Kippot on Sale A kippah is a thin, usually slightly-rounded cloth skullcap worn by observant Jews worn by men. Kippot range in size from four inches to 9.5 inches (100 mm to 240 mm) or larger in diameter.

Hebrew: כִּפָּה, also kipah, kipa, kippa, plural kippo Yiddish: יאַרמלקע, yarmlke, yarmulke, yarmulka, yarmelke, less commonly called kapel

Kippah and Head Coverings

Head coverings in ancient Israelite culture

The Tanach (The Hebrew Bible) contains scarcely anything about head coverings; neither do ancient monuments furnish very much material. The Israelites on Sennacherib's marble relief appear with no headdress, and although the ambassadors of Jehu on the Shalmaneser stele have a head covering, their costume seems to be Assyrian rather than Israeli. Only one passage of the older literature is of any significance: I Kings 20:31 mentions חֲבָליִם "havalim" together with שַׂקּיִם "saqqim," both of which are placed around the head. This calls to mind pictures of Syrians on Egyptian monuments, represented wearing a cord around their long, flowing hair, a custom still followed in Arabia. Evidently the costume of the poorest classes is represented; but as it gave absolutely no protection against the heat of the sun to which a worker in the fields is so often exposed, there is little probability that it remained unchanged very long, although it may have been the most ancient fashion.

The Israelites most probably had a headdress similar to that worn by the Bedouins. This consists of a keffieh folded into a triangle, and placed on the head with the middle ends hanging over the neck to protect it, while the other two are knotted together under the chin. A thick woolen cord ("'akal") holds the cloth firmly on the head. In later times, the Israelites, both men and women, adopted a turban-like headdress more like that of the fellahs of today. The latter wear a little cap ("Takiyah"), usually made of cotton cloth folded doubly or triply, which is supposed to shield the other parts of the head covering from perspiration. With boys, this often forms the only head covering. Under this cap are placed one, often two, felt caps ("lubbadah"); and the national head-dress of the Turks, the red tarboosh. Around this, finally, is wound either an unbleached cotton cloth with red stripes and fringe, a gaily-flowered "mandil," a red-and-yellow-striped keffich, a black cashmere scarf, a piece of white muslin, or a colored cloth. Such a covering not only keeps off the scorching rays of the sun, but it also furnishes a convenient pillow on occasion, and is not seldom used by the fellahs for preserving important documents.

That the headdress of the Israelites must have been of this kind is shown by the noun צַנִיף "Tzanif" and by the verb חַבָּש "Habash" (to wind; comp. Ezekiel 16:10; Jonah 2:6). "Tzanaf" means "to roll like a ball" (Isaiah 22:18). As to the form of such turbans, nothing is known; perhaps they varied according to the different classes of society, as was customary with the Assyrians and Babylonians, whose fashions may have influenced the costume of the Israelites. [1]

Middle Eastern and North African Jewish community headdress may also resemble that of the ancient Israelites. In Yemen, the wrap around the cap was called מַצַר "Massar"; the head covering worn by all women according to Dath Mosha was a גַּרגוּש "Gargush".


Traditions

The kippah is traditionally worn by men (married women covered their heads more completely with scarves, hats, or wigs). Today, some women, mainly Reform Jews, wear a kippah. Some Jews wear kippot only while praying, eating, reciting a blessing, or studying Jewish religious texts; more traditional Jews wear kippot the entire day, making sure not to walk more than four cubits (about two meters) without one, especially outside.

Any form of head covering is acceptable according to halakha (Jewish law). There are no hard and fast rules on the subject, although the compact, lightweight nature of a kippah, along with the fact that hats for men have fallen out of fashion in the West over last few decades, may have contributed to its popularity. Kippot have become identified as a symbol of Judaism over the last century. Haredi men, who mostly wear large black cloth or velvet kippot, often wear fedoras with their kippot underneath. In the Hassidic community, this double head-covering has Kabbalistic meaning.

Often the color and fabric of the kippah can be a sign of adherence to a specific religious movement. The Israeli Religious Zionist community is often referred to by the name kippot serugot (Hebrew כיפות סרוגות), literally "knitted kippot," though they are typically crocheted. American Modern Orthodox Jews often wear suede or leather yarmulkes, requiring clips to hold them in place. Members of most Haredi groups usually wear black velvet kippot. Because of this, men who wear these kippot are sometimes referred to as kipot shekhorot (Hebrew כיפות שחורות), literally "black kippot".
In the early 19th century in the United States rabbis often wore a scholar's cap (large saucer-shaped caps of cloth, like a beret) or a Chinese skullcap. A famous Californian rabbi, the Moldavian Rabbi Benjamin ben Benjamin (Rabbi Benjamin II), is pictured in a beautiful engraved portrait wearing a Chinese silk skullcap.

