Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

hat sense

Much was made earlier this week of a now-classic photo of lobbyist Jack Abramoff emerging from a federal court in Washington, D.C., after pleading guilty to various charges of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. In his dark trenchcoat and black fedora, Abramoff looked like a gangster — and a guilty one, at that.

Writing for Salon, Stephen Hirsch suggests that Abramoff’s attire — particularly his hat — was intended to evoke religious rather than “gangster” connotations. (“What’s in a Hat?” - 01/06/06)

The picture of Jack Abramoff walking out of a federal courthouse on Tuesday wearing a distinctive fedora is by now iconic. And chances are, like Howard Fineman and Maureen Dowd, you thought he looked like a gangster. But that wasn’t my reaction. What struck me was that Abramoff was wearing my hat, a Borsalino, the ne plus ultra of Yeshiva boy caps…

Maybe the contrition Abramoff expressed in his statements was real. Maybe he even recited “Baruch Dayan Emes,” the blessing you make when you hear really bad news, after he went to court. Maybe he was wearing a yami (a diminutive yarmulke) underneath his fedora. While it’s no secret that he’s an Orthodox (if not Torah-observant, or frum) Jew, I’ve never seen a picture of him with either a Borsalino or yarmulke before. Why now?…

For boys who are frum from birth, the hat is also a tremendously important cultural sign. A frum boy puts on his hat when he is bar mitzvah’d. He has to start putting on t’fillin (boxes worn on the arm and top of head that symbolize our connection to the Almighty) every weekday for the rest of his life; he has to fast on Yom Kippur, Tisha B’Av, and other holy days. According to Jewish law, he is a man. The hat shows that to the world.

That the world saw Jack Abramoff wearing this hat for the first time while admitting to such grievous transgressions, that much of the world will now associate this symbol of piousness with the gangster look, is a Chillul Hashem — an act that shames the name of G_d.

(Link found via Fishbowl NY.)