Wearing Priestly Clothing to a Synagogue

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

~Albert Einstein

 

Orthodox Jewish service tomorrow--it is down the block. I was told by a former member of that shul that I had better wear a skirt there, or else. "You better cover up." I have always been modest in my dress. But how I feel is that wearing a skirt is not very modest. I wear pants most of the time, but I like once in awhile to wear a long skirt. There is no rule in the Torah or Mishnah that forces a woman into a skirt when she goes to a Shabbat service. I like to wear skirts when I go out to a Synagogue--sometimes I do and sometimes I do not. I feel more dressed up wearing a skirt than wearing pants. But I feel more protected in pants--my physical agility is better and I could defend myself better if I needed to.

 

When I was a young girl of 11 years old, I wrote up a petition for the girls in my school to be allowed to wear pants to school, and got hundreds of students in my grade school to sign it. It was a petition that allowed girls in my school to wear pants instead of skirts. Even on cold wintry days we had to come to school in skirts. It was the school rule that girls must only wear skirts to school. Pants were not allowed. The petition was honored and we were allowed to wear pants from then on to our grammar school classes. This was in 1970. My Rabbi who is a woman, wears pants sometimes and skirts sometimes on the bemah when she leads a Shabbat service. It is her choice what she wears. She does what she wants to do--it is between her and God. It is not up anyone else or anyone's so-called standards of social norms.

I love to wear skirts. I do it because I love the feeling of freedom a loose long skirt gives my legs and body. My first Hebrew name was Nisha before I became Batyah. One meaning of Nisha in Hebrew means "to feminize." I love to look feminine and prefer wearing dresses and skirts to a synagogue because I like to look my best when worshipping G-d--I do this for G-d; and to look my best for my fellow congregants who see me. I like to look dressed up, a bit fancy, and well-groomed. It is all a choice and we have freedom and choices--my choice is to look my best and I look very nice in dresses and skirts; and some pants outfits are dressy as well. It is all about dressing to look good, to be appealing, and to please oneself as well as others. When one goes to a synagogue, it is very lovely to look around at all the nicely dressed people who care about the way they look. We are dressed respectfully to worship G-d and take pride in our appearance. This is the way it should be.