Black is Cool
We frequently invite guests to our home for a Shabbos meal. We also frequently invite our extended families as well. This pass Shabbos we invited our family. My boys asked as they do each week, "Are we having guests this week?" To which I replied, "yes, THE family is coming (the whole "Ganza Mishpacha)." They squealed with delight at the thought of their grandparents, aunts and uncles coming over for a Shabbos seudah, or as is appropriate for this Sephardic crowd " a Shabbat dinner." Anyway, they came dressed in their very best Shabbos tank tops and pinstriped shorts (we welcome any form of dress to our table). Soon after their arrival, my husband and son came home from shul (after a 1/2 mile walk in the heat) dressed in their long black coats (beckeshas) and Shabbos wear.
Our dinner was lively as our extended family brings laughter, singing and joy. They are truly our best participants giving a great showing to Conservative Judaism upbringing. There is never a dull moment and for sure never a quiet one. My husband has learned that to wait for a moment of silence to begin the Kiddush or a d'var torah would be like waiting to quiet the crickets in the summer evenings, so he jumps in on top of conversations to get things rolling. It is a fend for yourself to get attention and to be heard and we all are comfortable amongst the cacophony of love and laughter. At one point the discussion of the heat and the heat index surfaces. My husband explains that wearing the long black bekesha actually is cooler in 100-degree weather than wearing shorts and a tank top. This quiets the table as we are all waiting for the scientific explanation behind this. He goes on to explain that when you wear cooler clothing, you actually expect to feel cool, but when you wear a long black coat, you don't have such expectations and so you are actually not as hot as one would think. To this explanation, my brother (with the engineering PhD) says, "So if we wear shorts in the winter, we should be warm then?" My husband replies, "Yes, if G-d would want us to we would be warm." This non- rational thinking quiets even the most talkative. This also leaves one pondering on weather G-d cares much at all about our dress. But then again, perhaps the dress is not for G-d at all, but for us.
Our dinner was lively as our extended family brings laughter, singing and joy. They are truly our best participants giving a great showing to Conservative Judaism upbringing. There is never a dull moment and for sure never a quiet one. My husband has learned that to wait for a moment of silence to begin the Kiddush or a d'var torah would be like waiting to quiet the crickets in the summer evenings, so he jumps in on top of conversations to get things rolling. It is a fend for yourself to get attention and to be heard and we all are comfortable amongst the cacophony of love and laughter. At one point the discussion of the heat and the heat index surfaces. My husband explains that wearing the long black bekesha actually is cooler in 100-degree weather than wearing shorts and a tank top. This quiets the table as we are all waiting for the scientific explanation behind this. He goes on to explain that when you wear cooler clothing, you actually expect to feel cool, but when you wear a long black coat, you don't have such expectations and so you are actually not as hot as one would think. To this explanation, my brother (with the engineering PhD) says, "So if we wear shorts in the winter, we should be warm then?" My husband replies, "Yes, if G-d would want us to we would be warm." This non- rational thinking quiets even the most talkative. This also leaves one pondering on weather G-d cares much at all about our dress. But then again, perhaps the dress is not for G-d at all, but for us.
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