Hat advice for Orthodox Jews

[Colby Jack]

What great information in this thread. Having lived/worked in the city, I wondered about their dress habits. One day I'll go back for a visit and plan a stop at Steven's store...and watch the search for a perfect hat!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[SGT Rocket]

Of course, that association isn't universal. A black fedora here would only be a black fedora, no more or less eccentric than any other color.

Indeed, I've been tempted to get one just because it won't draw the Indiana Jones association. I've even seen one in use here recently (quite unusual).

Having said that, I'm leaning much more towards a light colored thin ribbon Fedora.

I'm liking the idea of a gray fedora with a black band. Today I'm going to Himies Haberdashery here in St. Paul to get a hat-- hopefully. I'm going to pass on the fedora for now, and will be looking for something in straw for the summer. I haven't decided on a regular sized or stingy brim yet. Probably regular, since I would like it to keep as much sun off of me as possible.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I'm not sure y'all have read the thread.

To repeat, black is not a tradition. Black hats are not a tradition. This fashion started after the war, and even then, you'll see that the most ultra-Orthodox people will have stingy brims in the 60s, for example, just like everybody else. Yentl is a work of fiction, and Fiddler on the roof is an American musical.

Skullcaps are quite modern. Wearing a headcovering all the time, even inside the house, is a bit older for Eastern European Jews at least, but it's just a custom, not one of the laws.

Hats aren't passed from generation to generation, simply because they're being used and so worn out like other pieces of your wardrobe. In fact, an ultra-Orthodox Jew today would be ashamed to wear his father's stingy hat when all his friends are wearing oversized giant hats.

Also, the girdle thing is limited to hasidic people who invented it only in the 19th century.

About every normal beer is kosher, and it's accepted to drink it without a special certification among Orthodox Jews. (During the last 15-20 years, some people have started not to drink even water without certification, but that's a different problem.)

 

[Pat_H]

I'm liking the idea of a gray fedora with a black band. Today I'm going to Himies Haberdashery here in St. Paul to get a hat-- hopefully. I'm going to pass on the fedora for now, and will be looking for something in straw for the summer. I haven't decided on a regular sized or stingy brim yet. Probably regular, since I would like it to keep as much sun off of me as possible.

How did it go?

 

[Pat_H]

I'm not sure y'all have read the thread.

To repeat, black is not a tradition. Black hats are not a tradition. This fashion started after the war, and even then, you'll see that the most ultra-Orthodox people will have stingy brims in the 60s, for example, just like everybody else. Yentl is a work of fiction, and Fiddler on the roof is an American musical.

Skullcaps are quite modern. Wearing a headcovering all the time, even inside the house, is a bit older for Eastern European Jews at least, but it's just a custom, not one of the laws.

Hats aren't passed from generation to generation, simply because they're being used and so worn out like other pieces of your wardrobe. In fact, an ultra-Orthodox Jew today would be ashamed to wear his father's stingy hat when all his friends are wearing oversized giant hats.

Also, the girdle thing is limited to hasidic people who invented it only in the 19th century.

About every normal beer is kosher, and it's accepted to drink it without a special certification among Orthodox Jews. (During the last 15-20 years, some people have started not to drink even water without certification, but that's a different problem.)

Very interesting, thanks!

Can you elaborate on how the head covering tradition came about and was developed?

 

[tandmark]

Hi,

Shaul-Ike Cohen says, of wearing the kippah (alias yarmulke, alias skullcap):

it's just a custom, not one of the laws.

But I dunno.

It's not on the Official List of Torah commandments, no. But it's been around so long, and was adopted for such a good pious reason (or two) that it's got the effect of a law binding for religious Jews. If it's not already a minhag (defined as an old pious custom that's become a law), then it's really really close.

What is the pious reason (or two) that I've heard for justifying the kippah? First, a man covers one's head for Jewish prayer so always having the head covered shows your constancy of devotion, and second, by always wearing a kippah, you are always reminded that G_d is above you. (These two are similar enough in spirit that they could be reasonably considered as being the same.)

