Wearing White on Shabbat
Monday, June 24, 2013
Unfortuantely it has become the minhag (custom) of most to wear black on the Shabbat which is the complete opposite of white. The color black is worn by many in the frum community during the whole week and then also on the Shabbat. The custom of wearing black goes back to non-Jewish practices of idolatry. As Rabeynu Bachya writes:
“According to this wisdom (of idolatry) one wears black. We (Jews) however wear on the Shabbat fine wool of many colors, as it is written, “honor it (i.e., the Shabbat) by not going in your (regular) ways” (Is. 58) . . .. Blessed be God Most High who has graciously bestowed upon us knowledge and intelligence by knowing His Torah and mitzvot and prevented us from following the mistaken (belief) in the stars and constellations.”
With very strong wording the Ben Ish Chai forbade us to wear black on the Shabbat:
“No one should wear black garments on Shabat. Even if one happens to be traveling, one should not wear weekday or black clothing on Shabbat wherever one is at the time, whether in a hotel, on a ship or in the desert. People observing the twelve months of mourning for their parents who wear weekday or even black clothes on Shabbat are making a big mistake,
it is not permitted to do this.”The Arizal wrote that it is very imporatnt for the Mekubal to wear white on the Shabbat:
"And i received from my teacher the Arizal, that the colors and tones in which a person wears on the Shabbat Day in this world - is actually [MAMASH] what they will dress in the world to come on the Shabbat. And one should have in his mind the Holy Name Zayin Hei Resh Yod Alef Lamed [never pronounce]. And this is the name of the GARMENT [allegorically] of Hashem, as mentioned in Pirkei Heikhalot of Rabbee Yishmael HaCohen. And this is also the name of the ANGEL that SHINES on our Shabbat Garments [and one should not change out of them until 'after' the 4th meal on Motz"Sh]. And this means NO LESS than FOUR fresh/clean garments. And these FOUR garments CORRESPOND to the FOUR LETTERS of G-d's EXPLICIT name, YOD KEI VAV KEI [never pronounce]. And this is the intention of the HOLY ARIZAL: Davka [specifically] at the time when you shall PUT these garments on, which is EREV SHABBAT [adjacent to the Sabbath]." (Shaare HaKavanot 63a).
The Sephardim and the Hasidim (in the tradition of the Besht) used to always wear white on the Shabbat. It wasnt until the Rebbe of Belz that Hasidim adopted the clothing style of the Misnagim to wear black on Shabbat. The Sephardim were compelled to adopt this Ashkenazic tradition after the formation of the state of Israel and this assimilation has become the standard tradition.
The question is then: If wearing black was wrong to our Sages is it still wrong and is wearing white on Shabbat still permissible especially for modern-day Mekubalim? Rav Ovadya Yoseph says no because to wear white is in defiance of the community custom and therefore gives the appearance of haughtiness. This was also the opinion of the Chida and the Chofetz Chaim.
Eliyahu Rabba states that one should wear black over ones white garments in public but then remove the black over garments when one return home and is in private. Rabbi Chaim Sofer in his commentary to the Shulchan Aruch dismisses the objection to white clothing based upon the excuse of haughtiness by stating:
“Reference the Aharonim (later Rabbis) who wrote that if one wears white in a place where white is not worn or in the presence of someone greater than himself who does not wear white, this appears haughty. However, from the writings of the Ari’zal who wrote that the example of the garments one wears on Shabat one will wear in the world to come, it appears that there is no haughtiness here. One is only concerned about the nature of the garment of one’s soul’s in the world to come And the verse does say, “All that a man has will he give for his soul.”
Wearing white is an imperative according to the Kabbalists and the tradition of the Misnagim to wear all black on Shabbat which has become prevalent must be viewed as a
minhag b’ta’oot (false custom) and abandoned. The Arizal felt so strongly concerning this that he relayed a story of a man who always wore black on Shabbat an resultantly after his death his soul required transmigration based upon his mistaken custom.
There are some who wear blue or other colors on Shabbat in order to not stand out from the crowd and while this is not the ideal it is better than wearing black. Black garments suppress the Ohr Makif (aura) and hinder the level of kedusha on the Shabbat.
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