A Torah Command?

Head Coverings for Men and Women, a Torah and Mitzvah
by Israel ben Betzalel, at Messianicblogs

Listen to this:

According to the Torah, is a man commanded to wear a kippah or other head covering? Is a woman commanded to wear a head covering? If we are to be ready to “guard” the commandments of God, then yes, wearing a head covering is part of fulfilling that mitzvah to be on guard to do God’s commandments concerning head coverings.

As it is written:

Deuteronomy 27:1
And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying: ‘Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.

“Keep” is the Hebrew word “Shamar” which means to “guard” or “hedge around” as if to protect what is inside.

In this, the Torah teaches us that we are to create a hedge to always be ready to do God’s commandments.

There is much more to this answer, including scripture and reasoning. It's all about submission to God, and guarding His commands. Recommended reading.

This blog also appears on the The Jerusalem Council - Messianic Beit Midrash: Global Forum for Messianic Judaism, Halakha, Apologetics, and Torah Study.

Dominican Use of Capuce

I did not know this.

Dominican Use of the Capuce

from Dominican Liturgy, "A Mirror for Dominican Material Published on the NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT"

Here is the beginning of the article - copied directly, including photo, from the website (please refer to the article linked above for the full explanation and source):

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This post is at the request of a commentor who wanted more information about choir rubrics and the capuce (habit hood) in the Dominican rite.

Historically men have worn hats, or at least they did until John F. Kennedy made going bareheaded fashionable, and the Capuce is the "hat" of the Dominican habit. The capuce is one of the three parts of the white Dominican habit and has a short shoulder cape attached to it. It is worn over the scapular, which is wore over the tunic. There is also a black version, which is worn over the white one when the cappa (a long black cape) is worn. The raising and lowering of the capuce is analogus to the lay practice of doffing one's hat, and to the parallel use by secular clergy of the biretta. The capuce is the only head-covering used by Dominican friars, with the exception of the doctoral biretta worn by those with ecclesiastical academic titles. And those birettas are never used in liturgical functions. Of course, this rule did not prevent wearing of a black zuchetto to cover the tonsure or, today, baldness. Well, at least that is the theory, and perhaps it was so in the Middle Ages. Photographs of friars working outside in habit under the sun, wearing wide staw hats, can be found from the 1800s in our province archives. And I have seen plenty of pictures of friars from my province at the Angelicum in Rome, some as recent as the 1980s, showing them wearing the cappello romano, the broad-brimmed Roman clergy hat. To the above right is a photo of some Angelicum students in the early 1950s on an excusion in the country outside of Rome, with their "Roman hats."

"Head covering, not shoulder covering"

clevsea at yahoo 360 answers the following question, using 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 and an understanding of the Greek language in the Bible:

Has anyone been told that if you're not wearing a headcovering that covers, your neck, possibly even wrapping around the shoulders, that you're not following the Biblical example of the headcovering? ... that since most who wear the headcovering aren't even wearing the "right kind" that those who do, might as well give it up.

She relates personal experience, plus the following explanation:

Paul chose Katakalupto for his word choice for the head covering. Paul did *not* choose the Greek word for face covering. He did not choose the word for neck covering. He did not choose the word for ear covering or chest covering. Paul worked with the word for head covering and he chose the word kaphale (Strong's # 2776) which is clearly the word for head.

At the end of the head covering teaching Paul teaches the church that the long hair is a peribolaion (Strong's #4018) and that word nicely translates as a vest or mantle. So at the end of the passage we see that the Lord covers our vest area, our chest area, with a covering of long hair. Peribolaion also denotes the ability to throw the covering around oneself like you can throw a shawl around yourself, which you can do with long hair. But the head covering, the katakalupto, it is clearly a head (kephale) covering not a neck, chin, face, ear, shoulder, chest, etc, covering.

[Links added by me - LisaM] You may read the entire blog entry at clevsea's yahoo 360 page.

