Our devotion to God should be of no concern to the world. Yet, as we have seen and experienced over the centuries, the world seems to concern itself with us whether we want it to or not – and usually in ways that do us harm. The world seems to have determined that our yarmulkes are little more than targets on our heads, providing focus for its hatred and ill-will toward us.
* * * * * Would that the ugliness of anti-Semitism were a thing of the past, a relic of time that saw its most horrific expression less than a century ago. Unfortunately, it isn’t. We see growing evidence of anti-Semitism in our own time.
Last month, newspapers in Israel and the U.S. reported that Economy Minister Naftali Bennett presented to the cabinet a report on anti-Semitic trends over the past year. The report, which was compiled by the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism, declared that France is the most dangerous country for Jews today and made clear that it is Muslim extremists who are the “main instigators of global anti-Semitism.”
Main instigators. But the fire they carry too easily finds welcoming tinder. This hatred is ancient, yet it continues to metastasize in new ways.
“We continue to see deterioration around the world,” said Bennett. “The old anti-Semitism, spouting the familiar stereotype of a global Jewish conspiracy, is being increasingly coupled with the campaign to delegitimize Israel. It is radical Islam which is acting as the bridge for these two racist beliefs. They’ll use any perverted excuse to further their goal, which is the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.”
As this hatred smolders and grows, we find that the yarmulke is playing a significant and an unwanted role in its resurgence. The following is from a JTA dispatch last month:
A Swedish reporter who walked around the southern Swedish city of Malmo while wearing a kippah to test attitudes toward Jews was hit once and cursed at by passersby before he fled for fear of serious violence.
Sveriges Television…aired secretly recorded footage from Petter Ljunggren’s walk through Malmo, which documented some of the incidents that occurred within the space of few hours.
In one scene, Ljunggren – who, in addition to wearing a kippah was also wearing a Star of David pendant – was filmed sitting at a café in central Malmo reading a newspaper, as several passersby hurled anti-Semitic insults at him.
A man sits in a café. He does nothing to incite a response or reaction from anyone other than to wear a yarmulke (and a Star of David pendant, although it is unclear how prominent that might have been). Yet he is insulted and threatened.
The situation has become so dangerous that people have begun to consider great lengths to conceal this modest display of piety.
Severalnews outlets recently reported that an Israeli barber had gone so far as to fashion what he described as “magic” yarmulke made out of hair. These yarmulkes would allow religious Jews to cover their heads without attracting unwanted attention from anti-Semites.
The barber, Shalom Koresh, said he had seen particular interest from buyers in France and Belgium.
A simple bit of fabric. Is it really so important? Could we not find another way to demonstrate to God our devotion?
* * * * * It is told that many centuries ago a Jew died and after his burial and Kaddish his soul rose to Heaven to receive Divine judgment. When it arrived, it presented the good and bad deeds performed during the man’s life and then awaited judgment. But no judgment came. The good and bad deeds of this soul were exactly equal.