I began wearing a yarmulke a few days after the Tree of Life shooting.1 I viewed it as a way to express and signal my Jewish identity to those in the world who hate or target us.
I did not think as much about what it signals to other Jews about camaraderie, identity, and security–about mischpechah. That has become more fraught in the past two years, to the extent a yarmulke signals certain beliefs or values–around Israel and Gaza or around the campus antisemitism “problem”–that I do not share (generally or in the specifics) with many Jews. Two stories to illustrate:
• Walking across FIU’s campus last week, I passed a man close to may age wearing an Israeli/US flag lapel pin; he waved to me as we passed. I could not understand why he waved (I do not believe I had never seen him before), until I remembered what I was wearing. He passed me again a few minutes later in the opposite direction, tapped me on the shoulder, and asked if I was doing ok. Sure; why wouldn’t I be?
• During an admitted students event last spring, the mother of a prospective student asked, in essence, if her little girl (her words, not mine) will be safe at FIU amid all the campus antisemitism.
Each encounter presumed shared priors. In # 1,the only reason not to be ok is that Israel is being accused of genocide and war crimes and because I probably do not feel safe on campus as an “out” Jew.2 In # 2, of course I share the woman’s concerns that her child will encounter offensive ideas from which I, the Jewish professor, will be expected to protect her. Before I could explain about protected speech on campus and the need (especially for future lawyers) to tolerate offensive ideas in many contexts, a student leader jumped into the conversation to explain that FIU had received an “A” grade from the ADL (something I obviously do not care about or find meaningful).
The yarmulke ratchets those assumptions. It goes beyond “his name is Wasserman, he is Jewish, so he must agree with me on these things.” It is “he is so up front in his Jewishness–in a religious way–that he must agree with me on these things.”
Note that this runs one way. I do not care that non-Jews (antisemitic or otherwise) assume things about me and my beliefs. But the (seeming) disconnect with fellow Jews creates extra discomfort or an extra inability to communicate–we lose the apparent connection due to my (likely?) divergent views of the Israeli government or my belief that First Amendment rules apply even to speech that causes me (and them, as fellow Jews) personal discomfort.
One more story: A 1L (not be in my class until next semester) stopped in my office to say that seeing me wearing a yarmulke during orientation made her feel safe and reassured about FIU and the Jewish community within the law school. This encounter bothered me less. I am happy to be a Jewish professor for Jewish students needing reassurance for the presence of a community. I am even willing to protect her from genuine antisemitic harassment, should she need me to and should it come to that. I hope that does not include the expectation that I support the view that, yes, SJP should be kicked off campus.
- I wore it for an inter-faith service at my temple the Tuesday after the shootings and kept it on. This week marked seven years. I traveled to Pittsburgh for a talk in October 2019, a few weeks prior to the first anniversary of the shooting; I had the privilege of worshiping with the congregation in its rented space. ↩︎
- As opposed to not being ok because the Florida governor wants to eliminate academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance at public universities. ↩︎