Would Paul Discourage Wearing a Yarmulke?

By Prof. Pinchas Shir - October 2, 2018

I am often asked a question: “Why do Jewish men cover their heads during prayer?” Those who pose this question sometimes assume
that Paul’s discussion of head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:1-6 stipulates that I should take off my yarmulke (Hebrew ‫ ;כִּ פָּ ה‬kippah).
While I can offer a number of explanations for my yarmulke based on traditional Jewish practice, I would also like to propose an
alternative reading of the pertinent 1 Corinthians passage.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul states, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you… hold firmly to the
traditions, just as I delivered them to you… Messiah is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the
head of Messiah. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who
has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head.” (1 Cor 11:1-5 NASB).

In this passage, Paul states that the Corinthians should imitate him, just as he imitates the Messiah. Paul praises his
Corinthian congregants for continuing in “traditions” (παραδόσεις; paradoseis – literally, “something handed down”). Next, Paul
discusses these very traditions (cf. 11:16). For Paul, Messiah is the “head” of every male and males are the “heads” of females. By
“head” (κεφαλὴ; kefale or, in Hebrew, ‫ ;ר ֹאשׁ‬rosh) Paul refers to a leader who is in a position of authority. Paul bases his logic on the
creation story in Genesis, and he emphasizes a respect for the chain of authority that begins with God.

While it may come as a surprise, there is actually nothing in these verses about wearing (or not wearing) items on one’s
head. Paul declares, “every man while praying or prophesying having [something] over his head (κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων) disgraces his
head” (1 Cor 11:4). Is wearing a Yarmulke during prayer really against Paul’s teaching? No, not at all. Yarmulke is a Yiddish word that
comes from two Aramaic terms “to fear/ tremble” (‫ ;י ֵָרא‬yarei) and “king/ ruler” (‫ ; ַמ ְלכָּא‬malka). Jewish men cover their heads in
recognition of God’s authority; that is, as a symbolic presentation of the way they “fear the one who rules over all”. Since Paul stresses
the importance of having God as one’s ultimate authority, as well as the value of traditions, the apostle would have encouraged the
wearing of a yarmulke, provided that the Messiah remained at the center of one’s life and faith.

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