Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Samuel Kaye

My Kippah 

Yesterday, the doorbell rang. To my delight, it was one of my friends recently returned from Israel, and he had come over with a gift for me. In his hand was a small brown paper bag, “Delivery straight from Jerusalem!” What was inside the bag? Beautiful new hand-knit kippot. 

For nearly a decade now, I’ve worn a very specific kind of kippah, a kippah srugah.  Mine are white with a single band of colour, hand-knit (technically crocheted). In North America, it is just a kippah. In Israel, a kippah is a political and religious statement. And a kippah srugah is a sign of allegiance with the daati leumi, the national religious Zionist. 

I wear it for a different reason, however. I’ll tell you why in a moment.   

When you wear a kippah every day, there’s wear and tear. That’s why every time I travel to Jerusalem, I always go to the same shop, Yad L’kashish, to refresh my supply. When brides and grooms are taking honeymoons to Israel, and students or friends are telling me that they are visiting Jerusalem, I’ll often make a small request that they bring me back one of these kippot. Especially if they are travelling at the end of summer! That way, I can have a new one for the chagim. 

But the war with Iran forced all those lovely couples and travellers to change their vacation plans. I had made peace with the fact that this year, for the first time in many years, this ritual would be taking a year off. Ordering it online didn’t feel right. I accepted that I would not have a fresh kippah for the holidays. But, lo and behold, a delivery found its way directly to my front door anyway.  

The arrival of these new kippot was a welcome shock to the system. Since the 12-Day War with Iran and the cancellation of so many people’s summer plans and programs, I had internalized a feeling that there was simply no way to get to and from Israel. But seeing my friend at the front door, freshly returned from an amazing vacation, with a bag of kippot in hand, was a moment of normalcy in a deeply unsettling time. It reminded me that the ‘travel line’ to and from Israel has been restored. People can, and should, go to Israel. To study, to vacation, to visit friends and family. To simply be. Especially if you changed or cancelled your plans this last year.  

So why do I wear a kippah srugah? My teacher, Rav Meir, once asked his students to explain how they had chosen their respective kippot. “I like this colour!” said one. “I like this style,” said a second. “To keep my head from burning!” said another! “Good enough answers,” replied the rabbi, “now let me tell you why I wear this kippah.” He said, pointing to his white and brown knit kippah srugah.  

“To me,” he said, “the kippah srugah represents a Zionism that believes in the redemption of the world as a process. Not as a miracle that happens all at once. It must be knit loop by loop. It must be done by hand. It takes work.”  

His reason, and his style, became my own. Each morning, putting on my kippah reaffirms my belief in that vision of Zionism. A Zionism that takes work. A Zionism that is building a redeemed world. Not in one grand hour. But loop by loop, moment by moment, day by day.