A Time for Change

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

Days pass and life slips through our fingers. Now is the time to change and to improve in the areas of modesty and personal holiness.

Everyone feels that Mashiach and Geula (Redemption) are fast on their way. The world is in a dire state, not only morally, but from many other standpoints. Clinical depression is rampant. People are suffering around the world. Isn’t it time to change?

The Chatam Sofer of saintly and blessed memory said that this final exile would be more difficult than previous exiles, for each day would be progressively more challenging. And, what makes things worse, is the unprecedented immodesty of women, which is the worst transgression of Torah.

If the Chatam Sofer considered women’s appearance 200 years ago “unprecedented immodesty”, what would he say today? How would he react to the instant access to pornography and everything lewd via the internet and cellphones? What would he say about giant billboards of unclad women or about show-cased immodesty in store-front window displays?

We are like children who were born in a cave and have never seen the light of day. We have no idea what true modesty is. To understand just how far we’ve drifted from modesty, here’s a story about the Head Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, of saintly and blessed memory:

A terrible plague broke out in Jerusalem that struck women predominantly, and particularly young women. Many people lay on their death beds, lo aleinu (it shouldn’t happen to us). Shrieks of grief emitted from every other window in the city. The wise men of Jerusalem sat down together to see what they could do about the situation, and how they could possibly terminate or at least mitigate this incredibly stern edict from Above.

Rabbi Salant rejected all the proposals. He said that none of them will be effective without teshuva and a real change of conduct. He added that praying and fasting would only be effective once the people of Jerusalem eradicated the evil in their midst.

The Kabbalists and tzaddikim of Jerusalem decided to fast for three days, begging Hashem to reveal the source of Jerusalem’s troubles. They received a Heavenly message that the Divine Presence had left the people of Israel because of a new fashion style, which was simply a belt the young women had begun to wear that accented their figure.

A directive from Rabbi Salant’s Beit Din ordered the women to immediately stop wearing these belts. The upright women of Jerusalem and the innocent young girls had no idea how seriously the belts compromised their modesty. They heeded the directive, and the plague ended immediately!

Let’s stop and think once more: Rabbi Salant was the Head Rabbi of Jerusalem in the late 1800’s. The women of Jerusalem back then were impeccably modest. All they did was add a belt around their waist that accented their figure. That was enough for the Divine Presence to leave them! What can we say today? We’d be delighted if our most modest women would dress like the old-style Jerusalem women, even with their belts!

Our greatest challenge is to preserve our modesty and holiness despite the Evil Inclination’s ever-so-powerful attempts to erode both. Our Torah learning, prayer, and mitzvah observance lose all value unless we closely guard all aspects of personal holiness.

No matter what we do – fasting, praying, giving charity, saying mountains of Psalms and learning Torah around the clock – we won’t relieve the ills of this generation, both personal and general, unless we make a concerted effort to improve our modesty and personal holiness. The Zohar teaches that the Evil Inclination’s primary target is personal holiness, so that is what we must preserve and defend. This is our solemn mission on earth.

Imagine a woman who reaches the Heavenly Court when her 120 years on earth are completed. The Heavenly Court asks her, “Why didn’t you perform your designated task on earth?”

She protests and responds, “What do you mean? Of course, I did! I helped crippled people, I cooked meals for poor families, I said all of Tehillim every single day, I went to Uman three times a year, and more…”

“Madame, with all due respect,” says the Heavenly Tribunal, “you will be duly rewarded for all the good that you did. But you missed your main mission – modesty! Sure your dress was long enough, but it was provocative. You wanted to accent your figure! And why did your wear all the glamorous makeup and the false eyelashes? Your number-one task was to improve your modesty; it wasn’t enough to be “religious” and to conform to the herd…”

The Gaon of Vilna said that what a man accomplishes in learning Torah, a woman accomplishes in enhancing her modesty. May our women be courageous in doing the right thing, amen!