Daily Podcasts Video Research

In Solidarity, I Wear a Kippah Every Day

JL;DR SUMMARY Steve Siporin reflects on his evolving relationship with wearing a kippah, initially resisted in his youth due to cultural stereotypes and a desire for unrestricted freedom. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunityJewish IdentitySecond IntifadaSolidarityFreedomKippahIsraeli KibbutzCultural StereotypesPublic Symbolism

Places mentioned

Israel
"In 1971, when I was in my early 20s, I went to live on an Israeli kibbutz."
Jerusalem, Israel
"At the same time, when I visited Jerusalem, I saw men wearing kippot in a wide variety of colors, fabrics, styles, and sizes."
Missouri, United States
"The masculine, sunlit, kibbutznik culture suited my Midwestern American upbringing and values."
New York City, New York, United States
"It was the late 1930s, and she was riding a bus in New York City."
Paris, Île-de-France, France
"...recalled the recent murder of Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris..."
Malmö, Skåne, Sweden
"...and learned how Malm, Sweden, had become a no-go zone for Jews."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 80922
Cairo Source ID 10
Retrieved 2026-04-27 05:30:46 UTC
Curated 2026-04-27 08:30:37 UTC