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As an observant Jew who does not say a quick shehakol while covering my head before I take a sip of water, I wish we had better ways to talk about common and uncommon Jewish practices that didn't imply a false universality or a hierarchy of observance. https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman/status/1359252743651753991
There are people who will think this is a sufficient explanation. It's not.
"Jews have to __" and "Observant Jews must ___" are not unproblematic ways of combatting confusion, mockery, and/or casual antisemitism. Lots of Jews, including observant ones of various denominations, were and are confused by Schoen's particular situation.
The subset of Jews who would cover their head and say a quick shehakol before drinking water but WOULDN'T just wear a kipah/yarmulka onto the Senate floor is...not large. The first time I saw that clip, I did *not* think to myself "Oh it's because he's Jewish."
So maybe let's not jump down people's throats and imply antisemitism when genuine confusion is a far more likely explanation? A dude did a weird and baffling thing while also making weird, disturbing arguments in a highly public setting. People will comment.
Mr. Goldman is Jewish too, and presumably knows Mr. Schoen personally; his one-tweet explanation was as good as any you'll see, and it *still* made me cringe.
LOL lucky me
Yes, but there are also at least a half dozen strains of Orthodox Judaism I could name off the top of my head, and most would have worn a yarmulka to begin with, so there is really no good short explanation. Any attempt at brevity will sacrifice something. https://twitter.com/StephenRowe0/status/1359273893232578563?s=20
To those saying head coverings are banned in the Senate, nope: https://twitter.com/akornblatt/status/1359275372810960901?s=20
Several people are giving some version of this explanation, which is more likely but pretty dang ironic: https://twitter.com/honigmaydl/status/1359248797876908032?s=20
Quick correction from @akornblatt: https://twitter.com/akornblatt/status/1359278199826337793?s=20
Update, and ew: https://twitter.com/Matthew_Pb/status/1359278558426849286?s=20
