Miketz: Do Clothes Make the Man?

It is only in recent years that individuals in important public roles wore special garments. Kings and queens wore royal garb, important government figures wore top hats, and judges wore black robes and wigs. In those now bygone days, the adage “clothes make the man” may have had some truth. Things are different nowadays.

But what about in biblical days? Was there any special significance to the clothing that one wore? Did a specific uniform have any bearing upon one’s role in family or society? Did a new position in life require a new set of clothing? More to the point, did a change of garb portend a change in personal character?

To deal with these questions, let us consider some of the verses in this week’s Torah portion, Miketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17), along with some verses in earlier and subsequent parshiot, beginning with last week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev.

There we find perhaps the most well-known wardrobe item in the entire Tanach, Yosef’s multicolored robe: “And Yisrael [Yaakov] loved Yosef more than all of his sons and made for him a ketonet pasim, a magnificent robe (Genesis 37:3).”

For the brothers, of course, this was an unbearable insult, indisputable evidence of Yaakov’s favoritism. Their hatred for Yosef ensued and the rest is history. Our Sages warn all parents against favoring one child over another and point to Yaakov’s special treatment of Yosef as an example of the dangerous consequences of parental favoritism.

Soon enough, the brothers strip Yosef of his gorgeous robe, dip it into goat’s blood, and send it to Yaakov as evidence that Yosef met his death in the jaws of some wild beast. What effect did this have upon poor Yosef? Surely, he was emotionally impacted by the loss of the symbol of his father’s special favor, and surely, he was panicked by his brother’s actions—throwing him into a pit full of snakes and scorpions and then removing him from the pit to sell him to a passing caravan heading to Egypt. However, we have no record in the biblical text of his reaction to his predicament.

The next thing we know is that Yosef is sold into slavery under a prominent Egyptian, Potiphar, whom he impresses favorably and is thus appointed the chief butler of Potiphar’s household. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Yosef, but he refuses to submit to her and flees the premises. As he struggles to extricate himself from her pleas, she grasps his beged, presumably his outer garment, and he escapes but abandons his garment in her hands.

And so, we learn of another of Yosef’s garments. But we are left wondering whether this garment had any special significance for Yosef, nor do we know his reaction to its confiscation. We soon do learn, however, that Mrs. Potiphar uses her possession of Yosef’s garment as evidence to demonstrate to her husband that Yosef tried to seduce her.

This unnamed, and probably very ordinary, garment now becomes quite important. It is the item that condemns him to lengthy imprisonment in the royal dungeon. Here he certainly wears special garments, namely those of an imprisoned criminal.

I’ll leave for you, dear reader, to read the dramatic narrative which takes place in the prison, and which eventuates in Yosef’s freedom and invitation to meet the Pharoah and interpret his dreams. At this point, we can only assume that Yosef is still in his prison uniform.

Pharoah responds immediately and orders that Yosef be brought to him posthaste. “He rushed him out of the dungeon; he shaved, changed his garments, and came to Pharoah (Genesis 41:14).”  Note, garments are mentioned here again.

Yosef more than meets Pharoah’s expectations. His dreams are interpreted, a detailed plan is provided him by Yosef which will cope successfully with the dire predictions of the dreams, and Pharoah exclaims, “There is no one as sagacious and as wise as you.” Pharoah appoints Yosef as his viceroy, places his ring on Yosef’s hand, and dresses him in linen garments before gifting him with a gold necklace and a befitting chariot. Note well, garments again!

What lessons do our commentators find in this series of articles of clothing and their role in Yosef’s development from spoiled adolescent to, in his many transitions, slave boy to a young man who can withstand seduction to a jailed criminal to a well-groomed guest of the mightiest king of his time, and ultimately to the second in command of a mighty empire.

I will share but two such commentators, one from the modern period and one from very early medieval times. I begin with the words of Rabbi Avraham Bornstein, the Chassidic leader of Sochachov and brilliant author of Avnei Nezer. He comments on the verse in which Yosef is first freed and immediately shaves and changes his clothing:

“It can be said that Yosef was in no way changed, heaven forbid, by this episode. He remained the same principled and committed person that he always was. His new garb left no trace of arrogance in him. One would think that ‘shaving’ and ‘changing his garments’ would have altered his character, but that did not occur. Thus, Rashi comments that he groomed himself because of kavod malchut, proper courtesy to royalty.”

His new garb did not affect his ego at all. It was merely the “right thing to do.” And so, the Sochachover Rebbe concludes:

“This a lesson for us all. Even when we are promoted to positions of greatness, we must remain who we were. We must remain committed to our previous values. As the great Chassidic master of Pesishcha (mentor of the Sochachover) would teach on the verse (Deuteronomy 28:2), ‘All these blessings will be delivered unto you and reach you;’ that is, you will be granted blessings if they reach the authentic you, but not if you artificially play the part of another.” (This passage from the Sochachover can be found in the collection known as Neot HaDesheh, volume 2, p. 319).

Long before the Sochachover, we find a comment by Rashi with a very similar message. It appears in his commentary to Shemos (Exodus 1:5). The verse lists the sons of Yakov who emigrated to Egypt and concludes, “and Yosef was in Egypt”. Rashi asks, “Do we not already know that Yosef was in Egypt?” He responds, “This is so that we shall know of Yosef’s righteous character. The same Yosef who tended his father’s sheep as a youngster was the mature Yosef who was a king’s proxy in Egypt, steadfastly adhering to his principles.”

Do “clothes make the man”? It seems that the Torah teaches us otherwise. Clothes are only pieces of cloth. One’s authentic identity gives clothes either glory or ignominy: the man makes the clothes, not the other way around.