Laws of Modesty

Modesty is one of the foundations of Judaism. The general Torah commandment (Vayikra 19:2), "You shall be holy," is explained by Rashi: "Keep away from forbidden relations and from transgression, for wherever you find a fence against forbidden relations, you find holiness." It is further stated regarding the prohibition of arayot (ibid. 18:24): "Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for by all these the nations became defiled."

There is a connection between guarding modesty and the excellence of the Jewish people in the realms of the spirit. Even when we were enslaved to the Egyptian nation, about which the Sages said (Torat Kohanim, Aḥarei 9) that no nation was as steeped in lewdness and gilui arayot as the Egyptian nation, we were not swept after their customs and we guarded modesty. And out of that guarding of modesty we merited to stand before Mount Sinai and receive the Torah from Heaven.

Many people superficially think that the purpose of modest dress is to prevent improper thoughts among men, but the subject is more complex and deeper. For there is no chance of preventing every improper thought, and the Sages already said (Ketubot 13b): "There is no guardian against forbidden relations." That is, no one can be assured that he is entirely protected from this. And if the supreme goal were to prevent improper thoughts, much stricter rules would have had to be set: forbidding men to go out into the street without absolute necessity, forbidding the drinking of wine and other things that release the emotions, forbidding the wearing of attractively cut clothing, as well as forbidding beautiful color combinations, decreeing that women considered especially beautiful not go out into the street without necessity, and perhaps obligating all women to wrap themselves in a large, ugly coat. Yet we do not find in halakha any requirement that a woman make herself unattractive. On the contrary, we find in Tanakh and in the words of the Sages that it is praiseworthy for a woman to be beautiful and to cultivate her appearance.^¹

Thus the laws of modesty are not meant to make beauty ugly or to hide it, but to give it a modest framework that will emphasize the spirit and good character traits. These laws contain no opposition to the material, physical aspects of our lives. On the contrary, every realm has value and a place. But one who does not guard modesty sins, against his will, by placing excessive emphasis on the material over the spiritual, the body over the soul. For spirituality is by its nature hidden, and in order to perceive the nature of the soul, one must put the body in its proper place, and not emphasize it and make it the main thing. Only after spirituality stands in its central place is it possible to regard the physical aspects of our lives with modesty, and to draw from them the full power of life, without this harming the soul.

That is, immodesty emphasizes the physical, material aspects of a person, whereas modesty emphasizes the spiritual, soul-based foundation of a person. In the short term it may seem as though immodesty helps reveal the power of life, but one who looks more deeply and over a longer term understands that it is specifically modesty that reveals the inner power of life, holiness, and thereby the material aspects of life are also blessed and elevated. It is important to know that, as a rule, the idea of modesty obligates men as well (SA OḤ 2:1-2), but since women are considered more beautiful and men are more quickly aroused, so that they will court their wives, the rules of modesty are stricter for women.

Since a person's clothing is prominent and visible to all who see him, observing the boundaries of the laws of modesty expresses more than anything else loyalty to halakha. A woman who dresses according to halakha sanctifies God's name and declares at every moment: I am not drawn after the culture of the gentiles and their fashions; rather, I am completely loyal to the tradition of Torah and mitzvot and to the special divine destiny of the Jewish people.