The Forward Publishes a Field Guide to Identifying the Jewish Male by His Yarmulke

Wikipedia defines a field guide as a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (plants or animals) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. minerals). 

It is generally designed to be brought into the 'field' or local area where such objects exist to help distinguish between similar objects. Field guides are often designed to help users distinguish animals and plants that may be similar in appearance but are not necessarily closely related. They are also used for bird watching.

We think that a field guide is a good metaphor for the article and video published this week by the Jewish Daily Forward using the color, style, shape, and material of a kippah or yarmulke as an aid to identifying the sect and level of observance of the Jewish male.

The Forward previously published a similar guide to Sheitels, or wigs, worn by Orthodox Jews.

In her article, Frimet Goldberger reports:

If you see my husband and son walking on the street, you will instantly know that they’re Orthodox Jews — because they are wearing small, round cloth caps, more widely known as yarmulkes. Much like the sheitel, or wig, that many Orthodox women wear, you can tell a lot about a Jewish male by the type of yarmulke (also referred to as a kippah, or in Hasidic Yiddish, kapl) that he wears. Like the jacket and shirt on his back, the absence or presence of peyes, or sidelocks, the headgear announces to the world his family’s tradition and his Jewish denomination.

Pious Jewish men have been covering their heads for hundreds of years, yet there isn’t necessarily a clear and definitive Jewish law, or Halacha, requiring it. Rather, it was one of many of the Jewish customs and traditions, known as minhagim, that evolved over the centuries to become de-facto Halacha, eventually becoming the most universal identifier of observant Jewish boys and men.

The article includes 11 illustrations of yarmulke styles. Do you know the difference between a black velvet six-slice kapl and a four-slice kapl with or without a satin rim? How about a shlof-kapl, a na-nach kippah, meshichist, and teryline kippah? Which yarmulkes have no slices? Who wears them and what do their choices say about their religious affiliations?

The video, which graphically shows the diverse choices available, was filmed at Eichler's in Flatbush.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Florida Rabbi Celebrates His Bar Mitzvah 47 Years Late

Rabbi Leonid Feldman celebrated his Bar Mitzvah last month in Temple Beth El in West Palm Beach, Florida, the synagogue where he is the spiritual leader. But next week he's turning 60. Why a Bar Mitzvah celebration now?

As Betty Nelander wrote in the Palm Beach Daily News:

As a 13-year-old growing up in the Soviet Republic of Moldavia, Feldman was denied this opportunity since Jews there could not practice or study Judaism or Jewish culture. He never heard of a bar mitzvah, a synagogue or the Holocaust when he was 13 and living under Communism.

“I say to people: ‘It is unusual. Usually you get bar-mitzvahed and then you become a rabbi. I am going backwards,’ ” said Feldman, who has performed hundreds of bar mitzvahs. “To be honest, there is no law that you have to be bar mitzvahed. Think about it: There are 3 million Russian Jews have never heard about bar mitzvah but they are Jews. A million and a half of them live in Israel and they still don’t know anything about it.

“American Jews take it for granted,” said Feldman.

Leaving behind religious suppression in Russia, Feldman went to Israel for three years. He then traveled to Italy for a year, and arrived in America in 1980. He moved to South Florida in 1988, a year after becoming a U.S. citizen. He was the spiritual leader Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach for 12 years. He then was the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach until 2004.

For the first 6 minutes and 20 seconds, he speaks as the thirteen-year-old he was in Kishinev and how he hates his name and hates being a Jew. Then he abruptly shifts to the present and delivers a moving Bar Mitzvah speech about how he loves Judaism and believes that Judaism is the most beautiful thing ever created. 

Enjoy the video. Shabbat shalom.

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)



(A tip of the kippah and a copyof our e-book, Jewish Humor on Your Desktop, Volume 3: Humor in Jewish Life, to Jonathan Minsberg for bringing this video to our attention.)