FJJ -LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 Wool Coat 

VS Puffed Coat

The letter below was written to the FJJ (Flatbush Jewish Journal)  "Letters to the Editor "

It's from a Yeshivishe Lady who laments the fact that the "Oilom Ha'Torah" is no longer wearing Wool Coats and instead choose to wear Puffed Coats!

I'm not kidding! I did think that it must be a prank, but this back and forth in the Letters to the Editor responding to this crazed sicko has been going on for weeks! 

This week she responds holding on to her bizarre rant about puffed coats!

Now this may very well be a prank, but either way, this is a microcosm on what is the thought process of Chardeim and their "Mesorah"! 

Dear Editor

After reading the passionate responses to my letter about wool vs puffer coats, I want to apologize. Clearly, I did not do a good job explaining my position. I’m sorry. Hopefully I can clear things up. 

The most common response was that wool coats “aren’t warm enough.” Give me a break. Our parents and grandparents wore wool in far colder climates than ours, and they survived just fine. Is it less convenient to wear traditional coats in this harsh winter weather? Maybe. 

But sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to uphold a higher ideal

We’ve seen this play out before. 

The Haskalah did not begin overnight with open rejection of Shabbos, kashrus, or tsnius. It began with small “reasonable” adjustments to mesorah (like shortening the mechitzah), each one justified as harmless and practical. 

We are fortunate that so-called “radical” yiddin stood firm against these “reasonable” adjustments and kept true to their mesorah. If not for them, where would we be today?

 As I said before, “it’s just a coat” is never just a coat. When external standards erode in the name of convenience, standards of behavior soon follow. A person cannot remain firm internally when the externals change with the direction of the wind. Many of us have seen this happen to people we grew up with, or maybe even to ourselves. Pause for a moment and think. You’ll see that I’m right. Putting on a wool coat is a visible declaration that you are part of a mesorah that outlasts the immediate, here-and-now. The fact that it’s less convenient is even more of a reason to make the switch. 

When a man carries himself with this clarity and conviction, it radiates outward: it steadies his marriage, and it earns the respect of his children. I urge everyone to think this over before jumping on the attack bandwagon.

 Mesorah Defende