but his last explanation is the one that I thought about when I saw this flier. He writes:

There are those who explain that this refers to people who outwardly act like prushim (those who "set themselves apart") and chasidim (men of piety) and wear foreign clothing which differs from the rest of the people, so that [the rest of the nation] will recognize them by their clothing as prushim - but [in truth,] their way is evil.

The Alshich takes this approach and elaborates on the motives of these wearers of foreign garments:

There are hypocrites who act pious in the eyes of the people, but are actually wicked; they wear the garments of the pious - such as large, decorated talleisos, and the like - to indicate that they are pious [servants of] the Most High, but they are secretly wicked.

As I stared at this flier, I could picture Tzfanya shaking his head. I suspect that if he were alive today, he would be dismayed by the degree to which so many factions within the Orthodox Jewish world focus more on how people dress than how they live.

I'm not saying that the people who made this flier genuinely believe that a person's religiosity is to be measured by their choice of clothing, but the flier definitely promotes that idea. Sadly, this flier is just a drop in the ocean of other influences which maintain and strengthen a Jewish culture in which externals are more important than internals, while Torah and mitzvos sit neglected in the corner.

There is much more to say on the topics raised here. My goal in this post was to share the image in the flier, along with my initial thoughts, for whatever insight they have to offer.