I had a daily routine during my first three years at Classical High School. As I was leaving the house, I left my kippah (yarmulke/skull cap) next to the door. When I came home, I would put it right back on my head.
Back then I was much shyer and afraid of what others might think of me. By my senior year, I got over that and began wearing my kippah to school every single day. No one ever said anything negative about it or treated me differently.
Following two years of yeshiva (Talmudic study) in Israel, where I obviously wore my kippah every day, I continued my studies at Yeshiva University in New York – in the city that some may consider a Jewish utopia, at least at the best of times.
Between studying, and eventually being employed at Yeshiva University, I lived in Manhattan for six years. I wore my kippah every single day – to movie theaters, museums and Central Park. I even wore it in subway stations, alone and late at night.
Since my Aliyah (immigration) to Israel, I have become somewhat of a world traveler. I have visited places such as England, Ireland, Poland, China, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, France and Dubai (UAE). Because of the way I overcame my initial fear of displaying my Judaism in high school, it became of major importance to me to proudly display my kippah everywhere. I never took unnecessary risks, even those completely unrelated to a display of Judaism. If I was told to not worry about how a particular place might treat Jews, then I had no concerns about wearing my kippah while there.
During my two-month backpacking trip around New Zealand and Australia, not a day went by when someone didn’t ask me about the kippah on my head. This inquiry led to further discussions about Judaism with all kinds of people I met on my travels. One of them, a German chef, noticed I wasn’t eating any of the (non-kosher) food he was preparing and offering for free. When I explained why (due to kashrut) he said that he wanted to make something kosher for me. And this is how we ended up eating an amazing chocolate souffle that we prepared together.
In Cairns, Australia, I mentally prepared myself on a Friday to have yet another lonely Shabbat without the company of other Jews who would observe it with me. And then, as I walked into the hostel’s lobby I saw someone wearing a kippah – although I had a baseball hat on my head at the time. After I introduced myself as a fellow Jew, we connected instantly and ended up making the most of a Shabbat with just the two of us. All it took was just one of us to be comfortable about publicly displaying his identity.
Soon after the holiday of Shavuot this past June, I turned on U.S. news to see people demanding that all Zionists on a NYC subway car raise their hands and get out.
I loved the time I spent in NYC, and, as I said, always wore my kippah wherever I went. I would like to think that, despite being outnumbered and in danger, I would have had the courage to raise my hand. As the famous quote goes, “I Am Not a Jew With Trembling Knees.” Even if I decided that for my own safety, I should keep my hand down, I know for certain that my kippah would have been on my head, just like it aways was when I lived in NYC. A clear identifier of me as a Jew, making it worthwhile to ask me questions about being a Zionist (which I am).
Immediately after Oct. 7, my mom told me she felt I would be safer in Providence. I asked her, “Would I be safer driving just five minutes from her home to Brown University, with a kippah on my head and an Israeli flag draped over my shoulders, or in Israel where I would have a country willing to defend me with the Iron Dome and the Israeli Army itself?” She agreed I was better off with the latter.
Many people do not have the choice to simply shed their identities whenever they feel it is necessary or because they are in danger. I do have this choice! All I need to do is simply remove my kippah. But I refuse to do that in Providence or Manhattan, the two places in the U.S. I call home.
Among other places I have been to, especially parts of my native country of the U.S., places I hope to visit one day, I would like to not even think about whether or not I should wear a kippah. Where I currently reside, in the Land of Israel, it isn’t an issue.
DANIEL STIEGLITZ (dstieglitz@gmail.com) lives in Jerusalem. His collection of short stories, “Tavern of the Mind,” is available for paperback and Kindle purchase on Amazon at www.amzn.to/2Izssrz.