I was still quite surprised, maybe even a British “shocked,” to see Prince Charles with an emblazoned kippa.
By HANOCH NE'EMANPrince Charles at Shimon Peres' funeral. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Those of you who know me know I am not someone to make a big deal about a kippa. I generally am put off by questions like “Are you kippa seruga [crocheted kippa, or religious-Zionist] or black kippa [more haredi]?” Nonetheless, I feel obligated to comment briefly on the ceremonial headwear worn here in Jerusalem on September 30 by various “heads” of state at Shimon Peres’s funeral.For these occasions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, for some time, come equipped with a cute little black crocheted kippa, secured with a clip, probably provided to him by Ron Dermer or some other helpful associate.US President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton made do with the standard-issue black cloth kippot. (No one would expect those anti-settlement blokes to don a crocheted kippa, would they?) But the most interesting kippa to appear at the funeral was that of the UK’s Charles, Prince of Wales. The prince obviously brought his own kippa from home.Now we know these royals can hardly touch anything without putting a crest or insignia on it, but I was still quite surprised, maybe even a British “shocked,” to see Charles with an emblazoned kippa.What is the meaning of the emblem on his kippa? I don’t think it means he is a alumnus of the Hasmonean School in London.The seal looks to me like three duck heads and some dandelions. Maybe the dandelions are a secret allusion to the “Lion of Judah,” as the British Royal Family allegedly claims their lineage goes back to King David (a trend among gentiles, started perhaps by Jesus). Maybe they also allude to royal “dandyism”? These speculations occur to me because I remember stories of how the British aristocracy used to circumcise their boys on the eighth day. And, of course, there is the hackneyed myth that the word “British” comes from the two Hebrew words brit and ish, meaning “man of the covenant.”Or perhaps the seal was made especially for the occasion, and the three ducks represent Peres, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO’s Yasser Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994? Who knows? In any case, the royal kippa was certainly for me a different kind of buzz.I read afterwards that Prince Charles took the occasion of being here in Jerusalem to visit the grave of his paternal grandmother, Princess Alice, who is buried under the Greek Orthodox Convent on the Mount of Olives.Visiting the graves of one’s family members is certainly a very appropriate thing to be doing a few days before Rosh Hashana. In fact, many of the local old-time Jerusalemites were doing just that the same Friday.In summation, I must conclude that Prince Charles definitely had the most scintillating skullcap, the coolest kippa, at the funeral. One can easily say a lot of negative things about the Royal Family, but one thing you can’t say is they lack style.