Borsalino Religious Collection?

[portolan]

I was just browsing the Bencraft site and saw a hat they indicate is from the Borsalino religious collection. As an ordained minister and former professor of the integration of psychology and theology, I am of course interested in religious things. But a hat being religious? Somebody help me here. Are these hats for orthodox Jews or priests? Anyone want to hear my confession that I'm tempted to buy a religious hat....Is that why rabbis speak liddish? Ha! Wow, I guess it is working! Ha!

 

[Geesie]

link?

 

[portolan]

Here is the Link....

for a Borsalino from the religious collection:

http://www.bencrafthats.com/product.php?pid=171&subcname=Borsalino

 

[Garrett]

Wow a 3 1/4 brim.....interesting. Maybe the Amish will pick it up.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

As I understand it, Borso (and a couple of others) keep a few simple, plain hats in production that meet the needs of the Orthodox Jewish communities and a few others that wear brimmed hats daily.

 

[Geesie]

Looks like an Orthodox Jewish hat.
Too bad. I was hoping that there would be a full line of birettas, mitres, and shtreimels.

 

[tortswon]

One Jewish guy's opinion

Based upon my understanding, the hat itself is not religious. Jewish men are required to wear a head covering. For some, it is a small round covering with a diameter of about four inches to cover the crown of the head. I have seen rabbis wearing multicolored knitted versions of this head covering. It is called a kipah (pronounced key-paw) or yarmulke (pronounced yah-muh-kah).

Male members of certain Jewish sects from Central and Eastern Europe wear the traditional all black attire that is so often thought of as typical for the so-called ultra-orthodox. The hats that these individuals wear (as depicted in the photo accessed through your link) are not religious in and of themselves. They form a part of the attire that is uniformly worn by individuals of those particular sects. Generally, a smaller kipah in plain black is worn under the hat which is often removed indoors. The kipah allows the head to remain covered.

To my knowledge, there is nothing in the bible that compels the wearing of a 3 1/4 inch Borsalino by orthodox Jews. While Borsalino is an Antica Casa, it is not that old. lol

Hope this helps. Bottom line, feel free to purchase the hat if you wish. You will not be viewed as wearing a "religious symbol." Best, Sam

PS Happy Channukah one and all!

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

To my knowledge, there is nothing in the bible that compels the wearing of a 3 1/4 inch Borsalino by orthodox Jews. While Borsalino is an Antica Casa, it is not that old. lol

PS Happy Channukah one and all!

lol
and, I might add, where have I heard that before (tip: the "french" debate about some women wearing a veil, nothing in the Koran about that, either).

And, yes Happy Channukah to all
Paul

 

[KatintheHat]

Looks like my Bellini Borso.
http://www.bencrafthats.com/product.php?pid=172&subcname=Borsalino

 

[suitedcboy]

"To my knowledge, there is nothing in the bible that compels the wearing of a 3 1/4 inch Borsalino by orthodox Jews. While Borsalino is an Antica Casa, it is not that old."

SHHHHH!!

You're probably threatening one of the excuses some of us here are using for collecting so many hats.

 

[cookie]

While Borsalino is an Antica Casa, it is not that old. lol !

Anyone want to hear my confession that I'm tempted to buy a religious hat....Is that why rabbis speak liddish?


Boys are on fire this Christmas!

 

[MisterGrey]

Actually, the hats are favored specifically by Haredi Jews, which are a sect of Orthodox Judaism. They are the most "hard line" of Jewish movements, adhering to an especially strict and literal interpretation of the Tanakh. Other Orthodox Jews, while more fundamental in nature than other Jewish sects, are much less restrictive and isolationist than the Haredi. For example, Haredi Judaism emphasizes a strict policy of having as little interaction with the secular/Non-Jewish world as possible, whereas "regular" Orthodox Jews tend to integrate themselves as productive members of society. The most hard-line of the Haredi, and the most fond of wide-brimmed Borsalinos, as the Hassids, who are the stereotypical "long beard/frock coat/big hat" Jews. Their style of dress, hats included, come from post-Renaissance era Poland, where the Hassidic movement flourished. At the time, frock coats and large woolen hats-- resembling giant ushankas-- constituted "everyday wear" amongst Jews. The movement itself emphasizes a kind of "stuck in time" approach to the world, keeping the values-- and even dress-- of the time when the movement began, and which its followers believe was a more spiritually pure time. The fedora became popular because the open crown allowed different sub-sects within the movement to bash it in different ways to demonstrate their affiliation; someone well versed in the different Hassidic sub-sects can quickly determine who they are dealing with based on the crown of the hat.

