A stupid but simple question: when I see Jews riding the subway, appearing on television, etc., and they’re wearing their yarmulke and it is completely incidental to their activity (i.e. it’s not a high holy day or they’re not discussing religion, etc.) does it probably mean that they’re orthodox, or are there [significant numbers of] Conservative and Reform Jews who do this as well?
This is one of those “wondered for a while but embarassed to ask” questions. One reason I’m asking is Dr. Sharon Moalem. He’s currently making the talk-show rounds promoting his new book Survival of the Sickest and he always wears a yarmulke. He’s also extremely gay-friendly (don’t know if he’s personally gay or not) and has made some (quite funny but) irreverent comments, etc., and gay-friendly/irreverent just aren’t usually things I associate with the orthodoxy of any religion.
In a word, yes. I’ve never known a Conservative or Reform Jew to constantly wear a yamulke, except for some acting Conservative rabbis.
But you have to bear in mind that the differences between the three Jewish streams are doctrinal - matters of belief, observances, liturgy and so forth. While Orthodox sects are overwhelmingly more traditionalist than their brethren, there’s no real technical reason why members can’t be irreverant or gay-friendly.
This Dr. Mualem probably believes the Orthodox screed and way of life, and has found a way to work his rather un-orthodox attitudes into his faith. Liberal Orthodox many be a minority, but they certainly exist. Besides, by his name,he’s a Sephardic Israeli, and those tend to shy away from the “progressive” streams - they don’t really see them as a viable alternative.
In any religion you can find the orthodox and the ultra-orthodox. They are not at all the same things.
I grew up among orthodox Jews, but never knew any ultra-orthodox Jews, so I am not the best authority. However, the orthodox Jews were pretty much exactly the same people as their conservative and reformed brethren (just with less money: the well-to-do were never orthodox). They were assimilated, modern, and held a spectrum of viewpoints. They were not Hasidim and did not comport to any stereotypes about dress or behavior. Most of them did not even wear yarmulkes. (As noted, conservative and reform Jews never do.) Israel itself is supposed to be very gay-friendly, from what I understand.
I find the same split among Catholics and Protestants. The fundamentalist sector of the religion is often very noisy, and indeed can be very scary to those not in the religion. However, even Catholics and Protestants have a range of believers strikingly similar to the reform, conservative, orthodox, ultra-Orthodox of Judaism. I believe this is also true of Islam, despite media stereotypes.
Religions do have a tendency to get tagged in outsiders’ minds by the behavior of their loudest members. I don’t understand why those inside don’t try to do more about this problem. However, in any major religion the gulf between orthodox and ultra-orthodox is vast and what is true about the latter seldom holds for the former.
How old are you? Or, what I really mean is when did you “grow up among” Orthodox jews?. Twenty-30 years ago, you were right-- Orthodox Jews did not usually wear a yarmulke. But now things have changed. This is due to two things: Partly due to changes in Orthodox Judaism, where a greater stress is placed on visible ritual observance than a generation ago. And partly due to changes in American society, where there is more diversity and less outright discrimination against minorities of all types, including Orthodox jews.
To the OP : if you see a person wearing a yarmulke, you can be pretty sure that he is an Orthodox Jew. You won’t see him working on the Sabbath or eating in a restaurant unless it has a kosher ceritificate
“Never” is a bit too strong, there… I have a friend who’s whatever is the least orthodox branch of Judaism (doesn’t care about kosher, interprets the Sabbath rather loosely, etc.), but he still wears a yarmulke in certain circumstances (when lighting the menorah, for instance). Granted, I’ve never seen him wearing one in public.
Sheesh. I’m Orthodox (although female, so not yarmulke-wearing), and would like to think of myself as reasonably unbiased and at least occasionally irreverent.
I’ve never known a non-Orthodox person to wear a yarmulke outside of a religious setting, but all the Orthodox men I know do, although they may or may not feel comfortable doing so in a work setting. My husband, for example, went on a job interview recently and was agonizing beforehand over whether or not to wear one. He decided yes, as he is proud of his religious identity, and besides, if they’re the sort of people who would let that influence their hiring decision, are they the sort of people for whom he’d want to work?
