Thursday, June 12, 2014

After A Year's Mourning, Finally Some New Clothes

During the year of mourning for my mother I was pretty strict about not wearing any new clothes. That is the halacha, Jewish Law. There were very few exceptions these past twelve months, and when I did end up wearing something new, it wasn't new technically, since it had been worn by another. Even my work uniform shirts and a couple of scarves were worn for me by fellow employees.

The hat I wore to my son's wedding was worn first by my daughter, she also wore and then gave me a couple of sweaters I had gotten for her when I had been in the states to see my elderly father last winter. I even have some new clothes sitting unworn in my closets that I had bought before my mother passed away.

Just before the twelve months were over I bought a couple of things I needed, including this scarf. Considering our finances not buying new clothes wasn't much of a sacrifice. Even though I work in Yafiz, which is a clothing store, I'm pretty frugal. I do like to buy new scarves to update old outfits. I've gotten compliments on this glittery blue one, so it was worth it. It matches quite a few things.

But to be honest, I must say that did miss getting myself something new, especially when I finally found those sweaters after years of searching. I do try to rework old clothes to make myself new outfits, and I have many things which are quite old. Some things, like a lot of my skirts were given to me second hand. The big miracle is that they fit as if made for me, and a couple that didn't fit me last year now do, thank G-d. Actually I've been wearing them for years. My other daughter recently gave me a few tops she never wears, and they fit.

It'll be nice to finally wear those new things that have been waiting for me. And I should also look for the radio/CD player since I can now have music on in the house....

2 comments:

Leora said...

Buying new clothes after my year of mourning for my father z"l felt rather strange - a part of me had lost of my enthusiasm for new clothing in that year. Then, when I did start to look in stores and catalogs, I discovered many of the fashionable clothes being shown these days are not tznius. As my husband would say, who cut off the sleeves? Where is the rest of the dress?

Batya said...

I have a dress I bought on sale almost two years ago