Other Jews of this era wore black pillbox-shaped kippot. During the Polemic Wars in the mid-1800s, Reformers led by Rabbi Isaac Weiss stopped wearing kippot altogether.

More recently, kippot have been observed in the colors of sports teams supported by the wearer, especially football. In the United States, children's kippot with cartoon characters or themes such as Star Wars are popular. (In response to this trend, some Jewish schools have banned kippot with characters that do not conform to traditional Jewish values.)

Some Breslov Hasidim, a.k.a. Bratzlav, known commonly as Breslovers or Bratslavers, most notably the followers of the late Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser, wear a large white knitted yarmulke with the Na Nach Nachma mantra on it. (Rabbi Yisroel found this mantra in the form of a little note that fluttered out of a book he was perusing, one day in 1886 or 1887. The note, called the "Letter from Heaven" and "The Holy Note", is hand copied onto parchments that are worn around the neck.) The mantra, "Na Nach Nachma Nachman me'Uman", refers to Rabbi Nachman and his death in the town of Uman- but the mystical secret of the phrase "me'Uman" ("goes/is going/has gone to Uman") is difficult to understand.

Breslovers most commonly wear full-head-sized crocheted yarmulkes, which are aptly named "Breslovers" or "Bratslavers". Lately these have come to be called "Frik". Bratzlavers are named for the town of Bratzlav, the birthplace of Rabbi Nachman.

"Kabbalist" yarmulkes are very popular today, consisting of a larger size and usually crocheted in a single, dark color. These seem to be reflections of the "Bratzlaver" kippot, which are designed to cover the entire head almost down to the ears.

Samaritan Israelis once wore distinctive blue head coverings, to separate them from Jews who wore white ones, but today they more commonly wear fezzes with turbans similar to that of Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. Today, Samaritans don't normally wear head coverings except during prayer, Sabbath, and religious festivals. This is thought to be a recent development brought on by the constant Jewish criticism of Samaritan habits.

Etymology

The word Yarmulke is a Yiddish word. It derives from the Polish word "jarmulka" meaning cap. The popular claim that it comes from an Aramaic phrase "Yari Malka", meaning "Fear of the King," is without evidence, as is the claim of the Hebrew phrase "Ya'are me Elohim", "To tremble beneath the Lord". The interpretation that it is a tribute to God is emotionally resonant for Jews, which probably explains the popularity of this folk etymology.

In Hebrew, the word kippah means dome. It is fascinating to note that the ancient Gothic word kappel still exists in the Yiddish term today. The equivalent of the Hebrew word kippah is the French "calotte" and the Italian "calotta", meaning an architectural dome.

Purpose

The sources for wearing a kippah are found in the Talmud. In tractate Shabbat 156b it states Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you. As well, in tractate Kiddushin 31a it states Rabbi Honah ben Joshua never walked 4 cubits (2 meters) with his head uncovered. He explained: "Because the Divine Presence (Shekhina) is always over my head."

As to the obligation of wearing a yarmulke, halakhic experts agree that it is a custom. The prevailing view among Rabbinical authorities is that this custom has taken on a kind of force of law (Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chayim 2:6), because it is an act of Kiddush Ha-Shem, "Sanctifying the Holy Name". From a strictly talmudic point of view, however, the only moment when a Jewish man is required to cover his head is during prayer (Mishne Torah, Ahavah, Hilkhot Tefilah 5:5).

Even this interpretation is in question; as recently as the 1600s, scholar David Haley of Ostrog, Russia, suggested that Jews should never uncover their heads in order to help distinguish them from Christians- especially while at prayer.

A Hasidic/Kabbalist tradition states that the kippah reflects several ideas: one is that Ha-Shem covers us with His Divine Palm; indeed, the Hebrew word kaf means either "cloud" or "palm of the hand". The Hebrew letter kav is the first letter of the word kippah.

Reasons given for wearing a kippah today include:

• recognition that God is "above" humankind;
• "acceptance" of the 613 mitzvot (commandments);
• "identification" with the Jewish people;
• demonstration of the "ministry" of all Jews.

Some Jews wear two head coverings, typically a kippah covered by a hat, for Kabbalistic reasons: the two coverings correspond to two levels of intellect, or two levels in the fear of God. The High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Kohain Gadol, also used to wear a woolen kippah under his priestly headdress (Talmud Chulin 138a).