Leave it to a Jew to answer a Jewish question

 

[cookie]

The fedora became popular because the open crown allowed different sub-sects within the movement to bash it in different ways to demonstrate their affiliation

Does anyone think that sounds familiar? [huh]

 

[portolan]

Wow, this is great. Thanks for all the terrific information

I grew up in Mennonite/Amish country in Pennsylvania and now have a home in the middle of Chihuahua where we have thousands of old order Mennonites all around us. They wear hats too.....white cowboy hats! You never see an adult male without his hat.....no black fedoras, just white cowboy hats. They are separatists as well. I was the headmaster at a Mennonite owned school and have plenty of cowboy hats, but no black fedoras. I may have to get me one to bridge the gap!

 

[Caity Lynn]

Mennonites in white cowboy hats?! never seen that...and I lived in PA where seeing Mennonites was an every day thing, if we DIDN'T see them it was odd...the men usually wore either straw hats or black, I guess they were fedoras, felt hats with a flat brim? I was young then, didn't pay much notice.

interesting...very interesting.

 

[warbird]

Mennonites in white cowboy hats?! never seen that...and I lived in PA where seeing Mennonites was an every day thing, if we DIDN'T see them it was odd...the men usually wore either straw hats or black, I guess they were fedoras, felt hats with a flat brim? I was young then, didn't pay much notice.

interesting...very interesting.

I think he is talking about the Mennonites he has in his area of Mexico, where he lives now, not the Mennonites of PA where he grew up. Yes up there they wear black hats that actually are closer to the original Boss of the Plains Stetson than to a Fedora, and straw hats.

I'd imagine the heat of Mexico would lend itself to wanting lighter colors than folks in the north. And of course black is a signature color of the Amish and conservative Mennonite people.

The Mennonites tend to be more liberal in allowed dress from my understanding than most Amish sects. Just as Jews and every other religious groups for that matter, have many different offspring , we tend to generalize them I guess and usually for good reason as we have to be able to picture groups in some general term, but they are often far different in their practices. Not that any of this info is asked for or wanted.

 

[Geesie]

A better way to phrase it would be "the Amish are a particularly conservative sect of Mennonite."

 

[warbird]

A better way to phrase it would be "the Amish are a particularly conservative sect of Mennonite."

Yes, thanks. Though now its not just those two groups anymore but subsets in them. In general though that is a very succinct way to put it.

"You don't say much my friend, but when you do it's to the point, and I salute you for it."

 

[gtdean48]

Mennonites of central GA where I grew up wore white straw hats with plain black bands or black, stingy brim fedoras. It is a good size community & they have a buffet restuarant on the highway out of town = grow, cook & bake all that is served. Tour buses come from larger cities to bring diners. They also sell quilts, jams, jellies, etc. I don't ever recall seeing them in wide brim black hats. The straw hats had a nice brim to keep the sun off them in the fields... gtd

 

[portolan]

Mexican Mennonite Hat

Here I am in my Mennonite made Mexican white sombrero. Mennonites in Chihuahua account for more than 50% of all agricultural production in the largest agricultural state in Mexico.

Just a note of clarification. Neither Amish nor Mennonites are sects of each other. Jacob Amman, the founder of the Amish split from the Mennonites in or around 1693. The European Amish eventually reintegrated into the Mennonite church, but the Amish who emigrated to North America remained separate and are a totally different group to this day. Theologically, the Mennonites are all over the map. In fact, in the world today, there are more non-Caucasian Mennonites than there are Caucasian. The African and Latino Mennonite churches are booming. The Amish in the U.S. and Canada are fairly monolithic in their outlook and theology. The Amish are universally old order; while the Mennonites are all over the barn (pun intended). The Mexican Mennonite women wear big hats with brightly colored ribbons....quite beautiful. The Mexican Mennonite men wear white Tejanas with overalls......except for me.....I wear jeans, plaid shirts and Mike Moore westerns! I hope I don't get excommunicated!