They Shall Wear Fringes

The attention given to clothes since time immemorial continues, with fashion changing over seasons and centuries according to the inclination of the population and the promoters of fashion. Our concern here is with special threads worn by observant Jews on the corners of their clothes since ancient days, which are called “tsitsit” in Hebrew, that is, fringes. The tsitsit are readily observed as attachments to the four corners of the large prayer shawl worn during morning services.

This article inquires into the origin and meaning of the fringes and the basis for their continuous use over approximately 3,500 years, since God commanded Moses to have the Israelites wear them. The literature and historical and biblical background are presented. Considerations about the significance of the fringes at the time of the Exodus, and since then, are offered. These lead to conjectures about the basis for the endurance of the ritual.

According to Flügel (1950) clothes are used for modesty, protection, and most important, for decoration. Females use clothes to appear sexually desirable, fertile, healthy, and able to produce viable offspring. The apparel of males, which is also used for seductive purposes, is designed to promote the image of strength and virility.

Age differentiation is usually apparent in apparel. Styles and patterns of kimonos in Japan are distinctively different for men and women, and for women of reproductive age versus postreproductive women (Dalby, 1993). The drive behind wearing clothes may also represent a belief system, vanity, rivalry, competition, aggressiveness, and sexual status, as well as functional utility. Clothes may also be used as a cover, a disguise, or to minimize a defect or imperfection, or for identity.

Richards (1996) considers fashion in clothes a concept for the erotic female body, as a covering for the intimacy of the body, a metaphor for the internal female genital; shopping for clothes is considered a special female inte