Let's Play "What's the Mood?"!

(3) Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons—he was the child of his old age; and he had made him an ornamented tunic.

(4) These are the vestments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and a sash. They shall make those sacral vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for priestly service to Me.

(31) You shall make the robe of the ephod of pure blue. (32) The opening for the head shall be in the middle of it; the opening shall have a binding of woven work round about—it shall be like the opening of a coat of mail—so that it does not tear. (33) On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the hem, with bells of gold between them all around: (34) a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. (35) Aaron shall wear it while officiating, so that the sound of it is heard when he comes into the sanctuary before GOD and when he goes out—that he may not die.

(9) You shall not sow your vineyard with a second kind of seed, else the crop—from the seed you have sown—and the yield of the vineyard may not be used. (10) You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. (11) You shall not wear cloth [sha'atneiz] combining wool and linen.

(13) Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—and to plunder their possessions. (14) The text of the document was to the effect that a law should be proclaimed in every single province; it was to be publicly displayed to all the peoples, so that they might be ready for that day. (15) The couriers went out posthaste on the royal mission, and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. The king and Haman sat down to feast, but the city of Shushan was dumfounded. (1) When Mordecai learned all that had happened, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went through the city, crying out loudly and bitterly, (2) until he came in front of the palace gate; for one could not enter the palace gate wearing sackcloth.— (3) Also, in every province that the king’s command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and everybody lay in sackcloth and ashes.— (4) When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and informed her, the queen was greatly agitated. She sent clothing for Mordecai to wear, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he refused.

(1) On Yom Kippur, the day on which there is a commandment by Torah law to afflict oneself, it is prohibited to engage in eating and in drinking, and in bathing, and in smearing oil on one’s body, and in wearing shoes, and in conjugal relations.

(42) You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, (43) in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt—I the ETERNAL your God.

(8) One may marry a woman on Purim, Rema: both on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth. All the more so, one may redeem one's firstborn (Tosfot to ch. 1 of Moed Qatan). The custom of wearing costumes on Purim, and of crossdressing, is totally permitted because of its innocent and joyful purpose, as is the wearing of shaatnez. (Responsum of Mahari Minz #17).

(3) One should wear nice clothes and celebrate the arrival of Shabbat like the greeting of the king or the greeting of bride and groom. Rebbe Chanina would shroud himself in his garment and stand waiting on the evening approaching Shabbat and say " Come and go out to greet the Shabbat queen" and Rebbe Yannai would say "Come bride, Come bride." Rema: and one should dress himself in Shabbat garments immediately after he bathes himself and this is an honor for Shabbat, and because of this, one should only bathe close to the evening [approaching Shabbat] so that he may dress himself immediately. (The new Hagahos Mordechai)

(31) Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a kid, and dipped the tunic in the blood. (32) They had the ornamented tunic taken to their father, and they said, “We found this. Please examine it; is it your son’s tunic or not?” (33) He recognized it, and said, “My son’s tunic! A savage beast devoured him! Joseph was torn by a beast!” (34) Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and observed mourning for his son many days.

(64) Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel (65) and said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” And the servant said, “That is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

(23) When evening came, [Laban] took his daughter Leah and brought her to [Jacob]; and [Jacob] cohabited with her.— (24) Laban had given his maidservant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.— (25) When morning came, there was Leah! So [Jacob] said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I was in your service for Rachel! Why did you deceive me?”

And from that which transpired to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak as well it can be derived that there is no constellation for the Jewish people, As Chaldean astrologers told Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak’s mother: Your son will be a thief. She did not allow him to uncover his head. She said to her son: Cover your head so that the fear of Heaven will be upon you, and pray for Divine mercy. He did not know why she said this to him. One day he was sitting and studying beneath a palm tree that did not belong to him, and the cloak fell off of his head. He lifted his eyes and saw the palm tree. He was overcome by impulse and he climbed up and detached a bunch of dates with his teeth. Apparently, he had an inborn inclination to steal, but was able to overcome that inclination with proper education and prayer.

(37) GOD said to Moses as follows: (38) Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. (39) That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all GOD’s commandments and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your urge to stray. (40) Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. (41) I am the ETERNAL your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, your ETERNAL God.

(8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead;

(4) It is customary in all places to increase the (number of) lights in the synagogues and to spread nice cloths (i.e., carpets, curtains) in the synagogue.
Hagah:.... There are those who wrote that it is customary to dress in clean, white clothes on Yom Kippur, analogous to the ministering angels, and likewise it is customary to wear a kittel which is white and clean, and it is also the clothing of the dead (the shroud), and therefore the heart of a man is humbled and broken, (ד״ע מהגהות מיימוני פ״ז דשביתת עשור). A Kittel, the German word for gown, is a white garment worn in some Ashkenazi rites by worshippers during the services on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. It is also worn by the ḥazzan, the chanter (cantor) of the prayer service, during the Musaf Service (see footnote 166) on Shemini Aẓeret, which is the eighth day of Sukkot (see footnote 248) when the recitation of the prayer for rain is begun, and on the first day of Passover, when the recitation of the prayer for dew commences. There are some communities where the kittel is also worn by the person who conducts the Passover seder and by the bridegroom during the wedding ceremony. The color white has always been associated with purity, and here, with forgiveness of sins. There is solemn joy when the kittel is worn. The day of marriage is considered like a day of atonement and the kittel has been associated with the idea of atonement and penitence which is also associated with death. Therefore the dead are clothed in a white kittel.

Editorial Staff, E. J., v. 10, p. 1079.