The Jewish boy

The kippah and the payot. Traditional Jewish clothing formed over the centuries in response to the requirements of halakhah. One of them is modesty. According to scholars of the Talmud, nudity is one of the great sins. Religious Jews always wear full clothing and shoes, and cover their heads. Men always wear a kippah (Hebrew; in Yiddish yarmulke), a small skullcap, so that they can feel the presence of the Almighty above them. Although the Torah does not require men to cover their heads, apart from a reference to the turbans worn by priests (Exodus 28, 4), the desire to emphasise the contrast between Judaism and Christianity (whereas men must cover their heads in the synagogue, in a church, hats must be removed) turned the kippah into one of the most important and universally recognisable symbols of the Jewish identity. Religious Jews even wear a kippah under their hats, so that if the hat falls off by accident, the head remains covered.

Moshe Bernstein and Joseph Budko portrayed devout followers of Judaism in their work. Children diligently obey the Torah commandment ‘You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard’ (Leviticus 19, 27), so their heads are covered, and their payot, sidelocks, are evidence of their strong faith.

Budko, who grew up in a very religious Hasidic family, and spent much of his childhood studying the Torah, put his experience down on canvas: the pious and attentive gaze of the boy sitting at a table laden with books is fixed on the teacher explaining the divine truths. The character of a Jewish boy can also be found in other paintings by Budko.

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

The kippah and the payot. Traditional Jewish clothing formed over the