In his second lecture for Torah in Motion on the Chatam Sofer, professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “When Rav Kook’s father-in-law went to Jerusalem [at the turn of the 20th century] he was surprised. In Russia, you could find great Torah scholars who dress like regular folks. He comes to Jerusalem and finds people who are complete ignoramuses wearing rabbinic garb. He doesn’t know whether he is supposed to stand up for someone or not.
“We see this in our life as well. When I was growing up in the 1970s, the only people who wore yeshiva garb were rabbis or yeshiva students. When you saw someone in yeshiva garb, you could assume they were a Torah scholar. Today it is not unusual to find people who don’t know anything wearing rabbinic garb.”
