897) Tznius (10) - Against the Trend

00:00 The in reference to the earlier installments regarding tznius, we continue now with installment number ten, citing from the Rebbe Sicha on Yud Beis Tammuz Taf Shin Lamed which is the twelfth of Tammuz commemorating the redemption of the previous Rebbe from prison in Russia in nineteen twenty-seven, and this sicha was delivered in nineteen seventy, summertime. The Rebbe elaborated on the pasuk, "Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisroel." Your tents are so good, oh Yaakov, your dwellings, oh Yisroel. And Rashi explains, he said this, Bilaam said it because he saw that the entrances of their tents were not exactly facing each other, which this reflects the Inyan of tznius modesty. And the Rebbe continues, and here we see that when a person begins his day and he needs to daven to Hashem, to Melech, Malchi, Hamdoch, HaKadosh, Baruch Hu, to the Almighty, who is the King of kings, the first thing that is mentioned before he even begins Hiddur, before he gets to the beginning of the davening, this verse, "Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisroel," that Yidden Am Yisroel are modest, tznius. This is the literal meaning of this verse. And from this we come to what was already mentioned in the past quite often in regards to tznius. And the Rebbe explains, this is not something that is appropriate to say that since times have changed and the style has changed, and therefore a person cannot act like a chasan ben ha'aveilim. This is an expression in the Talmud that when everybody around in the environment

02:08 are mourning, a person as an individual cannot act as a groom, a celebrative groom, joyous amongst mourners. And the Rebbe explains that in this case, when everybody is dressed like mourners, the reason is because they have torn themselves away, detached themselves from Torah, which is considered life, and from mitzvahs about which it is said, "V'chai bohem." And therefore, they are dressed like mourners in the sense that they wear short clothing, which are not b'tznius, not modest, the opposite of Torah, the opposite of chayim. So how could a person conduct himself against the trend? How could he be different? How could he act different and feel different as a groom amongst mourners? The, the, the tractate in Masechet Derech Eretz teaches us the Inyan of manners, that a person should always be tuned in with the environment. So the Rebbe says for this, the explanation is given that Torah is not prone to be changed. Changes can only take place where Torah herself says that in certain instances there could be changes, but not otherwise. One of the Inyanim that is explained in Torah that is not prone for change is this Inyan of "Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisroel." Your tents are so good, oh Yaakov, your dwellings, oh Yisroel. This includes the reward in the future as we see it also from the blessings that are mentioned in this parasha, which is Parashat Balak, that through this Yidden merited that even one who is from another nation saw that they were, were the appropriate

04:22 recipients for the berachot, because their lifestyle is based on the guidance of tznius. And the Rebbe continues, this is not tznius in a concealed way, that when a person doesn't see, then a person can afford to dress modestly. But when he's found amongst others, he has to tune in to the environment. As the Rebbe mentioned earlier, a person would feel so. So it is not so, but it is actually as we derive from the words of Bilaam who was a prophet, that he saw the tznius when he looked at Am Yisroel, he saw the modesty from a distance. Bilaam is not discussing what took place in the tent of a Yid from Am Yisroel, but how the tent was positioned, how it, it was established, and how one tent and its entrance does not follow, does not, does not face the entrance of the next tent. And therefore, before he even sees the person who is living in the tent, he already sees from the outside how this tent was set up, how this house was founded. And therefore, he immediately realizes he is dealing here with a modest family, a modest nation, and that is the vessel to receive all the blessings. The question still remains, if he finds himself amongst mourners, how could he have the strength To conduct himself as a chassan. Yes, Torah tells him he should do, do so because he is connected with Torah, connected with life. But the question is, where does he get the stren-strength for that

06:13 to stand up against the trend which is taking place in the environment? He is taka chassan, a groom of the Torah of Hashem. Torah is considered the kallah, the bride, and Yidna considered the chassan. But finding himself in such an environment, how could he then conduct himself as a chassan of Torah? So the Rebbe says the answer for this is right in the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch. One should not be embarrassed when confronted by scoffers. And the Rebbe explains, malik has two meanings. One, they're laughing at him. The second peer is, is a crooked and devious language, which is not a straight language like everyone speaks. So the Rebbe says, what does this mean in our case? That the inyan of hether hatznius, the opposite of modesty, is not only the opposite of Torah, but the opposite of the straight path. The whole idea of the, of immodesty is to stimulate, to provoke the yetzer hara, the evil inclination of another person, that the other person should see something that should be covered. And the Rebbe says, this is not stimulating someone's mind that through this the other person will become wiser. It is not stimulating the inyan of the derech eretz, that he should have more respect. This should give respect to a person's father or mother or brothers or sisters or the wife. And not that as a result of this, a person should give more charity. For all this, there is no need to do what this person is doing to

08:10 provoke the evil inclination of another person. On the contrary, this is contradicting to all the above. And the Rebbe continues, when a garment or a tent, a house or a manner of conduct is in the opposite of tznius, in the mode which is the opposite of modesty, and this person meets another person that has also evil in himself, but it's concealed or it's small, and therefore it's not with a commotion. It's not en-enlarged like a flame. So when this first person shows off the mode of immodesty, it is basically exciting the evil which is found in the second person. That the person who sees this in-- rece-- becomes excited and the evil becomes very active. And then the first person who showed this immodest conduct has a share in the evil of that person who he showed it to, who he exposed it for. And although he doesn't benefit from it, nevertheless, it's worthwhile for him that he should do all this to provoke the other person, to provoke the evil that is found in the other person. What is the reason that a person is doing it? So this is the second meaning in the word maligim. Maligim is from If a person, a man or a woman would be going in the right path, then they would know that the ultimate goal in life is to become better and to also exert themselves that the people around them in their environment should also be better. And therefore, when he will be better, he

10:22 will do more good things for the second person, or at least he won't do any, any bad things. He won't have a bad influence on the other person. But when it is in a state of maligim, which means devious and crooked, not going in the right path, so then what he thinks he's doing a favor on the person, he's actually doing a bad thing for the other person, that he is provoking the evil that is found in the other person. And therefore, this is where tznius comes in to keep the environment around him in good shape. We will, Im Yirtze Hashem, in-- continue in the next installment.