A , , or , plural ), also called ''yarmulke'' (, ; yi, יאַרמלקע, link=no, , german: Jarmulke, pl, Jarmułka or ''koppel'' ( yi, קאפל ) is a brimless
cap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by
Jewish males to fulfill the customary requirement that the head be covered. It is worn by all men in
Orthodox Jewish communities during prayers and by most Orthodox Jewish men at all other times. Among non-Orthodox Jewish communities, those who wear them customarily do so only during prayer, while attending a
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...
, or in other rituals, and often women may also wear them in those communities.
Etymology
The term ( he, כיפה) literally means "dome", as the kippah is worn on the head like a dome.
The
Yiddish term might be derived from the
Polish or the
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
, perhaps ultimately from
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
("cowl, hood"). It may also be of
Turkic origin (akin to , meaning "rainwear"); the word is often associated with the phrase (), formed from the
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
word for 'king' and the Hebrew root , meaning 'fear'. or is another Yiddish term for the same thing.
Jewish law
Halachic authorities debate as to whether wearing a at all times is required.
According to the
Rambam, Jewish law dictates that a man is required to cover his head during prayer.
In non-Orthodox communities, some women also wear , and people have different customs about when to wear a when eating, praying, studying Jewish texts, or entering a sacred space such as a synagogue or cemetery. The Reform movement has historically been opposed to wearing , but in recent years it has become more common and accepted for Reform men and women to cover their heads during prayer and Jewish study.
However, according to several prominent authorities, the practice has since taken on the force of law because it is an expression of (reverence for Heaven, i.e. God). The 17th-century authority Rabbi
David HaLevi Segal (The "Taz") holds that the reason is to enforce the Halakhic rule to avoid practices unique to Gentiles. Since, he points out, Europeans are accustomed to go bare-headed, and their priests insist on officiating with bare heads, this constitutes a uniquely Gentile practice, and therefore Jews would be prohibited from behaving similarly. Thefore he rules that wearing a is required by halacha.
Other halachic authorities like Sephardi , the
Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai), hold that wearing a head covering is a , an additional measure of piety.
In a recent responsum, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel
Ovadia Yosef ruled that it should be worn to show affiliation with the religiously observant community.
The
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
states, "Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you." Rabbi Hunah ben Joshua never walked 4
cubits () with his head uncovered. He explained: "Because the
Divine Presence
Divine presence, presence of God, Inner God, or simply presence is a concept in religion, spirituality, and theology that deals with the ability of God to be " present" with human beings.
According to some types of monotheism God is omnipresen ...
is always over my head." This was understood by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the
Shulchan Arukh
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
as indicating that Jewish men should cover their heads, and should not walk more than four cubits bareheaded. Covering one's head, such as by wearing a , is described as "honoring God". The modifies this ruling, adding that the ''
Achronim
In Jewish law and history, ''Acharonim'' (; he, אחרונים ''Aḥaronim''; sing. , ''Aḥaron''; lit. "last ones") are the leading rabbis and poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present, and more specifi ...
'' established a requirement to wear a head covering even when traversing fewer than four cubits, and even when one is standing still, indoors and outside. cites a story from the Talmud (Shabbat 156b) about
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, who might have become a thief had his mother not saved him from this fate by insisting that he cover his head, which instilled in him the fear of God.
[KSA 3:6] In Orthodox communities, boys are encouraged to wear a from a young age in order to ingrain the habit.
The Talmud implies that unmarried men did not wear a :
The Tanakh implies that covering one's head is a sign of mourning:
The argument for the has two sides. The
Vilna Gaon said one can make a without a , since wearing a is only a ("exemplary attribute"). In the 21st century, there has been an effort to suppress earlier sources that practiced this leniency, including erasing lenient
responsa from newly published books.
Or Zarua (13th century) wrote that "our rabbis in France" customarily made blessings while bareheaded, but he criticized this practice.
According to 20th-century Rabbi
Isaac Klein, a male Conservative Jew ought to cover his head when in the synagogue, at prayer or sacred study, when engaging in a ritual act, and when eating. In the mid-19th century, Reformers led by
Isaac Wise completely rejected the after an altercation in which Rabbi Wise's was knocked off his head. Nowadays, almost all Conservative synagogues require men to wear a head covering (usually a ), but in Reform synagogues there is no requirement. However, may be provided to anybody who wishes to wear them.
Types and variation
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
in Europe, the distinctive Jewish headgear was the
Jewish hat, a full hat with a brim and a central point or stalk. Originally used by choice among Jews to distinguish themselves, it was later made compulsory by Christian governments in some places as a discriminatory measure. 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. Other Jews of this era wore black pillbox-shaped .
Often, the color and fabric of the can be a sign of adherence to a specific religious movement, particularly in Israel.
Knitted or
crocheted , known as , are usually worn by
Religious Zionists
Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, th ...
and
Modern Orthodox Jews. They also wear suede or leather . Knitted were first made in the late 1940s, and became popular after being worn by Rabbi
Moshe-Zvi Neria. Members of most
Haredi groups wear black velvet or cloth .
More recently, have been observed made in the colors of sports teams, especially
football. In the United States, children's featuring cartoon characters or themes such as ''
Star Wars'' have become popular; in response to this trend, some Jewish schools have banned with characters that do not conform to traditional Jewish values. have been inscribed on the inside as a souvenir for a celebration (bar/bat mitzvah or wedding). for women are also being made and worn.
[Living Jewish – Jewish Attire!](_blank)
'' Mazor Guide.'' Retrieved December 19, 2010. These are sometimes made of beaded wire to seem more feminine. A special baby has two strings on each side to fasten it and is often used in a ceremony.
