Modesty for Noahides

Disclaimer:  I am not an expert in this area.  This post is not meant, in any way, to be exhaustive.  I do not claim to be holier-than-thou. I am in this fight with everyone else.  This post, and site, is meant to be a sort of starting point and launching pad. As time goes on, I will add more links to more resources, and more lists of good books and articles so we can all learn together as a community of G-d-fearing, truth-seeking Noahides.

In Judaism, modesty is not only what one wears, but it is also what one views and thinks about.  For women, modesty struggles usually revolve around what they wear.  For men, modesty struggles usually revolve around what they see and think about.

Modesty is almost an impossible test.  Not only does society bombard us with immodest images, but clothing found in most stores can make it difficult to dress modest.

The fact that modesty is such a challenge in today’s world speaks to its importance.  As Rabbi Moshe Weiner wrote, “The significance of modesty for men and women is not only that it prevents many sins, but also that it is the correct expression of response for G-d’s creation of mankind in His image.”¹

In his book, The Divine Code, Rabbi Moshe Weiner addresses modesty for Noahides and states, in part:

Every woman is obligated to act in a modest way, and must not cause others to err through her dressing and acting in a way that brings them to sinful thoughts, and thereby closer to sinful actions, as the Torah says, ‘You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind.’²…

A man should not intently gaze at the form of a woman in a lustful way, even [if] she is single, as Job said in his righteousness, ‘I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look upon a virgin.’³

1. Rabbi Moshe Weiner. The Divine Code. Expanded Second ed., Vol. I, Ask Noah International, 2011, p. 542.
2. The Divine Code, p. 542.
3. The Divine Code, p. 543.