Opening Question
What clothing or apparel do you wear that makes a statement about your identity?
(ו) וְרִבְקָה֙ אָֽמְרָ֔ה אֶל־יַעֲקֹ֥ב בְּנָ֖הּ לֵאמֹ֑ר הִנֵּ֤ה שָׁמַ֙עְתִּי֙ אֶת־אָבִ֔יךָ מְדַבֵּ֛ר אֶל־עֵשָׂ֥ו אָחִ֖יךָ לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ז) הָבִ֨יאָה לִּ֥י צַ֛יִד וַעֲשֵׂה־לִ֥י מַטְעַמִּ֖ים וְאֹכֵ֑לָה וַאֲבָרֶכְכָ֛ה לִפְנֵ֥י יי לִפְנֵ֥י מוֹתִֽי׃ (ח) וְעַתָּ֥ה בְנִ֖י שְׁמַ֣ע בְּקֹלִ֑י לַאֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י מְצַוָּ֥ה אֹתָֽךְ׃ (ט) לֶךְ־נָא֙ אֶל־הַצֹּ֔אן וְקַֽח־לִ֣י מִשָּׁ֗ם שְׁנֵ֛י גְּדָיֵ֥י עִזִּ֖ים טֹבִ֑ים וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֨ה אֹתָ֧ם מַטְעַמִּ֛ים לְאָבִ֖יךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר אָהֵֽב׃ (י) וְהֵבֵאתָ֥ לְאָבִ֖יךָ וְאָכָ֑ל בַּעֲבֻ֛ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְבָרֶכְךָ֖ לִפְנֵ֥י מוֹתֽוֹ׃ (יא) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יַעֲקֹ֔ב אֶל־רִבְקָ֖ה אִמּ֑וֹ הֵ֣ן עֵשָׂ֤ו אָחִי֙ אִ֣ישׁ שָׂעִ֔ר וְאָנֹכִ֖י אִ֥ישׁ חָלָֽק׃ (יב) אוּלַ֤י יְמֻשֵּׁ֙נִי֙ אָבִ֔י וְהָיִ֥יתִי בְעֵינָ֖יו כִּמְתַעְתֵּ֑עַ וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י עָלַ֛י קְלָלָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א בְרָכָֽה׃ (יג) וַתֹּ֤אמֶר לוֹ֙ אִמּ֔וֹ עָלַ֥י קִלְלָתְךָ֖ בְּנִ֑י אַ֛ךְ שְׁמַ֥ע בְּקֹלִ֖י וְלֵ֥ךְ קַֽח־לִֽי׃ (יד) וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ֙ וַיִּקַּ֔ח וַיָּבֵ֖א לְאִמּ֑וֹ וַתַּ֤עַשׂ אִמּוֹ֙ מַטְעַמִּ֔ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר אָהֵ֥ב אָבִֽיו׃ (טו) וַתִּקַּ֣ח רִ֠בְקָה אֶת־בִּגְדֵ֨י עֵשָׂ֜ו בְּנָ֤הּ הַגָּדֹל֙ הַחֲמֻדֹ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתָּ֖הּ בַּבָּ֑יִת וַתַּלְבֵּ֥שׁ אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּנָ֥הּ הַקָּטָֽן׃ (טז) וְאֵ֗ת עֹרֹת֙ גְּדָיֵ֣י הָֽעִזִּ֔ים הִלְבִּ֖ישָׁה עַל־יָדָ֑יו וְעַ֖ל חֶלְקַ֥ת צַוָּארָֽיו׃
[At Yitzhak's (Issac's) death bed, he commands his son Esav (Esau) to bring him hunted game, and in return Yitzhak will bless him]
Genesis 27:6 Rivka said to Yaakov her son, saying: Here, I was listening as your father spoke to Esav your brother, saying:
Genesis 27:7 Bring me some hunted-game and make me a delicacy, I will eat it and give you blessing before YHVH, before my death.
Genesis 27:8 So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you:
Genesis 27:9 Pray go to the flock and take me two fine goat kids from there, I will make them into a delicacy for your father, such as he loves;
Genesis 27:10 you bring it to your father, and he will eat, so that he may give you blessing before his death.
