French rabbi: Wear baseball caps, not skullcaps, in public
By Haaretz Service
The Chief Rabbi of France, Rabbi Joseph Sitruk,
called on that country's Jewish community to wear
baseball caps instead of skullcaps while not in
their homes, in order "to prevent being attacked
in the street." Daily newspaper Le Parisien
reported in its Wednesday edition that Sitruk made
the comments Tuesday in an interview on Radio
Shalom, a Jewish community radio station.
Rabbi Sitruk's comments came
three days after a Jewish
school on the outskirts of
Paris was the subject of an
anti-Semitic arson attack. "I
do not want young people
traveling alone on trains or
the Metro to become easy
targets for attackers," he
said. "Covering one's head is
an important religious dictate, which should
not be overlooked. On the contrary, today, more
than ever, the Jewish community cannot shut
itself off in a ghetto; it should be open, at
ease and safe."
Speaking Wednesday to Haaretz, a close aide to
the rabbi tried to play down the controversial
comments. "The Chief Rabbi has always said that
head covering is an important commandment, and
that the covering itself is not important. In
the current climate, there is no point waving a
red rag in public places."
Synagogues and Jewish schools in France have
been attacked repeatedly in recent years,
violence authorities link to poor Muslim youths
enraged by Israel's tough policies against
Palestinian unrest.
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