In response to escalating living expenses in Israel and in an effort to resurrect the pre-war European chasidic aesthetic, numerous influential chasidic groups have agreed that students at Yeshiva Ketana will don kashkets, or chasidic caps, rather than the customary adult hats.
Parents at 15 Talmud Torahs were instructed to send their children to Yeshiva Ketana with a kashket hat in a letter that was given to the parents of students who were through with their studies.
Some of the most well-known chasidic organizations in Israel are among those taking part in the initiative: Bobov, Lelov, Tzanz, Nadvorna, Erloi, Shomrei Emunim, Saret Vizhnitz, and others.
One of the basics of earlier generations of chasidic communities, according to the professors, was maintaining the Jewish clothing that was worn from generation to generation.
In chasidic communities, it was customary for older students and youth to wear broad hats or hats with the name “kashket” as part of this. The two varieties of headwear represented a chasidic group member who was a God-fearing individual. Since World War II, broad hats have become more popular and kashkets have become less common.
As those in charge of educational systems, we have discovered that while older boys are able to retain their hats for a number of years, Bar Mitzvah boys struggle to do so, and they become worn after a few months, necessitating the purchase of pricey new hats for them.
In his recent introduction of kashkets to his own Shuva Yisrael congregation, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto of Ashdod declared that “Days will come when everyone will wear a kashket; this is the form of a Jew, humble and simple.”
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