Hold On to Your Yarmulke!
This story is in no way intended to offend Jewish people, however, I thought the situation too comical not to bring to attention in a public forum.
I'm sure this happens in some situations all the time, but it so happened that I was able to witness such a thing first hand some time ago in New York, while riding in a car.
As you may already know, it is traditional for Jewish men to wear Yarmulkes atop their heads to serve as a constant reminder for their devotion to their faith. If you've never seen this, a Yarmulke is a small round hat which is placed towards the back half of your head. What is important to know in this situation, is it doesn't fit around the head the way a baseball cap or a cowboy hat would, it more or less just sits there, carefully balanced as securely as possible. I've seen some men use hair clips to keep it more firmly from moving around on their head.
In this case, though, the man in question did not have any such clips in place, and his Yarmulke was free to move around if the wind chose to do so.
I was in a car stopped at a red light. As in most cases in New York, the people crossing the crosswalk were all casually walking across towards their destinations. Also as in most cases in New York, the people doing so tend to take advantage of the green light as long as possible, so as not to have to stand and wait for the next light.
As it happens, a Jewish man wearing a Yarmulke was starting to walk across when the light changed. The traffic in which I was included was about to get moving and so the people crossing the street needed to pick up the pace if they weren't going to get hit by cars, which we surely would have done had they not gotten out of the way.
The Jewish man obviously was aware that he had to get moving, and as he jumped to his feet and picked up his stride, he was also aware that he was going to leave his Yarmulke behind if he had not reached up and held on to it. The look on his face was priceless.
I just thought it was funny.
I'm sure this happens in some situations all the time, but it so happened that I was able to witness such a thing first hand some time ago in New York, while riding in a car.
As you may already know, it is traditional for Jewish men to wear Yarmulkes atop their heads to serve as a constant reminder for their devotion to their faith. If you've never seen this, a Yarmulke is a small round hat which is placed towards the back half of your head. What is important to know in this situation, is it doesn't fit around the head the way a baseball cap or a cowboy hat would, it more or less just sits there, carefully balanced as securely as possible. I've seen some men use hair clips to keep it more firmly from moving around on their head.
In this case, though, the man in question did not have any such clips in place, and his Yarmulke was free to move around if the wind chose to do so.
I was in a car stopped at a red light. As in most cases in New York, the people crossing the crosswalk were all casually walking across towards their destinations. Also as in most cases in New York, the people doing so tend to take advantage of the green light as long as possible, so as not to have to stand and wait for the next light.
As it happens, a Jewish man wearing a Yarmulke was starting to walk across when the light changed. The traffic in which I was included was about to get moving and so the people crossing the street needed to pick up the pace if they weren't going to get hit by cars, which we surely would have done had they not gotten out of the way.
The Jewish man obviously was aware that he had to get moving, and as he jumped to his feet and picked up his stride, he was also aware that he was going to leave his Yarmulke behind if he had not reached up and held on to it. The look on his face was priceless.
I just thought it was funny.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 4:10 PM
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