{"id":1583,"date":"2014-06-11T20:32:29","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2014-06-11T20:32:29","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:32:29","slug":"from-tzeit-tzeit-to-fur-hats-and-black-coats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/from-tzeit-tzeit-to-fur-hats-and-black-coats\/","title":{"rendered":"From Tzeit-tzeit to Fur hats and Black Coats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of clothing a visitor sees in Israel and what it all means.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Tom Brennan<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel is a microsmic state of a macrocosmic culture. The Diaspora sent the Jewish people into the four corners of the earth and from those corners they are returning to the Promised Land. They are bringing with them the cultures of the places where they have been sojourning and the clothes on their backs in many cases. The streets of Jerusalem are a kaleidoscope of mixing styles of attire. This wardrobe can range from sport shirts and kippas to fur trimmed hat and, long black coats. Let\u2019s start with some basics.<\/p>\n

The kippa<\/a> is the small brimless cap that you most often see men and boys wearing, One of the most emotional images you will often see is of a soldier of the IDF, Galil Automatic slung ready for use, praying in front of the Western Wall. The kippa is almost universal among Israeli men from college students to businessmen.<\/p>\n

\"Hasidic-Jew\"<\/a>

Hasidic-Jew
Photo by Pascale Korson<\/p><\/div>\n

Tzeit-tzeit are in the most basic form, a tassel of twisted blue and white fabric cord worn at the corners of a shirt or belt. They are also sewn on the borders of a tallit<\/a>, or prayer shawl. In Torah the Israelites are definitely told in writing to sew these tassels or fringes to their garments to remind them constantly and daily of the Commandments, no exceptions. The Gospel of Matthew narrates a miracle where a woman had been sick with a bloody discharge for 12 years. This was a double misery since she had spent all her money on doctors and had not been cured and a bloody discharge caused her to be ritually unclean and isolate her from society as well. Her faith moved her to crawl into the surging crowd around the Messiah, just telling herself if she touched the tzeit-tzeit on his clothes she could be healed by this miracle worker. Jesus astounded and confused everyone by saying \u201cwho touched Me?\u201d. Even His disciples were confused, saying to themselves, \u201cwho didn\u2019t touch Him?\u201d The miracle that followed was an example of how the Messiah used the humbled and excluded to show how much faith was valued by Him in face of ritual and misfortune.<\/p>\n

The tallit, or prayer shawl<\/a> is a simple garment worn by men and boys that goes over the head to give a sense of intimacy to prayer time. It is now making an entrance into the non-Jewish world via the Messianic and Hebraic Roots followers. It has fringe on its edges and was usually worn as a garment along with outer clothes and a tunic in Jesus\u2019 time. A Jew was always ready to pray and the tallit gave the necessary privacy. It is sometimes called a \u201cprayer closet\u201d and this can seem confusing to some, tallit is the closest and most often used term.<\/p>\n

Often times you will see Orthodox bearded men, dressed in black suit coats and fedora. Others will favor a more severe look with a hat decorated with fur and long black coats. Black is the color of severity and daily wear demonstrates the attitude of the wearer towards their deep involvement in prayer. Fashions in headgear are changeable. One year\u2019s its fedoras for some Orthodox and conservatives the next year it could be Panama hats. Most Orthodox will cover their heads on a regular basis.Believe it or not, there are sects among contemporary Jews with wide variations on dress and observances. Headgear is one of them. For men to wear a hat or some type of head covering seems to be one mostly universal custom in Israel. In Biblical times covering the head was often a sign of mourning, penance or to call attention to something that should warn off others such as leprosy. Many felt that covering the head was a sign of respect to the Almighty. Women on the other hand were to cover their hair since it is considered a sign of her natural beauty and were to be seen only by her husband. It was a serious matter to be seen in public with uncovered and unbound hair. The instance in the Gospel of Matthew of the weeping repentant woman who not only enters the dinner where Jesus is a guest, but uncovers and unbounds her hair before washing His feet and anointing them with the expensive perfume violates a series of contemporary customs. The cost of the perfume<\/a> was the least thing on the other guests\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

\"Orthodox-Jewish-Woman\"<\/a>

Orthodox-Jewish-Woman<\/p><\/div>\n

The ultra-Orthodox are a very intense group and work diligently to study Scripture constantly. Shabbat observance and dietary traditions are very critical to their society. They have a unique outlook to say the least. The men will wear long black coats, high stockings and black hats with fur trim. These date from the fashions dictated for them to follow by the rulers in Eastern Europe. The Jews were always under restrictions and forced to live apart from the rest of the population.<\/p>\n

Ultra-Orthodox boys tend to wear black like their male adult relatives and have long side locks streaming from under their kippas. This follows the Biblical command to not round the sides of your heads. The pagan priests shaved their heads and the Chosen People were to be a separate one: no pagan practices were to be imported into their society and no semblance of the idolatry. Their Creator would not share them with anyone.<\/p>\n

In cities where immigrants are settling you will see garb native to their former homes, Ethiopian, Moroccan and whatever culture their ancestors adopted or were compelled to adopt. The average Israeli will be indistinguishable from any modern resident or New York, Moscow or London. He or she will be dressed for work or play as any professional would.<\/p>\n

The Arab population will dress either as tradition holds or as anyone else whether a Christian or Muslim. Many Arabs still wear the kafeiya, the colored head cloth that has often been a tribal tradition with a headband. If you have seen Lawrence of Arabia you will recognize the traditions and genuine practicality of this simple head covering. It covers head and mouth, can be closed quickly and securely to keep sudden sand storm debris from being too much of a problem, and rarely blows off like baseball caps, and other Western hats.<\/p>\n

Israel is a people watcher\u2019s paradise. Here cultures and fashion<\/a> mix to present a world of uniqueness. The most unusual fact is that there is a story under every hat or kippa, nothing is left to chance or just style; that\u2019s Israel.<\/p>\n

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The world of clothing a visitor sees in Israel and what it all means. By Tom Brennan Israel is a microsmic state of a macrocosmic culture. The Diaspora sent the Jewish people into the four corners of the earth and from those corners they are returning to the Promised Land. They are bringing with them more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[75,625,632,631,253,125,254],"class_list":{"0":"post-1583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israeli-culture","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-israeli-news","10":"tag-israeli-culture","11":"tag-israeli-life","12":"tag-jewish-dress","13":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","14":"tag-religious-dress","15":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1588,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions\/1588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}