Reaction: What It Costs To Cover Your Noggin In Jerusalem

A couple of friends have been lovely to me and sent me links to interesting articles and blogs pertinent to our topic of choice.  Here's my thoughts about one of them, with grateful appreciation.

Apparently, NPR has been looking into the price of things around the world- and has come to the price of various headcoverings in Jerusalem.  It's a short read, with lots of pictures, many of them well-done.  The result: with the exception of items that are both very expensive and implied to be religiously extreme (wigs, black hats, and shtraimels/the equivalent, which get called a "crown" at one point in the piece)(not that I quite disagree on some of those items, but still- I can think something, and still feel odd when someone outside says the same thing), you can buy a cheap version of anything mentioned for $5-10.

Interestingly, wigs are mentioned in a more significant manner than tichels/mitpachot/scarves ("For religious and Orthodox Jewish women, dictates of modesty can mean a wig after marriage. The more natural-looking, the more expensive. Otherwise, all kinds of hats, caps and scarves are available, at all kinds of prices.") but there's a picture of the latter, not the former.  In fact, the objects that get the wordage- said wigs and shtraimels, don't get the pictures.  It sends a funny mixed message.

Also interesting is that Jewish and Muslim headcoverings are mentioned together- but Jewish ones are called Jewish, and Muslim ones are referred to as Palestinian.  In fact, neither the word Islam nor Muslim are mentioned in the article.  I'm not sure what to make of the mismatch, but it does seem interesting.  Do any of you have thoughts that might illuminate this oddity?

"Liberal" Head-Covering And Israel

When I was contemplating my mandated rabbinical school year in Israel, along with all the other concerns on my mind (I'd never been before), I spent a bunch of time worrying about how I was going to cover my head while I was there.  I didn't have the guts to wear kippot of the normal variety.  Friends of mine had already shared plenty of stories ranging from awkward questions to accusatory statements.

So I planned to go significantly with the folded-scarf route.  However, I wanted some other option, and so I started playing with the idea of larger kippot.  I knew that plenty of liberal Orthodox married women wore hats that looked similar, although placed slightly differently.  

So I set to crocheting.  I took a lot of inspiration from various doilies that I was working on at the same time.  By the end of that year, I had quite a number of different colored, lacy kippot that cover a good majority of my head.  

These actually seemed to work out pretty well for what I wanted: I  don't know what my neighbors thought of me, but no one asked me awkward questions, and I got several requests from my Israeli peers at Machon Schechter for their own kippot of similar sorts. 

These days, I am a little unsure about how I feel about this level of coverage.  In theory, I think that I'm ok with it, paired with a braid/bun (instead of loose hair), but I haven't actually worn them as such outside.  In fact, except for a couple of my largest, they've gone to my "sell/give this away someday" pile.  It's a journey, as they say.  

In any case, here's an example: 

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