If I were to talk to either of my brothers, it would not surprise me to find that they have purchased a new article of clothing for the Jewish New Year. It might be a suit, or a tie, or a shirt, but they will both have something new to wear.
And yet, the same time, they, and I, will be wearing something old. We might wear something that was from one of our parents of blessed memory – a tie, a ring, a watch, a tallit, a skull cap (better known as a kippah or a yarmulke).
You see, we maintain some of our parent’s traditions with some of what we wear, especially in regard to religious articles, but we also realize the importance of having something new, not just new clothes, but something new in our approach to Judaism.
Keeping some of the old and adding some new is not such a bad thing. In fact, it just might be a great way to enter the New Year with a new outlook.
Today, I would like to approach this focusing on one article that easily identifies one as Jewish. Let me introduce it with a story from a cartoon that appeared in an Israeli paper many years ago during a visit from the Pope in which the caption read, “The Pope is the one with the Yarmulke.”
Yarmulkes or, Kippot (in Hebrew), have come a long way from my zaide’s time. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – silk, knitted, crocheted, leather. They come with the logos of your favorite sports team. They come with pictures of super heroes, almost any design you can imagine can be put on a kippah now.
Some wear them all the time. Some only wear them in the Synagogue. Some wear them at work and some only at home. In Israel, you can actually tell someone’s religious leanings by the size and color of their Yarmulke, and, with the elections coming up here in America, don’t be surprised to see some of our people in blue and some in red, instead of the traditional white for the High Holy Days.
If you are walking out on the street, or going into a store, or heading into a meeting and you want people to know that you are Jewish, all you have to do is wear a Kippah … and, sadly, in many cases, you will be looked on with hate and scorn.
Back in Nazi Germany, wearing a Yarmulke could be a death sentence – a one-way ticket to the gas chambers. Well, let me tell you how things have stayed the same in the world and also how things have changed as we approach the New Year 5773. Rabbi Alter was wearing a Yarmulke walking down the streets in Vienna a few weeks ago and a group of antisemites beat him to a pulp.
As I said, some things haven’t changed. Some things remain the same and that is not always such a good thing. But, things have also changed and, sometimes, that is a very good thing, such as, after the attack, several residents of Berlin decided to show their support for the Rabbi and for the Jewish people by donning yarmulkes on their keppes… now that’s what I call using your noggin (using your head).
If non-Jews in Berlin can openly show solidarity with us by wearing Kippot, perhaps, in the year ahead, we will come to show more solidarity with each other and, if so, what a wonderful year this could be.
Shalom my friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.