Head Dress

HEAD-DRESS: (print this article) By : Emil G. Hirsch Wilhelm Nowack

Covering or ornament for the head. Very little information is obtainable as to the adornment and covering for the head in use among the Israelites of antiquity. The Torah sources contain scarcely anything on this subject; neither do the monuments furnish any material. The Israelites on Sennacherib's marble relief appear with no head-dress, and although the ambassadors of Jehu on the Shalmaneser stele have a head-covering, their costume seems to be Assyrian rather than Israelitish. Only one passage of the older literature is of any significance: I Kings xx. 31 mentions "habalim" together with "sak," both of which are placed around the head. This calls to mind pictures of Syrians on Egyptian monuments, represented wearing a cord around their long, flowing hair, a custom still followed in Arabia. Evidently the costume of the poorest classes is represented; but as it gave absolutely no protection against the heat of the sun to which a worker in the fields is so often exposed, there is little probability that it remained unchanged very long, although it may have been the most ancient fashion.

The Israelites most probably had a head-dress similar to that worn by the Bedouins. This consists of a keffieh folded into a triangle, and placed on the head with the middle ends hanging over the neck to protect it, while the other two are knotted together under the chin. A thick woolen cord ("'akal") holds the cloth firmly on the head. In later times the Israelites, both men and women, adopted a turban-like head-dress more like that of the fellahs of to-day. The latter wear a little cap ("takiyah"), usually made of cotton cloth folded doubly or triply, which is supposed to shield the other parts of the head-covering from perspiration. With boys this often forms the only head-covering. Under this cap are placed one, often two, felt caps ("lubbadah"), and the national head-dress of the Turks, the red tarboosh. Around this, finally, is wound either an unbleached cotton cloth with red stripes and fringe, a gaily flowered "mandil," a red-and yellow-striped keffich, a black cashmere scarf, a piece of white muslin, or a colored cloth. Such a covering not only keeps off the scorching rays of the sun, but it also furnishes a convenient pillow on occasion, and is not seldom used by the fellahs for preserving important documents.

That the head-dress of the Israelites must have been of this kind is shown by the noun "zanif" and by the verb "habash" (to wind; comp. Ezek. xvi. 10; Ex. xxix. 9; Jonah ii. 6 [A. V. 5]). "Zanaf" means "to roll like a ball" (Isa. xxii. 18). As to the form of such turbans nothing is known; perhaps they varied according to the different classes of society, as was customary with the Assyrians and Babylonians, whose fashions may have influenced the costume of the Israelites. How the high priest's miter ("miznefet"; Ex. xxviii. 37, xxix. 6) differed from the zanif is not clear; perhaps it was pointed like the head-covering worn by Assyrian kings: the turban ("migba'ah") of an ordinary priest probably had a conical form. Nothing is known concerning the "'atarah" (II Sam. xii. 30; Ezek. xvi. 12) or the "keter" (Esth. i. 11, ii. 17, vi. 8; comp. De Lagarde, "Gesammelte Abhandlungen," pp. 207, 213-215; idem, "Armenische Studien," pp. 67, 2003).

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Jewish Head-Dress at Various Periods.1, 2. England (13th cent.). 3-5. Germany (13th cent.). 6-8. France (13th cent.). 9. Rhine Provinces (13th cent.). 10. Constance (1417). 11. Holland (15th cent.). 12. Italy (15th cent.). 13, 14. Germany (15th cent.). 15-17. Rhine Provinces (15th cent.). 18, 19. Worms (16th cent.). 20. Germany (16th cent.). 21. Worms: "Judenbischof" (17th cent.). 22. Swabia (17th cent.). 23. Frankfort-on-the-Main (1630). 24, 25. Poland (1765). 26, 27. Warsaw (1825). 28. Cracow (17th to 18th cent.). 29. Podolia (1750). 30. Tunis (1800). 31. Morocco (1800). 32. Moravia (1800). 33. Russia (modern). 34. Caucasus (modern). 35. Russia: Karaite (modern). 36, 37. Tunis (modern). 38. Russia: "Yarmulka" (modern). 39. England: rabbinical (modern).The bridegroom was distinguished by his head-dress ("pe'er"; Isa. lxi. 3; Ezek. xxiv. 17, 23), which was, perhaps, of cloth wound round the head and worn over the zanif (comp. Ex. xxxix. 28). Veils were used only by the women, and even by them only on certain occasions, the strict separation of men and women, customary in Mohammedan countries, being foreign to Jewish antiquity. The bride was veiled when she was led to the bridegroom (Gen. xxiv. 65; comp. xxix. 22 et seq.). In later times, however, veils and gauzy garments found their way into the wardrobes of Jewish women (comp. Isa. iii. 16 et seq.). That the Israelitish men sometimes wore a veil, as do men among the Arabs occasionally, can not be proved by Ex. xxxiv. 33 et seq. See Veil.E. G. H. W. N.

Also see: Kippah