Wednesday, September 17, 2008

She's a Keepah

EDIT 29/09/08:
Another article, more politically based, about Vanity Kippah, with more pictures:

Some Jewish Voters Wear Their Hearts on Their Heads
By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN, Wall Street Journal Online, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

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I've reported on this phenomenon before. Male (and sometimes female) Jewish headgear being used for the multiple functions of showing reverence, announcing your faith as well as your personality. Thing is, many of us women who cover do the same thing - wear a head covering for spiritual reasons, but "personalize" the style, depending on traditions and personality. The point is, you are what you wear. A Jewish man has written:

There is no biblical command for anyone except the kohen (priest) to cover the head. And in the Talmud, though married women were required to cover their head in public (exposing their hair was considered to be an indecency), the practice of covering the head by men (other than those who were fasting, in mourning, under the ban, or afflicted with leprosy) appears to have been limited to scholars and other dignitaries, and to have been a voluntary act of special piety and humility. Indeed, for an "ordinary" man to cover his head was considered in some circles to be presumptuous.


So, even if it may be considered a devoutly spiritual act, to wear the kippah, by many Jewish men, it is more an identification of Jewishness for others. One may say that: "wearing a kippah makes us all like the high priest and turns us into a "holy nation."" But the size, the times, and the reasons become personal choices. And so, accordingly, the headcovering itself becomes personal.

Hence, the Vanity Kippah, one of the places which cater to individual Jewish headcovering personalities, when it comes to covering the head - pictures posted at the beginning of this article (notice notice the new headcoverings for the political ladies who wear kippah, rather than a traditional hair covering). The next 3 kippah are actually not from Vanity Kippah, but from Mazel Skull Cap, who also offer more traditional kippot as well as these I've posted.


(Quotes above from "COVERING MY JEWISH HEAD", by Rabbi Hershel Johah Matt, in: Matt, Daniel C., ed.,WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD: The life and writings of Rabbi Hershel Johan Matt, Hoboken, NJ: KTAV, 1993;

and

the Jewish Virtual Library's article concerning kippah)

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Also, see a personal experience from a woman who "kippah's" at "Half-Jew in Granite".

4 comments:

Hknisley said...

Great post! I've never seen anything like these before. Sometimes I wonder if my desire to cover isn't MORE about vanity than godliness. At least that's what I'm struggling with right now.
Hey, I wanted to invite you to visit my blog and check out the snood pic I found. http://tinyurl.com/5yhzrd
I'd welcome your learned opinion! :)
Heather

LisaM at ThoseHeadcoverings said...

Sometimes, I think the personality of the covering can certainly lead to troubles with vanity, for everyone. Thanks for your comment!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, if only I was a Jewish male, I'd totally get one of those Obama kippas lol!

LisaM at ThoseHeadcoverings said...

Dear Anonymous,

Mr. Tennenhaus (of Vanity Kippah) has contacted me and let me know that there are some non-Jewish people wearing the simple kippah to support their viewpoint, if you still want to think about it... :)