I wonder if it is coincidence that the word of the week was given to us as the weather is getting warmer and it is getting more difficult to be tzenuah.
Just last week we had the first hot day before it became cool again, and immediately many people around me must have forgotten to finish getting dressed. My immediate reaction was not how incredible they looked, but embarrassment for them. Do people need others to look at them? To see as much skin as possible?
When I go upstate with my family, it is rare to see another Jew. We like to travel to small towns and explore. Oftentimes, people come up to me and make conversation. Maybe they are Jewish and are not necessarily tznius so I wouldn’t know, yet they ask me if I am Jewish! I am always surprised that people can tell in remote areas based on my dress and I am always left feeling proud. The fact that they recognize me as a frum Jew by my dress means one thing, … I am a bas melech and recognized as such.
It is certainly harder in the heat of summer, but it makes it even more meaningful to make a kiddush Hashem when people know how dedicated you are to Judaism. The “uniform” we wear as Jews shows others that nothing stops our dedication and devotion to modesty, and by extension – to Hashem. I am proud to dress the way I want to be perceived: modest in mind and matter.