Jewish Costume - History and Influences

Vojislava Radovanović JEWISH COSTUME - HISTORY AND INFLUENCES Along with dwellings, furniture, tools, arms and other appliances for everyday use, garments and ornaments are integral parts of the material culture of a nation. Costume is an ethnic feature which is on one hand directly conditioned by the climate, and on the other hand, it is indirectly influenced by other forms of the existing cultural system. Besides its basic protective function, clothing has always been a status symbol through which religious views, as well as traditional and social relations have been reflected. Clothes have also been a reliable indicator of the community's attitude toward out- side influences and its aesthetic ideals. According to archeological findings, preserved engravings and Biblical testimonies, Jewish garments of the Talmudic times were of simple shapes and did not differ from those worn by the neighboring nations living in the countries within the same climatic zone.1 The basic garments were known as: the simlah or salmah, the ezor and the kethoneth. The simlah was actually a long piece of cloth, usually of rectangular shape. It was a simple cover which was draped over or wrapped around a person's body. Worn in such a way, the simlah resembled the Roman pallium. It also served as a blanket, while the Israelites used it as a food carry-on bag. The simlah was worn by most Middle Eastern nations due to its simplicity and variety of applications. The ezor was the simplest form of woven garment, while the kethoneth was of a better defined shape, usually made in the form of a Roman tunic with long or short sleeves. The kethoneth came down below the knees or to the ankles, and was made of wool or linen, but could also be made of animal skins. Wool, linen and skins were the three exclusive materials used to make clothes in the ancient times. Women and men alike wore the simlah. How- ever, it is not certain whether the male and the female simlah differed in any way. According to Biblical references, women preferred ornamented materials, which might indicate the female simlah were made of printed rather than simple one-color materials. The women also used cosmetics and wore jewelry, mainly earrings, bracelets and rings. Shoes ( nealim, plural, Hebr.) from the Biblical and the Talmudic times were similar to modern-day leather sandals. The most ancient sandals were opened-toe, but those were later replaced by soft leather shoes which covered the whole foot. These shoes were made in Roman style and represented a cross between a sandal and a moccasin. Three essential features that conditioned the appearance of the Jewish costume were the tassels - tsitsith (Hebr.), a special hair-do - peoth (Hebr.), and the rule of shaatnez (Hebr.), according to which wool and linen could not be used in the same garment. As it did not apply to the Priest's girdle nor the tsitsith, it is presumed that the shaat nez did not have any religious connotations and that it reflected the simple necessity to save materials used in clothes manufacture. The tassels - tsitsith were arranged on the corners of the simlah, as well as on the corners of other garments (such as the overcoat). More impor- tantly, they were a part of the prayer shawl which in time became an integral part of the ancient Jewish dressing code. Consequently, the tassels have been generally associated with the symbolism of the Jewish religion, even though they were a rather common garment decoration in all Middle Eastern countries of that time. The tassels were also used for a short period of time in early Christian communities. According to the Talmud, the tsitsith was a dis- tinctive feature of the Jewish nation and a sign of religious and ethnic iden- tification of the members of the Jewish community. According to the original manner in which they were manufactured, two basic types of tassels can be defined - the tsitsith made with three threads (associated with the Philis- tines) and the so-called gedilim (plural, Hebr.), made in the form of a cord with a large number of knots, typical of the Assyrian culture. ( According to some evidence, gedilim is believed to have been a sign of high social status, and it was probably for that reason that certain magical connotations were associated with it.) The special hair-do included locks - peoth (Hebr.) or peyes (Yiddish) - which ran down both sides of the face. Peoth is still worn by some Orthodox Jews, by the Chasidim in particular. However, the origin and the true symbolism of the peoth is not exactly known. In ancient times the Libyans and the Cretans used the same hairdo as well. The period of Persian domination, from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BC, marks the beginning of the Middle Eastern traditional costume. The primi- tive forms of clothing worn in more ancient times were replaced by sewed garments - coats of varying length with sleeves, cloaks and overcoats. A special type of riding trousers was introduced at that time, obligatorily worn with boots and leather leggings. Heads were covered by high caps made of strong, tough cloth. This remained the typical costume of the entire population (Jews included) of the Persian empire. Even though it is not possible to make a detailed reconstruction of the dressing code of the Jewish community (which was a rather small minority group within the Persian empire) during the period of the early Diaspora, there is no reason to believe that it differed significantly from that of the rest of the empire. It is much more likely that the above described garments became exclusive symbols of the Jewish people only upon their return to Palestine. During the 3rd century BC, the violent Hellenic conquest, led by Alex- ander the Great, ended in the capture of Judea and the establishment of the Greek rule which was to last for the next two hundred years. Two different civilizations were thus forced to live together, under the rule of the Ptolemies, and even more so under the Seleucids. During the two centuries of Hellenic occupation the Jews were exposed to constant and strong Greek influences in both religious and cultural spheres. However, despite the strong Greek influence, the basic religious beliefs and the everyday customs of the Jewish people remained unchanged. Changes did take place in other cultural and, especially, material aspects of life. The strong Greek influence was particu- larly manifested in the Jewish costume which, at least among the members of the high society, was completely transformed in accordance with the Greek style. The degree of acceptance of the Greek „fashion trend” within the Jew- ish society varied both socially and geographically. As the Jews in Palestine paid great attention to their religious and cultural heritage, it is quite plau- sible that they took much longer in accepting the „Greek fashion”. On the other hand, evidence of Greek assimilation was very much present among the Jews living in Alexandria, which was one of the most important cultural centers of those times. At any rate, by the time the Jews, led by the Hasmo- nean kings, finally defeated the Greek conquerors and freed themselves of the Hellenistic domination, they had already completely adopted the Greek costume. The Greek dressing code was also predominant in the period of early Christianity. The most typical ancient Greek garment was a tunic - colobium - a long, extremely simplified one-piece garment with openings for the head and the arms over which the himation was draped - an overcoat with the tsitsith tassels attached to its corners. The colobium was very similar to the more modern dalmatica, a tunic with very ample sleeves. Both garments were usually decorated with two vertical bands known as clavi, on both left- hand and right-hand sides, running down the entire tunic length, from shoul- der to hem. The dalmatica and clavi were typical elements of the outfit worn by the early Christians. The most relevant information explaining the origins of the Jewish costume and the reasons for adopting particular dressing styles through- out the ancient and the early Christian periods can be found in the Mishna, the Midrash and the Talmud.2 Almost all the names of the garments come from Greek, Latin or Iranian and are simply transliterated into Hebrew. Quite understandably, it is difficult to extract from the Jewish costume items that could be definitely considered authentic and absolutely original when this „costume design amalgam” is taken into account. The coexistence of many different cultural systems in the same climatic zone, as well as continuous migrations of the population due to various historical reasons naturally led to accepting foreign influences in the dressing code. One of the examples of such „borrowings” of dressing styles, can be seen in the frescoes from the 3rd century synagogue at Dura-Europus. Dura-Europus was a Roman fortress used as a frontier defense base on the river of Euphrates which had been held by the Greek conquerors before the Roman invasion. The garments in the frescoes display a combination of Graeco-Roman and Iranian styles. The Graeco-Roman outfit consists of the dalmatica tunic with clavi, pallium (an overcoat) and sandals, while the Iranian outfit includes a tunic combined with trousers and boots or shoes. It cannot be said with certainty whether all these garments originated from the same period. (If they were indeed worn during the same period in history, they present very illustrative examples of the cultural diversity of multiethnic communities of the time.) Head covers of any shape or form - caps, hats, turbans, etc.

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