yarmulke

is a physical reminder that God’s Presence is always above us, and his awe is always upon us.

Rav Huna the son of Rav Yehoshua, who would not walk four cubits (about six feet) with his head uncovered as a reminder that God’s Presence is always above us (Kiddushin 31a). . . . in tractate Shabbos (156b). There, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak relates how his mother told him always to cover his head, the way that Torah scholars do, so that awe of God would always be upon him. On one occasion, he was studying under a date tree and his hat came off. Looking up, he was tempted by the dates and took a bunch, even though the tree did not belong to him. He learned from this that the yarmulke served to suppress his negative natural tendencies.

is a term that is thought to come from the Aramaic “yarei Malka” – to have “reverence for the King’. The word “yarmulke” actually comes from the Aramaic “yarei Malka” – to have reverence for the King.

is a Yiddish term that might be derived from Ukrainian or Polish jarmulka

kippah (Hebrew)  literally means "dome", as the kippah is worn on the head like a dome. The Yiddish term yarmulke might be derived from Ukrainian or Polish jarmulka,[Gwynne, Paul (2017). World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction (2 ed.). John Wiley & Sons.]

is also worn in recognition of the fall, and the covering with clothing of those parts of our body which we view with shame (our genitals and lust) and also our head (and our intellectual pride).

We are informed by the Torah (Genesis, ch. 3) that when the first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created, they did not require any clothes and "were not ashamed.  But after their sin with the Tree of Knowledge, "they knew that they were naked," and prepared themselves clothes to cover their bodies. This radical change of outlook in the first human beings is explained by Maimonides (Guide, part I, ch. 2).

is an article that should be worn to show affiliation with the religiously observant community.

former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef ruled that it should be worn to show affiliation with the religiously observant community.

yarmulke, n.Definitions

yarmulke