The Jewish Response to a Cheap Dress

Did you see blue-and-black, or were you in the white-and-gold camp?  Was your family as polarized as mine?

I can't help it.  I am a Jewish doctor.  What seems to be a trivial, yet highly popular discussion on social media about the true colors of this $70 dress, keeps me up at night wondering.  If there are fifty shades of grey, there are even more hues to this story.

I am fascinated that my daughter and I can look at the same thing and be absolutely convinced that the other is wrong.  We are very close genetically, and yet we see differently.  We are all aware of color blindness, and yet the discussion over this dress broke the internet.  Medicine is filled with examples of genetic varieties that affect how we process sensory input.  For example, not everyone suffers from the unpleasant smell of the urine after eating asparagus;  your genetic makeup determines whether your urine has the odor and whether you can actually smell it. 

How we process information is vital.This orientation affects all of life.

Does God exist or are you an atheist?  Is the cup half full or half empty?  Are you a Republican or a Democrat?  There may be genetic basis for how we experience life and form beliefs.

This week, we read the story of Esther, the sexy Persian queen who becomes the savior of the Jews, by transforming from a caterpillar into a butterfly when she puts on a special robe.  Through concealment of her true self, she uncovers a heroine.  The cloth transforms us.  Our clothes influence how people see us, and how we see ourselves.  A black suit sends out an entirely different message than a red miniskirt- specially when the accompanying stilettos have a red bottom. 

We need to respect each other's opinions, point of views and diversity. We are marvelous creatures and to remain narrow is to put on blindfolds.  A prism takes natural light and breaks it up into the colors of the rainbow.  Each of us has a function and a way of seeing the truth which leads to a world whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Only God knows what's in our hearts beneath the Tallit- the prayer-shawls which are commanded to be marked unequivocally with blue-and-white stripes.

The proper Jewish response to this cheap dress puzzle is to see past what meets the eye and find the hidden fabrics of our lives.

#TheDress