Word Prompt – SHTREIMEL – Shlomo Litvin

Shtreimels are synonymous with majesty and splendor. The remarkable spiritual act of taking the tale of a non-kosher animal, the lowest of the low, and making it part of your clothing to celebrate Shabbos, the highest of the height is truly uplifting.

When normally their heads would be crowned by tefillin, on Shabbos, the greatest rabbis of Europe would instead crown themselves in a shtreimel, and the awe that our shel rosh inspired continued into Shabbos.

As a Chabad shaliach, I personally don't wear a shtreimel. When the Lubavitcher Rebbe accepted the nesius, the leadership, he chose in his typical extreme modesty not to change his hat, in many ways an external echo of his continued devotion to his teacher and father-in-law. As such, shtreimels were no longer present in the Chabad community, replaced by the now universally recognized fedora.

And yet, although not present in my circles, it's hard not to admire the grandeur. It’s also hard to mistake the shtreimel as anything but a sign of proud Judaism.

Especially in the wake of October 7, as antisemitism rages around the world, each and every Jew should wear their Judaism even louder and even prouder.

Wear yarmulka, tzitzis, and tzniusdik clothing in public. Invite a fellow Jew for Shabbos, and offer them Shabbos candles or tefillin.

Wear your Judaism like a shtreimel or a crown, and let the world around you admire.