|
|
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
which in fact it is, on its surface. Once embroidered onto the skullcap, the light caught by the gold-wire
embroidery is of incomparable beauty.
It is important to note here that almost all skullcap traditions in India are used as a sort of anchor for the
turban- just as in other traditions it was once used as a foundation for a crown. It has been noted that wherever
a turban is wound about the head of an Indian, there is a skullcap beneath it. This is quite fascinating when
recalling the other traditions of consecrating the head by covering it with a skullcap, especially the Jewish and
Zoroastrian traditions.
The other popular cap style in India is none other than the Glengarry. Commonly called Gandhi s Cap,
the Symbol of the Congress Party, this Indian Glengarry is the only known cap that is not only named after a
person, but also symbolizes a political party. Though available even to the poorest of Indians in a wide range of
colors, its alleged place of origin is in western India, where Gandhi was born. They are most commonly seen in
plain white homespun cotton. Prime Minister Nehru, who wore a cap like this all his life, made it world famous.
Indians also wear what I call the furry Gandhi Cap , closely related to the Shapka. This seems a
specialty in states such as Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab. The well-dressed Indian gentleman will wear this cap
even in the searing, triple-digit Indian summer. The caps acquire a sort of greasy luster after having been
deluged with years of sweat. It is very interesting to note again that this particular cap in the cloth version, like
the Indian kilt, is believed to have originated in India- and is available in native Indian tartan. Thus the link
between the ancient Russians, Aryans and their Scots cousins is blatant in the tartan kilts and Glengarry
skullcaps native to India.
37
The Jewish Connection
The Shekhina, God s Presence, resides above my head. [Kiddushin 31a.]
-Rabbi Honah ben Joshua, explaining why he never walked four cubits with his head uncovered .
The Babylonians were the people who originally covered their heads with skullcaps. The Jews
borrowed this custom, and wore the mitznefet, also called the mig ba at. These words translate roughly as
wrapping or applied covering for the head, and even Talmudic scholars are not sure if it meant a turban or a
classic skullcap. Jewish scholars translate the term as mitre , but it could just as well have meant a skullcap.
The Jewish skullcap is most readily known by its Balto-Slavic name, yarmulke, also rendered as
yalmurka. (A few semi-literate manufacturers are spelling it yamuka these days; but as a journalist once joked,
this is bad because people would confuse it with Yamaha.) This word is said to come from the Hamito-Semitic
phrase Yara melekh-ka, to tremble beneath the king , which translates into the Hebrew Yare Me-Elohim, to
stand in awe of God. Going back to the armuçilla mentioned in the section on Italy, author Abram Kanof tells
us about the origin of the word yarmulke:
Plaut [W.G. Plaut wrote The Origin of the Word Yarmulke , HUCA, vol. XXVI (1955)] suggests
that the word [yarmulke] was derived from a common mispronunciation of the [Latin]&
almucella& [a diminiutive] of the Latin& almucia [almice or almuce, the Catholic clerical
vestment].
Plaut, according to Kanof, reverses the situation described in our section about the Roman tradition-
instead of armuçilla being a mispronunciation of yarmulke, it turns out that yarmulke is a mispronunciation of
armuçilla! It is clear that the most logical and probable version of the story is that yarmulke is simply a Hamito-
Semitic phrase.
The Jewish skullcap is more properly known by its Hebrew name, kippah; the plural is kippot. There is a
curiously German sound to the term: in Yiddish, as in German, the yarmulke is called kappel. This word in turn
is curiously reminiscent of the words we saw earlier meaning crown or head . The later Hebrew word kippah
38
is claimed by some Kabbalist and Messianic Jews to have a secret meaning. Let us have a look at it: The first
letter of the Hebrew word for skullcap, kippah, is the letter kav. Now the word kav can mean cloud but more
importantly it signifies the palm of the hand . The Jews have always had a beautiful metaphor of the clouds in
the sky being the palms of God, outsretched and blessing His people. Further, Moses was wrapped in clouds
while in the Divine Presence; the Divine Presence also descended wrapped in clouds. These lovely images
suggest God wrapping Moses in His palms, and later wrapping Himself, to protect humans from His
unbearable Glory.
In the Psalms there is a verse about God not forgetting us even if our own mothers could- because he
has covered us with the palm of His Hand. Now, the Jews bear this in mind every morning upon rising, and join
their palms together to show submission before God. In turn, God covers them with His protecting Palm- His
Kav. So the kippah is representative not only of the Presence of God and the submission to God, but most
importantly of the Protection of God s own Divine Hand. It is a beautiful, mystical and rich symbolic tradition-
even if most Jews are not aware of it.
(There is a cute joke about a little boy who had to cover his brother s head with his hand, since it was
Passover and the brother for some reason had no kippah. When the boy grew tired he drew away his hand- his
grandfather said, Hey, keep your hand on your brother s head!
Whereupon the exasperated boy said, What? Am I my brother s kippah? )
We know that the early Jews, originally an Oriental people, had the Oriental custom of covering the
head as a sign of social and religious respect- thus it was a custom already in place for the general populace.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkwiatpolny.htw.pl
|
|
| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
|
|
