[Avodah] [Areivim] Tsniut

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, December 1, 2006 11:30 am, Moshe Yehuda Gluck wrote:
: R' Moshe Feldman:
:> Are you agreeing with my psychologist acquaintance that there is
:> always some subconscious sexual element to dressing attractively, and
:> that the difference between attractive and seductive is whether the
:> woman *intends* to use sex appeal in their dress? ...

: No, I don't agree with your psychologist acquaintance....

Me neither. But I think there are many ways to look beautiful that don't
involve sexuality. There are stunning little children; no sane parent would
think of therefore dressing their daugher seductively. (I thought of the Jean
Bonet Ramseys, and added the word "sane.")

But I think we're still misdefining tzeni'us. LAD, tzeni'us is the vehalakhta
bidrakhav of tzimtzum, and the outward manifestation of anavah. That
definition, you will note, has nothing to do with sexuality.

Tzeni'us is why a man should decline initial offerings of davening for the
amud. Nebich, a minyan needs a sha"tz, so someone has to give up their prized
tzeni'us for the sake of the group. If we had that attitude, there wouldn't be
battles over the role of women in the synagogue or organizational Judaism.
Questions yes, not vehemence over the answers. No one should WANT those roles.
It's a maqom she'ein ish -- someone must be STUCK with the prominent jobs.

It's nothing to do with the gender of the one on stage, what they're on stage
for, or their gender in contrast to the audiences.

The word tzeni'us only relates to sexuality in that sexual attraction is one
powerful way of making calls of attention to oneself. It's a kind of stage to
put oneself on.

>From this perspective it should be clear that I believe tzeni'us is fully
incombent on both genders equally and the sexual alluring thing is a
consequential meaning, not the primary one.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter