Hair today ... Hat Tomorrow

Architect's drawing of Helsinki synagogue, 1904,
originally uploaded by Ablevaybel

Covered on Shabbes. No, really. What do you think about hair coverings? I just learned that my husband HATES snoods. With my penchant for all things 40's, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Not that I wear them all that often, but they don't morally or aesthetically offend me. My pal's husband hates them as well. Both my husband and I are good with turbans on me.

I'm basically a hat girl. Love hats but have a huge watermelon of a head, which makes buying them off the rack as slightly less likely than the small bears by the lake capturing the flag. Oy, we suffer on many levels here!

Fortunately, I know a very gifted hatmaker. Unfortuantely, she lives in Tallin, as in Estonia. Fortunately, she has made a hat form to fit my outsized noggin. Unfortunately, we can't get hold of her very often, as she is now in great demand as a designer. I am hoping my DH will get me another summer hat from her before long - my birthdays, both civil and Hebrew are coming up shortly.

One of the nice things about being married - and there are many - is wearing a hat to shul. I waited for this. Really. Like years. So, we are married and off to Helsinki for our honeymoon (wait, you didn't honeymoon in Finland? doesn't everybody?). Anyway, we schlep off to shul(the one in the above picture) and I get stopped. Hubby just breezes on in while I get the third degree. Why? Cos I've forgotten my hat at home! I'm so newly wed that I'd completely forgotten it! There's also the little problem that I don't have ID on me - which I wouldn't since it's the sabbath. So we engage in a quick round of Jewish geography - in Finland-Swedish, which you think would be SOME tip-off to the elderly, suspicious, sweet old Swedish-speaking gentleman guarding the gate like some shakey geriatric terrier. Finally, I pass muster and am allowed in, only to have to wear one of those little black doily things. I watched two of them sail down from the balcony over the heads of the men, trying to see how my husband was getting on. It was embarassing, but somehow kind of an oddly "Free Willy" moment as they fluttered on down to the main action on the sanctuary floor. Most ladies there cover their heads loosely with oblong shawls or scarves in shul. Here's the funny part, though - my Turkish friend wanted to meet us that day and was able to walk right through the gate with a scarf without so much as a by your leave!

Later, when we moved to Finland to live, a frum gentleman in the kehilla wondered why I only covered my head in shul or in Jewish contexts. BTW, most of the ladies, frum or not, in that community don't cover their heads outside of the sanctuary or for blessings, in my experience. I answered that I hadn't learned to wear my crown full-time, and that's still how I feel. But I am enjoying my new thin scarf and funky snood, especially after swimming. My non-Jewish swimming mates have remarked that I now look like I belong to the community.