So, of course, I had to watch some of the royal wedding today, and of course the hats of the people in attendance were a fashion statement that drew many comments.
Some of the hats were pretty whacky... unusual ... and some may have thought they were making a NEW kind of fashion statement with them... but I found some visible, though not used in the same way, similarities to those smaller ones that some of the women wore on their foreheads to tefillins, aka phylacteries, which are small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, that some religious Jewish people wear at times.
"And you shall bind them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be as frontlets on your head between your eyes." (Deuteronomy 6:8)
The commandment to wear tefillin is binding on Jewish males 13 years of age or older. Women are exempt from the obligation, as are slaves. Early Jewish law codes allowed women to take on the obligation of wearing tefillin, but this custom was generally discouraged. Over time the discouragement changed into active exclusion, especially amongst Ashkenazi Jews.
Modern Orthodox Judaism holds that it is permissible for women to wear tefillin, but generally discourage it. Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism allow women to wear tefillin. Many in Conservative Judaism encourage this practice.
I've only seen photos of men wearing tefillins, but the small hats of some of the royal wedding guests did look a bit like them. And then some of them had to really embellish them, as in these totally goofy looking ones.. *lol*
Anyway ... it was fun to see some of the outlandish fashions, and some of the really beautiful ones too ... gives me ideas for hats for the upcoming Kentucky Derby Parties too.. *L*
2 comments:
interesting blog :)
Thanks Stefan!
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