Dress I: The Basics לבוש (א): הבסיס

(40) And for Aaron’s sons also you shall make tunics, and make sashes for them, and make turbans for them, for dignity and adornment... (42) You shall also make for them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs.

We obligate him to give her clothing fit for the rainy season and the sunny season, at least what every mistress of a household in that land wears…. So, too, we obligate him to give her adornments, like colored garments to wrap her head and her forehead…

(22) ...Her clothing is linen and purple... (25) She is clothed with strength and splendor; She looks to the future cheerfully... (30) Grace is deceptive, Beauty is illusory; It is for her fear of the LORD That a woman is to be praised.

(9) The disciple of the wise should wear becoming and clean clothes...

(1) On the third day, Esther put on royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, facing the king’s palace...

It was taught in the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Yishmael: The Torah teaches you proper conduct. The clothes in which he cooked a pot for his master, he should not wear when mixing [and serving] his master’s drink.

“And they became there a nation”: This teaches that Israel stood out there. For their clothing and their food and their language were different from the Egyptians’. They were singled out and it was known that they are a nation unto themselves apart from the Egyptians.

A woman sits and separates her challa while naked because she can cover her face [euphemism for genitalia] in the ground, but a man cannot. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak explained it: As when her ‘face’ was lowered onto the ground.

Ezra made ten enactments…That a woman should gird herself with a sinar [Rashi: like little pants] out of modesty.

Ezra enacted that a woman should gird herself in a sinar always within her home out of modesty.

He should not put on his robe when he is sitting but rather he should take his robe and bring his head and arms into it when he is still lying down. Thus when he gets up he will be covered. One should not say: Here I am in my private chamber; who sees me? For God – “the whole earth is filled with His honor” (Yeshaya 6:3).

What is dat Yehudit? The modest [tzeniut] behavior that the daughters of Israel have practiced.

(6) These leave [their marriage] without their ketubah: A wife who transgresses the law of Moses or Jewish law...

That which the daughters of Israel practiced, even though it is not written down.

Rava son of Rav Huna put on stockings and prayed. He said “Prepare to meet your God, Israel” (Amos 4:12)

For Rav Yehuda would metzayyen himself [Rashi: adorn himself with his clothing] and then pray.

(5) ...The dress should first be adjusted and the personal appearance made trim and neat, as it is said, "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalms 96:9). One should not stand in prayer wearing a moneybelt, nor bareheaded, nor barefoot, where the local custom is not to stand in the presence of the great, without shoes.

According to what has been mentioned in my opinion, one should prohibit due to “ordinances of the non-Jews,” that which the non-Jews practice if it involves any slight breach of the bounds of modesty and humility; also this is prohibited. And if the halacha is according to the Tana [sage] of the baraita of Sifrei, who taught that one should not say ‘Since they go out in purple, I too will go out in purple; since they go out in sandals, I too,’ etc. For these statements are arrogant and haughty and Ya’akov’s portion is not in them. Rather the matters of Israel and their path is to be modest, “and the meek [who] will inherit the earth,” and not to turn to haughtiness. It appears that even this applies specifically when one does so [wears immodest clothing] to resemble them [the non-Jews] and not for a known purpose, as the language implies: “Since they wear it, I too will…”