Re: john zorn's camo pants (tzitzis)

[Howard Freedman <hfreedman...>]

I would suggest against rushing to judgment about presuming "style vs. religious
feeling."  Wearing tzitzis is a mitzvah we receive in the Torah (indeed we read
it in daily prayers as the third paragraph of the Shema).  Covering one's head
is just a custom.  While it has become normative among observant Jews today, it
has developed slowly, and does not have the same level of obligation associated
with tzitzis.  Covering one's head doesn't find any fuller endorsement in the
Talmud than a passage buried in Shabbat 118b noting  that Rav Huna would not
walk four cubits with his head uncovered.  While covering one's head at all
times has gradually developed as suggested and expected behavior among observant
Jews, not all communities have adhered to this practice.

I too cringe a bit about the possibility of using serious Jewish ritual objects
for show (remember those ice skaters with the tallis motif a few years ago?),
but I don't think it's a good practice to presume someone's spiritual leanings
by what he/she is wearing.  Particularly when Zorn's music, whatever one feels
about it, and the music his Tzaddik label has sponsored, does certainly show
interest in Jewish spiritual exploration.

Howard Freedman

>
> Camo pants would be "camoflague pants"--those casual green or mottled
green pants that one picks up in this country at military surplus shops. The
couple of times I've seen him, tzitzis have been stylishly arranged to hang
out, as well. I'm not unsympathetic to the idea of important ritual items
used for artistic effect, but it is sometimes unsettling. (I presume style
vs. religious feeling because I don't recall him wearing either kippah, or
other head covering.)
>
> ari


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