How old is the custom? Since there hasn't been a religious Jew in my ancestry for a century or more, someone who would have seriously studied the history of Jewish religious traditions, I don't know for sure. But I do know that the common Yiddish term yarmulke comes from some obscure central Asian language, Assyrian or Tatar or Uzbek or something. Since the ancestors of the Jews who were to become the Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim probably left the east back before the days of Chaucer and Dante, my guess is that the yarmulke has got to have about a thousand years of custom behind it.

As for kosher certification for bottled water, that's a different matter altogether. I actually have studied the ins & outs of the religious dietary restrictions. They're complicated, they vary from one community to another, and they've become political footballs in certain circles. We ought to stick to hats!

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I'm afraid I don't have any at hand, but when I find one of these modern children's books showing Moses and Aaron in the desert with Polish fur hats, I'll have to scan and post the pictures.

Yes, wearing a headcovering is very common among Orthodox Jews, but one shouldn't forget that not all Jews are Eastern European. The headcovering custom was and is less wide-spread among, for instance, Jews from North Africa or Western Europe.

A "classical" Jew from Germany, England or France might very well be extremely strict on all Jewish laws like kosher food, praying three times a day, paying every penny of taxes, giving a tenth of his income to charity, studying Judaism instead of going to the movies and so on, and he'd most certainly not be caught in the street without a (real) hat, but he might be bare-headed indoors, simply because that's what his father did, and his ancestors before him. He'd have a house cap ready, larger than a scullcap, and don it when he's eating, because of the blessings involved. I've met such people, and I'd never doubt their commitment.

In fact, he'd shake his head about the lack of piety and decency that Eastern people seem to show when they wear just a scullcap in the streets or in the synagogue - why not walk around in a pyjama right away!

The scullcap as a specific form of headcovering isn't that old either - most illustrations from the 19th century, including Eastern Europe, show other forms, and the round form seems to have spread only at the end of the century in some regions, probably with the novel idea that one should have a headcovering under the headcovering, in case the hat is taken off for some reason or accidentally. Hasidim go one step further and insist on lined scullcaps, in order that there are two layers. Forgot the reason for that.

It's a fascinating area today, because scullcaps work like party badges. The easy ones are "knitted = Religious Zionist", "black velvet = ultra-Orthodox", "Bucharian/Caucasus = filthy hippie", "satin plastic = uncomfortable non-Orthodox wedding guest". But every fine detail might make a difference, with different braid edges indicating different Hasidic sects, or the colour and design of the knitted ones showing Zionist sub-ideologies. Design, material, colour, size, flatness, one piece or panels (number?), extras, lining, where it is worn on the head, how it is attached (not at all/velcro/bobby pin - which colour?), looking well-kept/unused or neglected/long-duty…

Sherlock Holmes would have written a monograph about what you can learn from a scullcap.

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

... a monograph about what you can learn from a scullcap.

Absolutely fascinating, Shaul-Ike...thank you very much. It's difficult to limit oneself to "hats only"; a phenomenon called "culture", never monolithic. Again thanks.
Paul

 

[Irish4]

who cares

i find most amuzing that one would even care how another individual would wear a hat or what brand. as for the gentleman who has a hat shop are you saying that any other hat but a borsalino is a cheapo?. i wear a bailey,american made and proudly so.if a group of people or a single individual all want to wear the same style or brand of hat and they like it,who cares.have a good day ,in whatever hat brand or style or group you belong to.

 

[SGT Rocket]

It's a fascinating area today, because scullcaps work like party badges. The easy ones are "knitted = Religious Zionist", "black velvet = ultra-Orthodox", "Bucharian/Caucasus = filthy hippie", "satin plastic = uncomfortable non-Orthodox wedding guest". But every fine detail might make a difference, with different braid edges indicating different Hasidic sects, or the colour and design of the knitted ones showing Zionist sub-ideologies. Design, material, colour, size, flatness, one piece or panels (number?), extras, lining, where it is worn on the head, how it is attached (not at all/velcro/bobby pin - which colour?), looking well-kept/unused or neglected/long-duty…

Sherlock Holmes would have written a monograph about what you can learn from a scullcap.

+1
What a great synopsis!