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Do you wear a straw hat in for davening in the summer? Why or not?
My father ע”ה who was a musmach of Yeshiva U. wore a straw hat in the summer . They come in many colors you know. I have the black straw homburg as well as more casual ones. My grandfather a”h who was an Agudist wore a flat top boater. There were RY in YU who wore straw as well as Gedolei Haposkim who do as well.
For the same reason I don’t wear a yellow hat.
I dont wear straw hats because I dont like them. Personal choice. My sons make their own decisions. I am not sure if Breuer’s is a Tammuz to Elul hing or just following the old Memorial day to Labor day American tradition.
Not Borsalino, but I wear a Navy Blue straw hat with my navy blue summer suits. I have posted before that I don;t wear black suits…many years ago a Superior Court judge told me that Black was for the judges, lawyers should wear other colors (Navy, Charcoal, Dark Brown).
Rabbi Ilan Feldman the Rov of Beth Jacob in Atlanta wears a straw hat in the summer.
Does anyone recalling seeing photos of rabbonim in the Alte Heim wearing a straw hat or is that more of a relatively moderneshe minhag here??
It is rare today to see anyone under 60 today wearing a straw hat. Years ago wearing a hat was a dignified part of getting dressed and going out. Hence, it was more comfortable to wear a lighter weight hat in summer months. That meant even Gentiles wore hats. Today the only people who wear fedoras are those people trying to make a statement that they are part of the yeshiva world. If the yeshiva world does not wear straw hats it would be pointless to wear one.
Gadolhadorah: In the Alte Heim the average frum Jew did not wear a black fedora. THAT is a moderneshe minhag. What point can be proven from what rabbonim did then?
My rebby in Chaim Berlin wore a black straw hat in the summer when I was a bochur. And this wasn’t in the 1940s. He is still a rebby, but doesn’t wear the straw hat.
The nothing “wrong” with a straw hat. A lot of the hat issue, color, up/down etc is a symbol of which group you belong to. Today its not yeshivish to wear one so people who care about that for various reasons don’t wear one.GH: Did they make Straw Hats in “de Alte Heim”? It’s not a moderneshe thing. I remember most people (not just yidden) in the 1960’s wearing straw hats.
The traditional straw hat season in the U.S. is from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
When I was growing up in the 70s-80s I think they yeshivish world felt more threatened than the modern orthodox world so they put a bigger stress on on outward dress? Does anyone find that to be true today? I remember taking a bchina in 5th grade for a new yeshiva and a kid there had a knitted yarmulka on. The head said :”I told you to not wear that in yeshiva” and the kid said “I forgot not to wear it” to which he replied “if you threw it away you wouldn’t forget”. You don’t want to know what scandals that yeshiva had. Its unfortunate they cared about the kipa sruga instead.
Sometimes I wonder why when I went to yeshiva we heard about wearing a hat instead of how much Hashem loves us.If the Marine Corps changes its uniform, if you’re a Marine you immediately change. If you tell your commander that if the old Marine uniform was good and worked until now there’s no harm in continuing to wear it, so you’ll be sticking to the old uniform, you’ll be court martialed.
takahmamash: not exactly. traditionally it was may 15 to sep 15. i suggest you study about the straw hat riots of 1922. fascinating stuff.
LowerTuition: Are you aware of any chassidus that changes over its shtreimlach in the summer to reflect the hotter temperatures? Why do the Litvish feel the need for a seasonal change?
Straw hats are Dope! and like jeans they’re one of those awesome things that we should be wearing but don’t because we’re not down to come across like a socially off burnt out baal habaust who’s going through some mid-life crises to prove that he matters……..He doesn’t.
Black Hats Matter
GH: I guess you were not around in the 1960’s when most men (jews and non jews alike) wore hats. It was common that those wearing fedoras switched to straw hats as they were lighter on the head then felt or beaver hats. Quite possibly there were more litvishe yidden in the 1960’s and they went with the normal cultural style prevalent in those times.
Joseph,
I don’t know if you were addressing what I wrote. I understand your marines analogy but I don’t think its the same. I think there are more important things than levush and I wish certain things such as how Hashem loves me and to have an emotionally connection to Hashem were stressed. Then again, I realize I am asking to have had a neochassidic chinuch and my rebbeyim were not neochassidim. And not a total neochosid but I do have some leanings within a litvish framework.
I sometimes wonder if the whole emphasis on the yeshivish levush then was to build up a tzibur. Today no kid in high school has a hava amina to not wear a white shirt every day. But today’s roshay yeshiva wore stripe shirts. So does it really matter?Gadol hadorah: Do you realize how ridiculous that argument is? If the chasisdim shvitz like the rebbe (I did not make up the term) with fur hats in the summer why should the rest of us be uncomfortable too?
Perhaps the Chasidim should question :yeah why are we wearing fur hats in the summer. Isn’t there a better way?
Unfortunately, the answer to these questions is similar to so many other issues like weddings, seminary in Israel, wearing less expensive fedoras etc. It needs a whole movement of people to say hey this is dumb why don’t we change it? Such a thing is very unlikely to happen in our society which by nature includes huge amounts of social pressure.
All we can do is gripe about stuff like this in the YW coffee room
” If the chasisdim shvitz like the rebbe (I did not make up the term) with fur hats in the summer why should the rest of us be uncomfortable too? ”
CT Rebbe: A very deep and thought provoking question. Perhaps the answer is that they DON’T shivtz and when worn by a true tzadik, Shtreimlach actually have a cooling effect. Perhaps all the misnagdim have been missing the point all along.
GH: No he misnagdim have not been missing the point. Do men wear heavy wool suits in the summer or a lighter material? Is that a litvish thing too? Maybe you should stop trying to shoe horn a hashkafa angle to a simple mode of dress.
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