Becoming More Orthodox

Young British Jews: more and more strictly orthodox

It seems - with Evangelical Christianity and Muslim strictness - that in an irreligious society those who ARE religious tend more and more towards the extremes of observance. The Jewish Chronicle reports that the demographers reveal a remarkable growth in the "Haredi" community in the UK. It has grown at 4 per cent a year for twenty years and there is a predominantly young group - of the under-18s one third are haredi. This site About Judaism offers more detail on what Haredi involves: they don't like to be called 'ultra-orthodox' because they consider more liberal forms of Judaism to be unauthentic. They believe God wrote the Torah, live in self-contained communities, have their own financial systems, eschew television and dress as their European ancestors dressed, in wide-brimmed hats and, for women, modest long skirts and head coverings after marriage.

Photo above linked from this website.

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I am reminded of what Princess Leia told the governor of the empire that was trying to take over the universe in the first Star Wars movie:

The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

It is not strange that in an era of increasing pushiness towards secularism and away from religious tradition and faith, that those who are seeking faithful ways are "becoming more orthodox". Perhaps they can see how compromise (or even quitting their faith), in the past has actually allowed repression, cruelty and more deviant behaviours to abound in the name of "secularism" (versus freedom of religious expression, that is). But there is always a remnant, and the remnant is always more conservative and orthodox than those who were willing to give in or remain silent in the name of the secular. Didn't your parents ever teach you that you can't "sit on the fence" forever? A person must choose one way or the other.

The more the secular (read, non-faith religions) tighten their grip on those who desire to express their religious faith - by banning head scarves and any other sign of "religiousness" - the more religious systems of faith will slip through their fingers.

Admissions of Headcovering Christians

"Practicing Theology" posts the question: Would it surprise you to know...

...that I own a headcovering . . . and have used it regularly? And, would it surprise you that I keep it handy since I have no Biblical or personal objections to covering my head if the leadership of a church we visit/attend determines that it is fitting for women to cover their head during worship?

She shares her decision to wear a headcovering in this blog entry, along with these thoughts:

I realize that this is not a common or even a popular topic, but I'm still surprised when I hear an attitude of scoffing--even scorn--among women (professing believers) who have admittedly given little to no careful consideration of the practice, but steadfastly renounce it as something 'I could/would never do!'. As Bereans wouldn't the better response and attitude be, 'Maybe I need to study and consider that...'?

(reference of Bereans is to Acts 17:10-11)

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Also, please consider reading many of the recent blog entries from "Free to Cover":

• Covering all my hair
• Juding someone else's covering
• Headscarf Bans
• "Prayer Veil" versus "Fashion Item"

I think I tend to personally agree with much of what she writes.

One Muslim Woman's Decision

Please read:

Me without my hijab
"Removing my head covering changed how I saw myself and the world."
By Zainab Mineeia, June 8, 2008
LATimes.com


Sharing the hard decision of whether or not to continue to cover in the United States. Please read this article with an open mind and heart. The decision to cover your head in a secular country seems to be contrary to the law of "modesty" which covering is supposed to provide. How sad for the secular countries of the world, when to be modest merely means to blend in and be like everybody else.

T-shirt of the Day...

Found this at Life Teen.com - for Catholic Teenagers

Web site of the week

One of my favourite web sites - ModestClothes.com - has made
"Web site of the week" on the Modesto (California) ModestoBee.com, in their "Beliefs & Issues" section.

Their summary:

Many faith traditions require girls and women to dress modestly. This site (www.modestclothes. com) gives links to categories such as style (swimsuits, trendy, classic, head coverings) and creed (Islamic, Jewish, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic). The site's author, raised Lutheran and now a Muslim, also blogs with new finds and offers readers a chance to interact.

Propriety in Worship

1 Cor. 11:1-16 Propriety in Worship (1)

in "Yom Yom" at blogspot, by Harry Hoffner, the "John A. Wilson Professor of Hittitology Emeritus at the University of Chicago. . . . For 13 years the teaching leader of a large inter-faith Bible Study class for men in the Chicago area." - (from the "about me" section of the blog)

An academic article discussing the passage from 1 Corinthians, including ancient and modern understandings. Discussion of the meaning of dress in society, on the term "traditions", and the place of women in creation. Special emphasis on the idea of respect and order, "propriety". Interesting thoughts.