Striped Coats

The blue - white striped coats of the Toldot Aharon


B"H

Especially the Toldot Aharon, the Toldot Avraham Yitzchak and certain parts of the Breslover Chassidim in Jerusalem wear them: the long chassidic coats with the blue and white stripes. On Shabbat, all of those groups don't wear the regular blue and white stripes but a kind of shiny gold. On Shabbat, also Karlin - Stolin as well as Karlin - Pinks wear those shiny gold coats. On weekdays, however, they wear black coats.

During Chol HaMoed (intermediate days) Sukkot, I participated in a special tour through the Arab Quarter and our guide, a student of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim, told us the history of these rather strange coats. As soon as you see a Chassid appearing in such a striped coat, the clothes seem either old fashioned or even out of place. Even Chassidim wear mostly black and white today. Especially the Chassidim from Polish chassidic groups. Some groups try to make a personal difference by placing different amounts of buttons onto their coat (Kaftan). But basically the Chassidim walk around in black coats. Romanian, Hungarian or Ukrainian Rebbes may wear colourful shiny coats on Shabbat (e.g. Nadvorna, Kretchnif, etc.)

The Toldot Aharon as well as their split off, the Toldot Avraham Yitzchak, also make a difference during the week.
Where does their custom come from ?
The founder and first Rebbe of the Toldot Aharon (their former name was "Shomrei Emunim"), Rabbi Aharon Roth, explained that when he first came to Jerusalem and settled here for a few years, he saw the Sephardic Jews of Jerusalem wearing such blue white striped coats. According to his opinion, those were the original Jewish clothes. Rebbe Roth wanted to be as authentic as possible, and thought that this is the right way. Thus, he ordered his Chassidim to wear those coats. The old original Jerusalem style.

On my trip, however, I also heard a different story about the origin of this particular clothing style. First, only the Sephardic Jews wore those coats. Later on, towards the end of the 19th century, the local Arabs in the Arab Quarter refused to let Ashkenazic Jews into their quarter, let alone allowing them access to the Kotel (Western Wall). They preferred the Sephardic Jews and the Ashkenazim could only pass through if they bribed the Arabs.
In order to get in without paying huge amounts of money, Ashkenazic Jews started to dress up as Sephardic Jews. They put on the blue white striped coats and tried to look Sephardi. The Arabs didn't realize the difference and let them pass without asking for bribery.

Slowly, slowly, this way, Ashkenazic Jews took over a Sephardi clothing style whereas the Sepharadim slowly left their old style. Today, you can hardly find a Sephardic Jew dressing up in stripes, and only some Ashkenazic Chassidim do so.
There are some Breslover Chassidim who also wear this kind of coat but they are easy to locate. The Toldot Aharon as well as the Avraham Yitzchak usually wear white sox (on Shabbat and holidays) and black sox during the week. The length of their pants only reaches the knees and the rest consists of long sox being put into the pants.
The Breslover following the blue white striped coat custom, however, wear long pants.

Special remark:
During the week, all Toldot Aharon and Avraham Yitzchak wear black sox.
On Shabbat and during the holidays, the married Chassidim wear white sox and the singles wear black sox.



The striped Shabbat coats