By thinking. מלביש ערומים! He clothes the naked! A frum man is saying the words – he’s saying it with kavana but he’s not thinking a thing about his begadim! Did you ever think about buttonholes? Buttonholes! There’s a seam around the buttonholes. Without the seam, the hole would get bigger every day. Do you ever thank Hashem for the seam? Let me see you make a seam. That’s serious!
A rosh yeshiva told me this many years ago, over sixty years ago. “Could you make this?” he said.
“No,” I said. “I can’t.”
So I’m telling other people the same thing; I’m telling you what I heard from my rebbi. Malbish arumim! A seam around the buttonhole!
And the buttons! Buttons are a luxury. They didn’t have buttons in the time of the Shas. They had a stone. You put in a stone here and you pushed the stone through a hole here. It was difficult. When you went to sleep you put the stone down. Sometimes it fell on the floor. You had to climb on the floor to look for the stone. But now there are buttons. They’re sewed to your suit. You don’t have to look for it.
And coated fabrics. Once upon a time, they didn’t have slippery fabrics. When your hand was putting in your sleeve, your fingernail got caught, it used to tear away through. Now it’s like lubricated. Slippery fabric – it slides in! Coated fabrics! I remember there were no coated fabrics once upon a time!
Zippers! When zippers first came out, I remember! A big chiddush! Most of the zippers didn’t work – they used to get caught. Today the zippers work; nothing is shver. It goes smoothly like it’s lubricated.
Are you thanking Hashem for your garments? It’s a serious subject! We’re fast asleep!
TAPE #E-262 (January 2001)
