Reply To: Hat's Off!

Home Forums Decaffeinated Coffee Hat's Off! Reply To: Hat's Off!

#1088648
ubiquitin
Participant

hakohen

“Until JFK decided to appear at his inauguration without a hat, that was what everyone wore.”

This is a myth. JFK did in fact appear with a hat at his inauguration. Pictures are readily available online.

However he wore a tophat not a fedora. If we follow your argument though shouldn’t we wear a tophat and coat tails to davening?

The bottom line is hat and jacket is simply a uniform adopted by the yeshiva world. It has zero to do with “dressing up” though that is proably how it started. Most of us would not wear a hat to see the PResdient (unless it was in a rabbinic setting) There are many pictures available of R’ Moshe sherer Zl or today’s askanim visiting various presidents or legislators and rarely (though not never) are they wearing a hat.

for a tie you can make a stronger argument than a hat.