[Avodah] color issues

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Mon Mar 27 11:00:17 PDT 2017


On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 07:38:44AM -0700, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
: http://5tjt.com/seeing-red-2
: 
: is there room to say that MO doesn't hold by these chumradige psakim? or
: just that the people just don't ask

There are two issues: chuqas hagoy (see the SA and the Rama) and tzeni'us.
It is interesting that the SA is not making this a tzeni'us thing.

RMF (IM YD 1:81) considers red clothing to be permissable -- neither
problem rises to the level of issur.
But somewhat peritzus, and so, not a great idea. (Mutar but should be
avoided?)

According to word-of-mouth, RYKaminecki held similarly. (See Divrei
Chakhamim EhE, 256:46
<http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20287&st=&pgnum=259>)

R' Elyashiv (according to Halkhos bas Yisrael vol 1) holds that it's only
bright red, not crimson or other reds. RSZA (Divrei Chakhamim ad loc,
still a trader in word-of-mouth, often having no citations) limits it
differently, only if it's the main color of the garment.

RYHH (who I expect will be emailing RSN and I about this when this digest
reaches him, unless erev Pesach keeps the Benei Banim from reading
Avodah) in Contemporary Tzeni'us, notes that Rashi on Bereishis 49:11
("eni asono") refers to a woman wearing bright clothes to attract a man
in the context of Yehudah's berakhah -- ie as a good thing.

In short, it seems to me that the mid- and late-20-th cent American
consensus was that the problem isn't red in and of itself, but a red
that is considered sexy rather than simply aesthetic. And therefore
it's all about not trying to be sexy, rather than red clothes themselves.
Whereas the Israeli posqim appear to outright prohibit a garment where
the base color (as opposed to accents) is actually bright red.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Strength does not come from winning. Your
micha at aishdas.org        struggles develop your strength When you go
http://www.aishdas.org   through hardship and decide not to surrender,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      that is strength.        - Arnold Schwarzenegger



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