Friday, January 23, 2015

Invisible Kippa?

After deadly attack on Jewish supermarket, members of France and Belgium’s Jewish communities rightfully fear being singled out in future attacks; but trust Jewish mind to find a creative solution to the problem.

The new ‘Magic Kippa’ addresses the issue of Jewish visibility by allowing religious Jews to don the mandatory skullcap without running the risk of being visually identified as Jews.

The product, which was being developed even before the attack on the Paris kosher supermarket which saw four people killed, is made out of hair and seamlessly blends in with the believer’s hair, rendering it indiscernible to the untrained eye.

“Because we cannot put on a kippa in these days, he have created a kippa made from natural hair and which can be washed,” the creators Haim and Shalom said in a YouTube video in French.

The two further claimed the product is already being used by Jewish businessmen wishing to move freely without being hindered by anti-Semitism. They also offer potential clients to send in a few strands of hair and they will match you original hair color and send you a customized invisible hair-kippa.

However, for all its pragmatic ingenuity, the ‘magic kippa’ also entails a problematic position regarding anti-Semitism, and shifts responsibility on to the Jew himself, as many commentators pointed out. “We need to be proud of our Jewish identity, not hide it,” lamented one; “An invisible kippa! What are we ashamed of,” wrote another. Others took a more lighthearted approach, simply commenting: “This is ridiculous.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't like it that's not the way to live a Jewish life today you could live openly as a jew

cool masmid said...

Whats someone who is bald or even thinning supposed to do?

Anonymous said...

#1: I don't know where you come from, but the situation on the streets in your country is clearly very different. There are certain parts of London (where I live) where I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing a kippa. A cap (or a woolly hat in the winter) or camouflaged kippa will do the job halachically without singling me out as a target for any muslim extremist/anti semitic thug!
That is the reality here.
If this is the case in London, how much more so in Paris!
We have to be proud of our Judaism, but we also have to think about our own personal safety!