Kippah. Yarmulke. Beanie. Skullcap. You can call it whatever you want, but the Jewish head covering has been in the news and in pop culture a lot lately.
Rosselli's colleagues at McKinsey & Co. gave him a hard time about his kippah. He claims his boss compared him to Madonna, the Kaballah-loving celebrity who has embraced Judaism despite the fact that she's Christian. Another co-worker suggested that Rosselli was just trying "to hide his bald spot." According to the lawsuit Rosselli filed, one co-worker said he wasn't a "real Jew" and another demanded that he "take that [yarmulke] off! You're creeping me out!" Rosselli's lawsuit seeks unspecified money damages from McKinsey & Co. for discrimination and retaliation.
The kippah has also made its way into pop culture. It's become more common to see actors wearing a yarmulke on television shows (Jeffrey Tambor on "Arrested Development" or Jeremy Piven on "Entourage") and in the movies (Ben Stiller in "Keeping the Faith" or Owen Wilson in "Meet the Parents"). But this is just to let the audience know they are playing Jewish characters.
In a recent episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," the kippah was the punchline. Like he did as a writer on "Seinfeld," Larry David draws on real life situations for "Curb" and shows how humorous they are. I'm sure that living in Los Angeles, Larry David has encountered middle-aged Jewish people who suddenly embrace Jewish observance. And that was precisely the situation he wrote for Bob Einstein, who plays dentist Marty Funkhowser on the show. In the "Palestinian Chicken" episode, Larry attends a dinner party where Funkhowser, wearing a yarmulke, explains that he's recently undergone a spiritual awakening following his divorce and mid-life crisis. He has been meeting with a female rabbi each night who has influenced him to become more religious (saying the blessings before meals, wearing a kippah and even considering "Koufaxing" his friends by not playing in the golf tournament on Shabbat).
In this scene (video below), Funkhowser is about to enter a Palestinian chicken restaurant wearing his large velvet yarmulke, but Larry David and Jeff Garlin (playing Jeff Greene) won't allow it.
I started wearing a yarmulke when I was four-years-old at my synagogue-based pre-school, and then continued to wear it at my Jewish day school in Detroit and whenever I was in a synagogue. During my freshman year of college I decided to wear a yarmulke all the time. At first I probably wore it as a sign of Jewish solidarity and then later for more religious reasons. Today, I cynically joke that I wear it simply to cover my bald spot, although truth be told it probably has protected my head from getting sunburned every now and then.
Leo Rosten claims that the word "yarmulke" comes from the Tatar word for skullcap. However, I think it's more likely from the Aramaic "yira malka" meaning "awe of the king" as a sign of respect to God. Whatever one's reason for wearing a yarmulke, they deserve to be treated with respect. Whether you're an Italian New Yorker experimenting with many religions or a spiritually renewed Jewish dentist going to eat some Middle Eastern chicken.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm - Al Abbas Chicken and the Yarmulke‏ - YouTube
The Joy of Vex - Magazine - The Atlantic
Religious expression should be given respect. Historically “Kaballah (Jewish Theosophy) has been studied by non-Jews and other aspects of Jewish religious practice have been incorporated by gentiles into their spiritual expression. Parts of Torah are considered by Jews as binding on “the nations”. Reference to “the children of Noah” is a legal term of art in Jewish law. It means “universal”. Knowledge of God and observance of the universal aspects of Torah by gentiles has always been encouraged.
Another question (and one I didn't get in to) is what happens when someone claims to be from another religion. Are they automatically entitled to certain religious rights in the workplace? In other words, could Rosselli say he is "trying out" different religions -- in accordance with his practice of "theosophy" -- and this month he's "trying out" Judaism... would he be allowed to take off Yom Kippur?
Can a non-Jew wear a yarmulke, get ridiculed and then call it anti-Semitism? I don't think Rosselli has done that, but I'm asking hypothetically.
And finally, if his coworkers at McKinsey & Co. said he shouldn't wear a kippah because he's not Jewish, then aren't they just bringing the "Who's a Jew" debate to the workplace? I know there are employees there who would say that a Jewish person who converted with the help of non-Orthodox rabbis isn't a Jew. And someone who was born to a Jewish father, but non-Jewish mother isn't a Jew.
And also, non-Jews wear yarmulkes all the time in synagogues throughout the world. You don't have to be Jewish to wear one (unlike the tallit and tefillin).