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  • Debbie 

Why hats matter to me. What began as a cool comfort.. transitioned into comfort into a deeper meaning. I have always been fascinated by our fellow humans on this planet.. their villages, culture, history and humanity. We were meant to love, support, and lift each other with immense unconditional support and love. While I can see the ultimate beauty of one color on this planet. … I would grieve the beauty of our differences. Our humanity plumage, cultural differences, ways of worshipping, sharing our differences of the same.. before we understood our differences were the same. The Great Spirit was Him and our Jesus was not threatened by any of it.. it was man. Who had woven in fear. …he not He had woven in all that was fear into our hearts and minds. So carefully maneuvering through – in- and – through our journey with our beloved humanity. It is not He or us which sows seeds of hate, or negativity, unkind thoughts into our bodies and hearts. We create a palette of suspicion by questioning our lives instead of treasuring our differences. We should be honoring every single person and their tribe.

A hat reminds of the various types of cultures, tribes, and the Grace we are under.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kippot-hats-and-head-coverings-a-traditionalist-view/

Information from this source/website ^___^

Kippot, Hats and Head Coverings: A Traditionalist View

Covering the Head as a Spiritual Statement

In Jewish tradition, and even in very old linguistic usage, “an uncovered head” means unbridled license. By the same token, covering the head, be it for prayer and study or at any other time, represents, by general usage at least, the acceptance of Divine sovereignty, of the “yoke of the kingdom of heaven.”

Male Head Covering: Religious Meaning from Social Consensus

It is for this reason that covering the head has become significant and valuable, not because it has any inherent meaning but rather as a conventional sign of belonging to a certain group of people and of commitment to a certain way of life. The [newly observant Jew] must be aware of this symbolism. On the one hand, if he does not cover his head, he will be regarded by the Orthodox (particularly in Israel) as a deviant from the true path, no matter how observant he is. On the other hand, if he is not fully observant, at least in public, the fact that he covers his head may lead others to see him as hypocritical. Indeed, it may cast a shadow of hypocrisy over the entire observant community. Thus, [for a man] covering the head is an act fraught with significance that must be weighed very seriously.

Because the male head covering is not explicitly a matter of mitzvah [commandment], either in the Torah or in the Talmud, there are no requirements as to how it should be made. Presumably it should cover most of the head, but as to the shape or materials to be used there are no limitations. Here too, halachically meaningless details can take on a certain significance in the public mind, so that various kinds of kippot may signify very specific things to both religious and non-religious people. Thus, to avoid confusing or misleading people, it is best to find out what the various current significations are.

In the case of women, too, there is, in addition to a general requirement of modesty of dress, a specific one concerning covering the head. Married women are required to cover their hair. This is an ancient law, already hinted at in the Torah, that has been observed among Jews all through the ages. In some communities, even unmarried women have been known to keep their hair covered, though this custom never became widespread. The law is not related to that requiring men to cover their heads, and it is even more stringent. The fact that a married woman covers her hair whenever she leaves the house is a sign of her special status.

Married Women

The form in which this practice is observed varies from one community to another. In the communities that were under kabbalistic influence — in parts of Eastern Europe and the Arab world, and among Sephardic Jews — the practice was observed more strictly, such that the hair would be covered completely, with none at all showing, not only in the street but in the home as well. In some countries, pious women go so far as to braid their hair in addition to covering it. But in most areas of Eastern Europe and the Middle East it was considered sufficient to cover the greater part of the hair, and this in fact is all that halacha requires. In any case, there is no doubt that some covering of the hair, however symbolic, is called for.

In recent times it has become customary for women to cover their hair with wigs, and this can indeed be seen as fulfilling the requirements of the halacha. Married women are not, after all, expected to make themselves “ugly.” Nevertheless, there have been scholars who have ruled that wigs too must be covered, particularly when they look so natural that they cannot be recognized as head coverings and the women who wear them are not recognizable as married. But this too is a matter of custom and not of definitive halacha.