Spiritual Clothing and Hiding From God

Earlier this week I went to yoga class wearing a shirt that says I Heart Hashem on it. Walking across the street (in pants!) on the Upper West Side I caught a girl glance at my chest and then start giggling. A few other people looked thoroughly confused (I guess with the purple hair and the yoga gear I didn’t look like the kind of person who loves Hashem). Later that day I changed into a t-shirt (worn over another shirt with 3/4 sleeves—my elbows were covered) that I made in Chicago. It says STOP STARING AT MY BRAINS. Again, some people laughed and some people looked confused. Occasionally someone will tell me they find it offensive, but generally people find it amusing. Wearing the two shirts in one day got me thinking about the messages we’re willing to proclaim to the world, through our clothes and through our actions. There’s a lot written about modesty these days. You’ve got the diligently prude Wendy Shalit and her new book Girls Gone Mild, plus her website/blog Modesty Zone. There are websites like Mormon Chic for Mormon girls who need to keep relatively modest at Mormon proms. There’s the Pure Fashion program designed to help teach teenagers what is and is not modest, and the even have a model training program that covers:

* Public speaking * Manners and social graces * Hair and make up artistry * Personal presentation and much more

Yes, hair and makeup artistry is pretty high up on the list of things I think teenage girls need to know better. We should give them lessons in that right after we teach them how to text message and set up a MySpace account. All of these groups and individuals are telling the same story about how provocative clothing advertises to the public that the thing you value most about yourself is your body, and it’s the thing they should value most about you, too. But I think this point of view misses the point. Different people are provoked and turned on by different things. For some women, wearing a tank top in the summer isn’t about being sexy, it’s about staying cool. If someone’s bra strap shows does it mean she’s a whore, or just that her shirt is a little too loose? I’ve gotten so used to seeing women in tank tops and with bra straps hanging out that it rarely if ever fazes me. Whatever. I think the general message of the importance of modesty is a good thing, and even though some of the modesty crusaders kind of make me gag, I’m glad they’re trying to do something about just how skanky contemporary fashion has become.
But what about modest behavior? One of the quotes you always see in modesty essays and lectures is from the book of Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love loving mercy, and to walk modestly with your God?” We are supposed to walk modestly with God. But how can we do that? What does it mean to be modest for God? I mean, one assumes God isn’t going to be too distracted by a glance at my cleavage that the world will grind to a halt, so what can we do that helps demonstrate that we’re modest people? In Hebrew, the word for modesty is tsanua, which often means hidden. To walk modestly with God is perhaps more accurately translated as “to walk, hiding with your God.” Which seems to imply that our Godly actions need not be constantly thrown in other peope’s faces. The English word for modesty comes from moderate and moderation, and just as current fashion could use some purity, I feel like modest fashion cold use some moderation. Perhaps the problem is that we’ve forgotten that there’s supposed to be a level of subtlety and moderation in our relationship with God as well. I’m all for long sleeved high neck shirts, I just think they should be paired with a less self-righteous attitude. And I’m wondering how I can integrate a subtle spirituality into my walk to the subway station, even if my elbows are showing.