WITH WHAT MAY A WOMAN GO OUT, AND WITH
WHAT MAY SHE NOT GO OUT?
This, of course, means on Shabbat. That is, what in women’s
clothing is considered ornamental and therefore can moved from the private to
the public sphere on Shabbat verses those items which would be considered “carrying”
rather than “wearing” and therefore forbidden.
This being men talking about women’s fashion, virtually
everything is a mystery.
Several words are mentioned in the Mishnah (totafot,
sarbitin, kabul) which are totally unclear to the rabbis in the context of
clothing. Some time is spent on figure them out.
But there is an interesting digression – a mention that she
cannot wear certain ribbons (wool or linen) or fillets . . .
. . .NOR MAY SHE PERFORM RITUAL
IMMERSION WHILST WEARING THEM, UNLESS SHE LOOSENS THEM.
Well, it is right to ask (as the rabbis do!) what does mikve
have to do with it?! And so they (“the Sages”) answer:
And since she may not perform
ritual immersion on weekdays while wearing them, she may not go out [with them]
on the Sabbath, lest she happen to need immersion by ritual law (having
completed menstruation) and she untie them, and so come to carry them four
cubits in the street.
So the issue is what is not wearable in the mikve (because
it causes an imposition between the woman and the water) is not wearable in the
public sphere on Shabbat because she might carry them.
No “Scarlet Ribbons (for her Hair).” Harry Belafonte will be
sad.
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