In typical Heshy fashion I had a pretty intense argument this past shabbos about which yarmulke is the most politically neutral of all. For those of you who don’t know, yarmulkes are the number one way that other Jews will judge you, I have written extensively on the subject, but it could always be expounded on some more and since we Jews love to judge I might as well throw down a little refresher course for all those who hadn’t realized how much they were categorizing themselves simply by their yarmulke choice.
Unlike most people (I am simply that unique) I freely switch my headgear from time to time, wearing yarmulkes that people like me (post denominational) shouldn’t be wearing. For instance, when my hair is short (I tend to get haircuts before holidays) I like to wear black velvet, but I don’t wear any old ordinary black velvet (there are dozens of kinds of black velvet, but the most common are regular 4 and 6 pie pieces) I wear the shiny free 4 piece black velvet that they happen to have in the yarmulke bin at the Palo Alto shul. I like to get yarmulkes from the free bins because they always have worn in ones and I hate having a stuff yarmulke on my head.
Wearing black velvet almost always places you into a frummer class of yarmulke wearer than others, but in my case it looks a bit out of place so no one really knows what to think, most commonly I hear people misjudging me as a BT. The folks I was talking to about politically neutral yarmulkes thought, incorrectly that suede (the professional yarmulke of choice) was the most neutral, but in my view black knitted is most neutral.
Black knitted yarmulkes have somehow become the most neutral of yarmulkes. If is the only non-velvet yarmulke besides for those Rosh Yeshiva/chabad style black velvet look alike yarmulkes that can be worn under a hat. Besides being able to wear a black knit yarmulke under your hat, you can wear it with or without pins/clips depending on your level of orthodoxy (pins are modernishe and clips are left wing modern orthodox)
Reminds me of when you classified me as a frummy because I was walking home from getting my frummy haircut and wearing black velvet but was wearing shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt.
Having moved to Israel from a Black-Hat community in Queens, I quickly decided to change from my suede, velvet and colorful knit Yarmulkas, to a black-knit Kippah, so as to not seem as if I subscribe to a specific sect of Judaism. I have been wearing the same style now for almost 20 years (except Shabbos when I may go white).
I know you’ve done pieces on this before, but my husband would really appreciate a kippah chart. Like a pocket-sized field guide to Jewry, lol.
That’s a really good idea, maybe I should make something that could stick to your fridge
Those “black but not velvet” kippahs are their own very quiet political statement in some cases. I lot of my rabbis in yeshiva who were of the “lived in haredi communities but held views that their neighbors probably wouldn’t have approved of it they knew about them” (e.g. the world is more than 6k years old, the ultimate revelation of Hashem in the world in the time of the mashiach will come through scientific discovery, etc) wore those instead of the velvet ones as their little rebellion.
” the ultimate revelation of Hashem in the world in the time of the mashiach will come through scientific discovery”
I never heard that one before – I like it.
Me either…but I like it too.
Is the realization that most of scientific knowledge is speculative BS a “scientific discovery”?
I like that “…mashiach… scientific discovery” idea too.
Unfortunately (speaking as a usually black srugi wearer myself), it seems that many Israelis think that ALL black yarmulkas mean “hhareidi”, no matter what it’s made out of.
in england we have the suede kippah which is the most neutral. i dont think its so big in the states.
velvet is for those aligning with the right, the bigger the further you get, plus add the rim etc.
srugah is for the left, zionist etc. the more “interesting” the design the better.
suede is bang in the middle, u are not makign any statements with your kippah, or well nobody is judging you based on your kippah
Mord: do men in england wear there kippot in public (i.e. outside of shul or yeshiva?). I’ve heard that the custom in other parts of europe is not to, but i was curious about england.
yeah by and large everyone wears there kippa wherever they go unless they feel there is a particular need to wear a cap or take of their kippah due to anti semitism.
what about in uni?
oh just save yourself the hassle abd dont wear a yamulka caps are much more comfortable
Black knit. No question.
Those black not velvet not knit but some form of cloth kippahs are called Ram-a-kahs because Rebbies (Ram- Rosh Mesivta) in Israeli yeshivas tend to wear them.
where can i get one of those?
Eichlers, for one (Terylene)
I don’t know, a black suede kippah seems pretty neutral to me.
I think the most neutral is the Yeminite Yarmulke turned inside out .
The yeminiute is a felt yarmulke usually with a simple design around the rim – if you turn it inside out its just a black yarmulke.
is the most neutral because you could be frum and wear it black side or leave it how it is and you have a little flair with a dipiction of jerusalem around the rim. also the fabric itself sidesteps the velvet or sruga argument- in a classic subtle way.
Felt- is similar in some ways to velvet yet comlpetely different. It throws you off. plus there borsalino is made from felt too so they have can’t have a problem with it with out being a hypercrite
Its a firm fabric and it wont fall of your head- no clips needed.
felt is also wool so it has a slight natural vibe to it so you can fit in with the Modox if needed be plus if your modern just rock the ring out and you have a little extra flare.
The Yemenite Yarmulke is the perfect go between yarmulke by far.
Black velvet is the most neutral for me, black knit seems less casual.
Maybe I’m not getting what people mean by suede… But I always thought of a seude kippah as a four-piece colorful kippah given out at Conservative bar/bat mitzvahs, and generally worn in Conservative shuls.