Genesis 27:11 Yaakov said to Rivka his mother: Here, Esav my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man,
Genesis 27:12 perhaps my father will feel me-then I will be like a trickster in his eyes, and I will bring a curse and not a blessing on myself!
Genesis 27:13 His mother said to him: Let your curse be on me, my son! Only: listen to my voice and go, take them for me.
Genesis 27:14 He went and took and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a delicacy, such as his father loved.
Genesis 27:15 Rivka then took the garments of Esav, her elder son, the choicest ones that were with her in the house,
Genesis 27:16 and clothed Yaakov, her younger son; and with the skins of the goat kids, she clothed his hands and the smooth-parts of his neck.
Genesis 27:17 Then she placed the delicacy and the bread that she had made in the hand of Yaakov her son.
Rabbi Norman Cohen:
Jacob’s own confusion about his identity is palpable in the narrative, and the change of clothing both heightens the confusion and symbolizes it. Similarly, in Gulliver’s Travels, the author, Jonathan Swift, uses clothing to raise questions about the character’s identity. Gulliver pays extraordinary attention to his clothes throughout his journeys, always describing his garments in detail. His journey from England into new cultures is a journey into new clothing. But the clothing motif carries a deeper, more psychological meaning. Gulliver’s concern about his clothes may signal a deep-seated anxiety about his own identity, because he is refashioned in all the places he ventures to. He seems to lose a sense of who he essentially is. Significantly, the two moments when he is described as being naked—when he is the boy toy of the Brodingnagian maids and when he is assaulted by a Yahoo girl as he bathes—suggest more than his prudishness. Gulliver associates nakedness with his extreme vulnerability and how nonexistent he really feels.
Questions for Discussion
1. Why do you think Jacob pretends to be his brother?
2. Can Jacob's clothing really change who he is? When in the Torah does Jacob actually become comfortable with who he is?
3. When have your clothes made you look or feel like someone who you are really not?
(1) Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, [that Haman was planning on destroying the Jews,] so Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; (2) and he came even before the king’s gate; for none might enter within the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. (3) And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
מיד לקח המן הלבוש והסוס והלך אצל מרדכי ושאל לו בשלום, אמ' לו מרדכי אין שלום אמ' יי לרשעים, אמ' לו המן קום לבוש פורפוריון של מלך, אמ' לו רשע אין אתה רואה כי אני לבוש שק ויושב על האפר ממה שעשית לי, אלא הוליכני לבית המרחץ ואחר כך אלבש פורפריון של מלך, . . . . . הלך הוא בעצמו בעל כרחו ונכנס עמו לבית המרחץ וגלח את ראשו ויצא והלבשו אמ' עלה ורכוב על הסוס
Haman took the royal clothing and horse, and went to Mordecai. Haman said to him. Get up, and put on the purple clothing of the king. Mordecai said: Villain! Do you not see me? I am wearing sack cloth and ashes, the clothing of a mourner. [I am doing so because you pronounced the death of my people]. Take me to the bath-house, and then I will put on the kings purple clothing. Haman washed him and dressed him. Then, Haman said to him: Get up on and ride the horse. Mordecai said to him: I have been fasting; I have no strength to ride a horse. Haman lowered himself, and Mordecai put his foot upon his head, and mounted up upon the horse.
Rabbi Norman Cohen:
Purim’s masks may seem to conceal, if just for a moment, the chaos and pain of our present lives and enable us to escape this reality, but they may really offer us the chance to don serious masks of conscious determination to bring the light of the Divine into our world. Yes, God may not be mentioned in the entire book of Esther, and some have seen this as an intimation of the existence of sheer chaos in the world, where anarchy is at play. Yet, we must ask what lies beneath a story that intimates the absence of God and meaning, and the holiday of Purim, which is about frivolity and play.
Questions for Discussion:
1. How and when can dressing up allow us to reprieve from the stresses of life?
2. When in your life has changing your clothing been therapeutic?
3. How does Mordecai's story here offer an insight on why there is a tradition for dressing up during Purim?
4. Why do you think Mordecai, according to Midrash (Pirke D'rabbi Eliezer), has trouble transitioning from clothes of mourning to clothing of royalty? When have you made a stark transition from one style of clothing to another?
