In our generation, may the Almighty have mercy, licentiousness reigns in the streets.
It is simply astonishing that people are not ashamed to appear in public looking like that. I think the reason is that they lack inner substance and simply have nothing to conceal.
It is terrible to say such a thing, but it is fitting here to recall the verse: “Rejoice, barren woman who has not given birth!” (Isaiah, 54:1). The Gemara (Berakhot, 10a) relates that an apostate asked Bruriah: “Should she really rejoice at being childless?” Bruriah answered him: “Fool! Read the verse to the end! It says there: ‘For [her], the forsaken woman, there will be more sons than for the married woman, said the L-rd.’ Let her rejoice that she has not borne sons like you, who are destined for hell!”
Once I was invited to speak at the “Makif Dati” school (a state religious high school) in Ofakim. It left an indelible impression on me… I entered the classroom, and the teacher was terribly embarrassed—there was such a racket… It took him a while to quiet them down… Right in front of me sat two boys with a newspaper in their hands. I was saying something (nothing complicated, pitched at their level), while they were flipping through the newspaper…
I thought to myself: “Master of the Universe, how far our generation has fallen for children like these to be born!” In our observant community, there are still at least some values...
The very concept of “modesty” is a jewel, a sparkling diamond.
For if we want to raise Torah sages and righteous people, everything must be covered and sealed. Women once understood that they could bring a Rashi, a Rambam or a Chafetz Chaim into the world, and they were ready to protect him in every possible way. Today, we have lost that understanding. We have lost our sense of a person's value!
When a woman realizes that she is a source of the Almighty's presence, that she can bring a great sage into the world, she understands that no one should see such a source! For it is a sparkling diamond whose very existence no one should suspect!
When King Hezekiah showed his non-Jewish guests all the treasures of the Temple and showed them the Holy of Holies, the Almighty immediately told him that everything would be taken away from him! If diamonds are put on display, if someone walks down the street waving a wad of money, there will certainly be a scoundrel who wants to take it all.
In war, the enemy aims neither at an arm nor at a leg, but only at the heart!
And when the evil inclination lays its snares, it first tries to strike a vital organ—modesty, upon which the Jewish soul depends!
Modesty means covering and concealing what is precious to us. It is a fundamental value of the Jewish people.
Our forefathers were brought out of Egypt through the merit of just a few things, one of which was modesty.
Our sages tell of a group of four hundred children who were being taken to Roman brothels. These children sacrificed themselves by drowning in the sea in order to preserve their modesty (Gittin, 57b). And Jewish women in every generation were ready to sacrifice themselves to uphold the laws of modesty.
Through the merit of righteous Jewish women, we were brought out of Egypt. And through the merit of righteous Jewish women in our generation, may we merit a speedy Redemption!
Translated by Mrs. Kh. Berman