[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on how Jewish women should dress

[Chana Luntz]

RYL writes:

> I really see nothing puzzling regarding what Rav Schwab wrote and all
> of the sources you have quoted regarding how married women should
> dress. Rav A. Miller often said, "A woman should dress for her husband,
> not for others."  He meant that the finery should be reserved for the
> home. Thus all of these adornments are to be worn in the home for the
> husband, not in public.

If you look carefully you will see that not all of these are about being
worn at home for the husband.

In particular, the discussion about a woman in mourning for her father
specifically mentions an unmarried woman, and suggests that she needs to
wear such ornaments in order to attract a husband.

But even more telling is the bit I quoted (albeit in the middle of my piece,
so you may have missed it) namely:

>>And further, it would seem from Kesuvos 48a that the Beis Din is
empowered, in the absence of a husband, to go down onto his property in
order to >>provide sustenance for his wife, such sustenance to include a
required provision for adornments  (tachshitim - again Rashi, besamim)
because it can be >>assumed that he would not be happy to have his wife
become repulsive.

Now this is a case where the husband is off in midinas hayam [ie overseas],
and due to his absence, beis din is having to take on the role of making
sure she has her basic essentials (by selling off his property to provide
them).  So there is absolutely no husband around to see and appreciate these
ornaments.  And yet, it is so essential that a woman adorn herself with
perfumes and the like, that in the absence of her husband, that beis din can
go down onto his property and sell parts of it off to buy them.

This hardly sounds like a finery should be reserved for the husband, does
it?

> YL

Regards

Chana