Exapno, when was this? I’m in my mid-twenties, and I’ve never visited or heard of an Orthodox community in which most of the men did not wear yarmulkes, at least in the US. (Countries with more anti-Semitism are different; I know that many Orthodox Jews in France don’t feel comfortable wearing external symbols of their Judaism.)
(Bolding added.) No offense intended, but as I remember, you live in the rural Southern US, so how often do you experience subways, let alone Jews on the subway?
My experiences are 40-50 years old. I’m ancient, remember?
But I would suspect that even the current practice of wearing yarmulkes in public (and that’s what I think all of us are talking about, not lighting menorahs in private) may be site specific. I would expect it in New York City; I wouldn’t in upstate New York. Some orthodox Jews certainly do, but the sight of a yarmulke is public up here is extremely rare. That’s casual observation talking, though.
Montgomery’s not particularly rural and has a sizable Jewish community. There’s not an orthodox temple here, but there are a few orthodox Jews who attend Agudath Israel.
Now that the DNA evidence has cleared me I’m allowed to travel outside of Montgomery. Both Atlanta and D.C., places I go periodically, have subways.
JEWS ON THE SUBWAY sounds like a low key sequel to Snakes on a Plane. “Topol and Woody Allen are attached.”
There are orthodox Jews that wear yammulkes all the time but you wouldn’t notice it. They have them woven into their hair. There are other symbols of their orthodoxy that thay cleverly hide.
Bottom line: It’s no big deal. The fact that they decide to hide it or display it has more to do with their own perception of themselves than who they really are.
Well, I don’t want to make my it my lifetime’s work defending France (which certainly has it’s faults), but this kind of “France is Evil” hatemongering stuff is getting to be a little 2003. France has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world, and when I walk down the street, I can promise you that I see more kippas, black hats etc than outward signs of any other religion. Maybe you’re getting confused with the separation of religion and state issue ? There have been dark periods for every religion at some point in French history, but right now France is basically a non-religious tolerant society. Come visit Paris sometime, and you’ll find that you fit in a lot better in a kippa than in white sneakers and shorts.
Someone claimed that only Orthodox Jews will wear a yarmulke outside of a religious service. I have a good friend who belongs to a Conservative synagogue (which he doesn’t go to very often–thinks the rabbi is a dork and can’t stand the rebbitzin) and pays no attention to Sabbath. He keeps kosher in a sense–doesn’t eat meat, but does eat finny, scaly fish, doesn’t use passover dishes,…, but still puts on a yarmulke whenever he sits down to eat. He doesn’t insist I do, he just quietly does it.
I admittedly have never been to France, but am only reporting second hand what French Jews visiting the US have told me. I am sorry if my information is out of date. However, as a woman walking down the street in a kippa, I’d definitely attract some attention. (Dang, where’s the Happy Orthodox Jewish Man smiley when you need him!)
Sampiro, minor nitpick - Orthodox Jews would call it a synagogue, reserving the term ‘temple’ for the (destroyed) Temple in Jerusalem.
Exapno - you probably don’t see many yarmulke-wearing Jews in upstate New York because there aren’t that many observant Jews there, not because the ones who live there are embarrassed or hide it. My husband is from Binghamton NY, where there’s a small Orthodox community, and its members certainly wear yarmulkes publicly, but there aren’t too many such communities. I know they exist in Rochester and Buffalo, but I’m not sure about others. (Hubby adds Albany and Schenectady to the list.) As a rule, you tend not to find too many Orthodox people in rural communities in the US, although you run across one occasionally.
Spartydog - I’ve never heard of weaving a yarmulke into one’s hair, although I have heard of one or two cases of men wearing toupees (even though they weren’t bald) to cover their heads unobtrusively, back in the seventies. Is that what you’re referring to?
