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agreed to be a matter of tradition and not law. In the Sephardic community, some Jews only wore hats
during prayer, but the Ashkenazic tradition was to wear head coverings at all times. By the seventeenth
century, as several portraits by Rembrandt make clear, many of the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam were
wearing an essentially modern yarmulke at all times, and wearing it under other, more fashionable hats
when out in public. There is no reason to believe that the Ashkenazic tradition was any different, as this
certainly conforms to the practices of Eastern European Jews into the twentieth century.
During the middle ages, Ashkenazic Jews developed the custom of wearing peaked felt hats that came
to be known as "Jews' hats." For two centuries prior to 1425, German Jews were required to wear such
hats, and they remained in occasional use even after the enactment of the badge laws. There is no
evidence, however, that these hats were worn in the seventeenth century, and one apparent reason for
the introduction of the Jew badge was the decline in popularity of the distinctive Jew's hat.
Broadly speaking, Jewish law forbids shaving, although the use of scissors to cut the hair very closely is
permitted. More detailed analysis of Jewish law shows that shaving of parts of the head and face are
permitted, but not the sideburns, chin or upper lip. Generally, prior to modern times, few Jews would
have shaved except secret Jews, who would have followed the shaving customs of their Christian
neighbors. In the Ashkenazic world of the seventeenth century, many men would have trimmed their
facial hair closely with scissors, while others, particularly rabbis, would grow full beards. The tradition of
growing longpeyos sidelocks as a sign of piety was distinctly Ashkenazic, with medieval origins.
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Sidelocks could be pushed behind the ear or allowed to hang free. Documentation of the age of these
traditions is found in illuminated manuscripts.
The modesty code of Jewish law has generally been interpreted as requiring Jewish women to cover
their arms and legs, and also requiring that married women cover their hair. This was not materially
different from the conventions of the Christian world of the seventeenth century, but it is noteworthy that
Jewish women of seventeenth-century Germany frequently wore a headdress that took a two-horned or
two-paddled form, possibly supported by a pair of combs set into a single bun at the rear, or possibly
covering a "double bun" hairdo similar to that worn by Princess Leia ofStar Wars fame. The veil worn
over the buns and hair combs was frequently marked by two blue stripes, and the badge laws of some
regions recognized such a veil as a variant Jew badge.
Remember that the folk costumes of European women frequently involved elaborate headdresses that
clearly identified their regional or ethnic origins; the distinctive Jewish women's headdress fit into this
more general pattern. In sixteenth-century Italy, Jewish women began to wear wigs as head coverings,
but this fashion spread slowly, and it was only centuries later that most Ashkenazic women began to wear
wigs in order to technically cover their hair while following bareheaded fashions of the era.
Finally, note that the modesty code of Jewish law was generally interpreted as forbidding men and
women from touching in public. As an example, for a Jewish man to shake hands with a Jewish woman
would have been considered quite improper in the seventeenth century. To use modern terminology,
initiating such contact would have been seen as sexual harassment. There was also a tradition that a
Jewish man should not give something directly into the hands of a Jewish woman other than his wife;
instead, men would set things down where the woman could pick it up. This tradition avoided the risk of
touching and it avoided coming close to the marriage ritual, since one way to create a legally binding
marriage involved the groom giving an item of even nominal value into the bride's hand. Similarly, for a
man and a woman other than his wife to enter a room and close the door behind them could create the
impression of sexual impropriety, so this too was prohibited.
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