01Kippah and yarmulke: one object, two languages
The kippah (Hebrew word, כיפה, literally "dome") and the yarmulke (Yiddish word, borrowed from the Polish jarmułka, "skullcap") refer to the same small, round head covering worn on the crown of the head. "Kippah" dominates in Israeli and modern Hebrew usage, "yarmulke" in the Ashkenazi and Yiddish-speaking world. The popular etymology linking yarmulke to the Aramaic yarei malka ("fear of the King", that is, of God) is appealing but has no linguistic basis.
02A custom, not a Torah commandment
Covering the head is not, for a Jewish man, a Torah commandment: it is a custom (minhag) that arose from a pious practice of a few sages (middat hassidut), which gradually became binding through usage and rabbinic authority. The Talmud (Kiddushin 31a) reports that Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, would not walk four cubits with his head uncovered, saying: "the Divine Presence is above my head"; another passage (Shabbat 156b) links the head covering to fear of Heaven. The Shulchan Aruch distinguishes the general custom of not going bareheaded (Orach Chayim 2:6) from the obligation to cover one's head when pronouncing the divine Name and praying (Orach Chayim 91:3 and 206:3).
03Wear varies by denomination
How often the kippah is worn varies widely. The Orthodox wear it at all times; Conservative Jews (Masorti) mainly at the synagogue and during prayer; Reform and Liberal Jews wear it optionally - nineteenth-century Reform Judaism even discouraged it, before a gradual return from the 1970s onward. Women, mainly within the Reform, Reconstructionist, and Renewal movements, have worn it since the 1970s as a gesture of equality, even though custom does not require it of them.
04Style signals affiliation
The style of kippah often signals religious affiliation. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center survey of Israeli Jewish men, the large black fabric kippah is worn mostly by Haredim (ultra-Orthodox); the black crocheted kippah by the Masorti (traditional); the colorful knitted kippah (kippa sruga) characterizes the religious-Zionist (dati leumi) and Modern Orthodox; the absence of a head covering corresponds mostly to Hilonim (secular Jews). As a general rule, the larger and darker the kippah, the closer the wearer is to the Haredi world.
05Etiquette for visitors
At the synagogue and in a Jewish cemetery, every man - Jewish or not - covers his head; these venues provide kippot for visitors, and wearing one as a non-Jewish guest is a sign of respect, not an obligation. Do not assume that every Jew wears one daily: Reform and secular Jews often do not, outside a religious setting. Finally, the kippah makes its wearer visibly identifiable: in some contexts, this visibility exposes him to antisemitism - in 2019, Germany's antisemitism commissioner publicly advised against wearing it "everywhere, all the time".
Geography of misunderstanding
Offensive
- israel
- united-states
- france
- united-kingdom
Not documented
- peuples-autochtones
Historical origins
Se couvrir la tête est, pour l'homme juif, une coutume (minhag) issue d'une pratique de piété (middat hassidout), et non un commandement de la Torah ; le Talmud (Kiddouchin 31a, Chabbat 156b) l'associe à la crainte du Ciel, et le Choulhan Aroukh la fixe pour la prière. Le port permanent et sa codification sont des développements médiévaux et modernes.
Documented incidents
- 2019 — Le 25 mai 2019, Felix Klein, commissaire du gouvernement allemand à la lutte contre l'antisémitisme, déclare qu'il ne peut « pas conseiller aux Juifs de porter la kippah partout, tout le temps, en Allemagne », invoquant la hausse des agressions antisémites. Le propos, perçu comme une capitulation, suscite une vive controverse et des appels à porter la kippah par solidarité. (Interview au groupe de presse Funke, 25 mai 2019 (The Local, France 24, CNN))
Practical recommendations
To do
- À la synagogue ou dans un cimetière juif, couvrez-vous la tête : une kippah est fournie sur place.
- En porter une comme invité non-juif est un signe de respect apprécié, non une obligation.
- Dans le doute sur le contexte, demandez à votre hôte juif si le port est attendu.
Avoid
- Ne refusez pas de porter la kippah fournie à la synagogue : c'est perçu comme un manque de respect.
- Ne supposez pas que tout Juif en porte une au quotidien : réformés et séculiers, souvent, n'en portent pas hors du culte.
- Ne confondez pas le style (velours noir haredi, kippa crochetée colorée sioniste-religieuse) avec un simple choix esthétique : il signale une appartenance.
Neutral alternatives
- En contexte formel, un chapeau ou une autre coiffe couvrant la tête peut remplir la même fonction de couverture.
- Hors d'un lieu de culte, d'autres marques de respect (tenue soignée, attitude) suffisent.