["From baby kippah to Tylenol, Bris Kit has everything but the implement"](_blank)
'' J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', 18 Jun 2004
Head coverings in ancient Israelite culture
The
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
on
Sennacherib's
marble relief appear with headdress. The ambassadors of
Jehu on the
Shalmaneser stele have head coverings, and their costume seems to be Israelite. One passage of the older literature is of significance: 1 Kings 20:31 mentions (), which are placed around the head. This suggests portrayals of
Syrians on
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
ian monuments, represented wearing a cord around their long, flowing hair, a custom still followed in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
.
Evidently the costume of the poorest classes is represented; but as the cord gave no protection against the heat of the sun, there is little probability that the custom lasted very long. Much more common was the simple cloth skullcap, dating to Egyptian times. Persons of high society routinely shaved their heads, to prevent
lice
Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...
. Conversely, their skullcaps also served as protection against irritation from their wigs.
The Israelites might have worn a headdress similar to that worn by the
Bedouins
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Ar ...
, but it is unknown whether a fixed type of headdress was used. That the headdress of the Israelites might have been in the style may be inferred from the use of the noun hbo, צַנִיף, tzanif, label=none (the verb meaning "to roll like a ball", Isaiah 22:18) and by the verb hbo, חַבָּש, habash, label=none ("to wind", compare Ezekiel 16:10; Jonah 2:6). As to the form of such turbans, nothing is known, and they may have varied according to the different classes of society. This was customary with the Assyrians and Babylonians, for example, whose fashions likely influenced the costume of the Israelites—particularly during and after the
Babylonian Exile. In Yemen, the wrap around the cap was called hbo, מַצַר, matzar, label=none; the head covering worn by women was a hbo, גַּרגוּש,
gargush
Gargush ( he, גַּרְגּוּשׁ) is a traditional Yemenite Jewish headdress, resembling a hood, which is thought to have originated in the Sanaite community.
History
Yemenite Jews have throughout the ages preserved ancient Jewish modesty t ...
, label=none.
Civil legal issues
In ''
Goldman v. Weinberger
''Goldman v. Weinberger'', 475 U.S. 503 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case in which a Jewish Air Force officer was denied the right to wear a yarmulke when in uniform on the grounds that the Free Exercise Clause applies less strictly t ...
'', 475 U.S. 503 (1986), the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled in a 5–4 decision that active military members were required to remove the indoors, citing uniform regulations that state only armed security police may keep their heads covered while indoors.
Congress passed the Religious Apparel Amendment after a war story from the
1983 Beirut barracks bombing about the "camouflage " of Jewish Navy Chaplain
Arnold Resnicoff was read into the ''Congressional Record''. Catholic Chaplain George Pucciarelli tore off a piece of his
Marine Corps uniform to replace Resnicoff's when it had become blood-soaked after being used to wipe the faces of wounded Marines after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. This amendment was eventually incorporated into U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) regulations on the "Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Services".
This story of the "camouflage " was re-told at many levels, including a keynote speech by President
Ronald Reagan to the Baptist Fundamentalism Annual Convention in 1984, and another time during a
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
meeting between Reagan and the American Friends of Lubavitch.
After recounting the Beirut story, Reagan asked them about the religious meaning of the .
Rabbi
Abraham Shemtov, the leader of the group, responded: "Mr. President, the to us is a sign of reverence." Rabbi Feller, another member of the group, continued: "We place the on the very highest point of our being—on our head, the vessel of our intellect—to tell ourselves and the world that there is something which is above man's intellect: the infinite Wisdom of God."
Passage of the Religious Apparel Amendment and the subsequent DOD regulations were followed in 1997 by the passing of the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at through (also known as RFRA, pronounced "rifra"), is a 1993 United States federal law that "ensures that interests in religiou ...
(RFRA). However, the Supreme Court struck down RFRA as beyond Congress' powers to bind the states in the 1997 case ''
City of Boerne v. Flores''. RFRA is constitutional as applied to the Federal government, as seen in ''
Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal''.
The
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 114 Stat. 804, 42 U. S. C. §2000cc-1(a)(1)-(2), upheld as constitutional in ''
Cutter v. Wilkinson'', 44 U.S. 709 (2005), requires by inference that Orthodox Jewish prisoners be reasonably accommodated in their request to wear .
The French government
banned the wearing of ,
hijabs, and large
crosses
Crosses may refer to:
* Cross, the symbol
Geography
* Crosses, Cher, a French municipality
* Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas
Language
* Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...
in public primary and secondary schools in France in March 2004.
The provincial government of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, Canada passed "An Act respecting the laicity of the State" in June 2019, which prohibits the wearing of "religious symbols" by government employees including teachers, police officers, judges, prosecutors, and members of certain commissions.
Wearing by non-Jews
Though it is not required, when a non-Jew wears a in a synagogue, it is considered a sign of respect. are often provided to guests at a
Bar or Bat Mitzvah. They are also often provided at
bereavement events and at
Jewish cemeteries
A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' ...
. According to the Conservative
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, there is no
halakhic reason to require a non-Jew to cover their head, but it is recommended that non-Jews be asked to wear a where ritual or worship is being conducted, both out of respect for the Jewish congregation and as a gesture of respect including the non-Jewish guest.
were adopted as a symbol by some of the non-Jewish African American marchers in the 1965
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...
, most prominently by
James Bevel.
See also
* , a similar Muslim skullcap
*
Zucchetto
The zucchetto (, also ,["zucchetto"](_blank)
(US) and ,
*
The Philippi Collection
*
Kid Yamaka, Jewish American boxer
*
Knit cap
* , an Israeli television show named after the knit worn by Religious Zionists
Notes
References
External links
{{Authority control
Jewish ritual objects
Jewish religious clothing
Non-clerical religious clothing
Religious headgear
Middle Eastern clothing
History of Asian clothing
Jewish life cycle
Articles containing video clips
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law