I just stepped outside my front door and across the street was the rabbi of a Conservative shul in Los Angeles. He wore blue jeans. It jarred me. I don’t think of rabbis as wearing jeans or telling dirty jokes or chewing gum in public. These behaviors don’t strike me as rabbinic.
I don’t recall seeing rabbis of major Orthodox congregations walking around in blue jeans or chewing gum. Orthodox rabbis have more decorum. The more religious the Jew, the better he dresses. Haredi Jews, for instance, don’t tend to walk around in shorts and t-shirts, not even in Los Angeles.
I remember seeing a female Conservative rabbi chewing gum in shul.
I think rabbis are supposed to models of higher behavior. They’re not supposed to be one of us.
