Catch 22

This is going to be another unfunny post, so please check back later for your regularly scheduled sarcasm.

Today is Yom Ha'Shoah, the day of Holocaust remembrance. However, this post is not about the Holocaust. At the moment, I have nothing new to say on the subject. This post is about clothing.

In a few hours, I'm going to the Holocaust Memorial Ceremony here in Pest. In the event description, the organizers asked attendees to wear white for remembrance. Currently, I am in borrowed pants and my one nice white blouse. While getting dressed, I debated with myself whether or not I wanted to wear my body shaper underneath my clothes. On the one hand, it's exactly comfortable. On the other hand, for some reason, I have been really hungry all day and have thus been eating a lot, and I didn't want to look/feel bloated. Let me repeat that: I was worried about looking fat at a Holocaust memorial service. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed almost obscene to don the shaper; how can I try to look slimmer when I am remembering millions who starved to death?

At the moment, I'm leaning towards not wearing it, but more because the ribbing sticks out a little funny and my blouse is a little tight rather than for any deep symbolic reasons. But my decisions are far from over. For example, I still don't know if I'm going to put on make up. I have no desire to draw any attention to myself, but I want to show respect. For women especially, showing respect means putting effort into one's appearance. Then again, today is the absolute wrong day to be thinking about how I look and which shade of lip gloss looks better with today's ensemble.

I feel like this is all part of the bigger dilemma, namely, how does a woman dress for a serious occasion? Any occasion, really: memorial, funeral, business meeting, etc. On the one hand, if we look too nice, we're being shallow or trying to flaunt our looks. But if we don't try to look nice, we're not respecting the occasion. When your attitude is judged almost entirely on your appearance, you can't win.


Yit-ga-dal v'yit-ka-dash sh'mei ra-ba,
b'al-ma di-v'ra chi-ru-tei, v'yam-lich mal-chu-tei
b'chai-yei-chon uv'yo-mei-chon
uv'chai-yei d'chol-beit Yis-ra-eil,
ba-a-ga-la u-viz-man ka-riv,
v'im'ru: A-mein.

Y'hei sh'mei ra-ba m'va-rach
l'a-lam ul'al-mei al-ma-ya.

Yit-ba-rach v'yish-ta-bach,
v'yit-pa-ar v'yit-ro-mam v'yit-na-sei,
v'yit-ha-dar v'yit-a-leh v'yit-ha-lal, sh'mei d'ku-d'sha, b'rich hu,
l'ei-la min kol bir-cha-ta v'shi-ra-ta,
tush-b'cha-ta v'ne-che-ma-ta, da-a-mi-ran b'al-ma,
v'im'ru: A-mein.

Y'hei sh'la-ma ra-ba min sh'ma-ya,
v'cha-yim, a-lei-nu v'al kol-Yis-ra-eil,
v'im'ru: A-mein.

O-seh sha-lom bim-ro-mav,
hu ya-a-seh sha-lom a-lei-nu v'al kol-Yis-ra-eil,
v'im'ru: A-mein.