Kippah Updates

When my family found out I was contemplating wearing my kippah full-time, they were not on board. Their primary concern was that I would "stand out" too much at my new job-- Abbot Yid kept saying, "especially since you didn't wear one at the interview!"-- as if me showing up with one would somehow be seen as some sort of bait and switch. I've finally decided to not wear one at school, at least to start,  to have one less thing to be self-conscious of (making them pipe down about it is a nice side benefit, though).

Still, that doesn't mean I can't start wearing one more in my free time. I haven't made any mental rules yet, but I've started wearing them intermittently at my parents' house and out in public, like to the movies. Mama Yid doesn't seem to really care, Abbot Yid can't seem to not comment on it. The latest one came as I was driving him and Deacon home:

"What I don't get is that you're not even religious!"

"Why do you say that? What religious litmus test do I fail?"

"Well you've admitted to me previously that you're not sure you believe in God."

"And?"

"So why would you want to wear a yarmulke and identify yourself as a religious Jew?"

"Well I don't see it as claiming religiosity as much as identity."

"Well I just don't get it."

"I know."

At this point I've progressed beyond being irritated by it, mostly because I know it's not specifically about me as much as it is a bunch of internal factors: first, there's Abbot's baggage with/ignorance of Judaism. There's also a generational issue( in Abbot's day, wearing a yarmulke was a specific religious identifier, and my post-modern take on it doesn't really compute for him), as well as his professional background, coming from the corporate world of the 80s and 90s where it was potentially controversial for him to even have a beard (apparently he always interviewed clean-shaven and would only "sneak" his beard in after his first few months).

I know he's coming from a good place, and as long as I remember that-- and refuse to be bothered by the side comments-- we should be fine.