JustASC

The Wall Street Journal reports on the sale of Obama and McCain yarmulkes:

Mr. Tennenhaus has sold 269 in support of Sen. McCain — including five dozen to his campaign — and 172 in favor of Sen. Obama. The figures are surprising, given that typically, Jewish-Americans have voted overwhelmingly Democratic in presidential elections. Sales of Mr. Perelman’s yarmulkes are more true to form, with Obama kippahs easily the top sellers.
 

Surprising, except when you factor in that the voters most likely even to wear yarmulkes — the Orthodox — have been skewing pro-McCain for months now (not to mention that McCain’s campaign bought 60 yarmulkes).

Our old friend, and NJJN alumnus, Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer is described as “not amused’ by political messages on kippot:

“It’s inappropriate,” said Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer of Temple Israel Community Center in Cliffside Park, N.J., president of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis. “Would anybody put ‘Vote for McCain’ or ‘Vote for Obama’ on a cross? Anybody who did that would be considered sacrilegious.”

I wonder how he feels about yarmulkes with Mets and Yankees insignia, smiley faces, and Nike swooshes, all of which can be seen in a typical synagogue.

Rabbi Stephen Stern of the Arden Heights Boulevard Jewish Center in Staten Island, N.Y., disagrees with him: 

“The yarmulke doesn’t have any holiness attached to it,” he said, unlike a prayer shawl that is blessed by a rabbi.
 

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under JustASC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.