(לח) וַיַּלְבֵּ֨שׁ שָׁא֤וּל אֶת־דָּוִד֙ מַדָּ֔יו וְנָתַ֛ן ק֥וֹבַע נְחֹ֖שֶׁת עַל־רֹאשׁ֑וֹ וַיַּלְבֵּ֥שׁ אֹת֖וֹ שִׁרְיֽוֹן׃ (לט) וַיַּחְגֹּ֣ר דָּוִ֣ד אֶת־חַ֠רְבּוֹ מֵעַ֨ל לְמַדָּ֜יו וַיֹּ֣אֶל לָלֶכֶת֮ כִּ֣י לֹֽא־נִסָּה֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶל־שָׁא֗וּל לֹ֥א אוּכַ֛ל לָלֶ֥כֶת בָּאֵ֖לֶּה כִּ֣י לֹ֣א נִסִּ֑יתִי וַיְסִרֵ֥ם דָּוִ֖ד מֵעָלָֽיו׃
(38) [In preparing David to fight Goliath] Saul dressed David with his custom clothing, putting a brass helmet upon his head, a mail coat on his body (39) And David girded Saul's sword upon his armor, and he prepared to go. But when he tried to move, he couldn't. David said to Saul: "I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them." And David took them off.
Rabbi Norman Cohen:
Saul’s armor, in Hebrew called madim, was custom made for him, and he was head and shoulders taller than anyone in the Israelite camp. The term mad (and the more frequent middah) means “measure,” underscoring that they were tailored to Saul’s measurements. Middah, however, also means “characteristics” or “qualities,” indicating that the garments represented who Saul was, his essential nature. In this interpretive light, David took off the garments, refusing to assume Saul’s identity. He had to be his own person if he were to defeat Goliath and ensure the survival of God’s covenanted people. This was a clear anticipation that David would eventually replace Saul as king and establish his own monarchy. David simply could not assume Saul’s identity.
Question for Discussion:
1. Other than the size, What might David find problematic about using Saul's armor and sword?
2. When have you dressed in a way that made you feel not yourself?
3. When have you worn someone else's clothing? How did it make you feel?
ר' יהושע בן לוי אשכח לאליהו דהוי קיימי אפיתחא דמערתא דרבי שמעון בן יוחאי. . . . אמר ליה אימת אתי משיח אמר ליה זיל שייליה לדידיה והיכא יתיב אפיתחא דקרתא ומאי סימניה יתיב ביני עניי סובלי חלאים וכולן שרו ואסירי בחד זימנא איהו שרי חד ואסיר חד אמר דילמא מבעינא דלא איעכב אזל לגביה אמר ליה שלום עליך רבי ומורי . . . . א"ל לאימת אתי מר א"ל היום אתא לגבי אליהו א"ל מאי אמר לך א"ל שלום עליך בר ליואי א"ל אבטחך לך ולאבוך לעלמא דאתי א"ל שקורי קא שקר בי דאמר לי היום אתינא ולא אתא א"ל הכי אמר לך (תהלים צה, ז) היום אם בקולו תשמעו
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi once met the prophet Elijah, who was standing at the entrance to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. Rabbi Yehoshua asked Elijah: "when will the Messiah come?" Elijah answered him: "Go and ask him yourself!" "Where can I find him," asked Rabbi Yehoshua. Elijah told him that the the Messiah sits in tattered clothing at the gate of the city (the place where the poor beg for money). "How will I be able to recognize him," asked Rabbi Yehoshua. Elijah told him that he will be sitting among the wretched who are afflicted with disease. While those around him will have exposed open sores, he wraps and unwraps one bandage at a time, making sure that he is covered. At any moment, he will be ready to redeem the world. Rabbi Yehoshua went and found him, and asked him: "when are you coming to redeem the world?" The Messiah answered, "Today!" Rabbi Yehoshua returned to Elijah and told him that "he lied to me, for he said that I'm coming today, and he has not come!" Elijah responded: "He meant today, if people will recognize me.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What is the significance of the Messiah sitting at the gates of the city?
2. What might the story be teaching about judging by what they are wearing?
3. Why does the Messiah always remain covered in bandages? What might the bandages be concealing?
4. When have you mistakenly made an assumption about someone based on their clothing?