Should Men And Women Wear Head Coverings

Should Men and Women wear head coverings? By Rabbi Samuel Thompson

One very controversial subject I would like to present is concerning the wearing of head coverings for both Nazarene Yisraelite Men and also Women in service. I use to believe and teach that a Man was not to have His head covered in service the only scripture I used was found in First Corinthians 11:4 and 7.

1Corinthians 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. (KJV) 1Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. (KJV). In my experience few other Hebraic practices have the potential to expose such obvious anti-Semitic driven distain within a Christian than the subject of the distinctive headwear that sits unobtrusively at the back of a Jewish or Messianic believers head.

Why does a Jew come under such heavy fire for wearing a little hat, if it wasn’t Biblical, when a Christians “What would Jesus do?” wristband, which definitely isn’t Biblical, field comparatively minimal objection? In contrast, Judaism has adhered to the Creators instruction to bind His Word on the arm (Deuteronomy 6:8) by literally wearing passages of Scripture since Sinai, as opposed to Christianity‟s late twentieth century invention of a slogan emblazoned fashion accessory. Why does the title “Rabbi” get singled out as a prohibited term when the titles, “teacher” and “father” in Matthew 23:8-101 also apparently receive equal objection by the Messiah? One has to be curious as to why distinctly Jewish things such as the Kippah receive criticism when Christian men think nothing of praying whilst wearing other conventional headwear, supposedly shameful according to Rav Sha’ul (Paul), or why millions of qualified Christian educators go by the title “teacher” supposedly renounced by the Saviour?

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This verse sequence commences with the words, “But as for you do not desire to be called Rabbi…” and merely teaches that no man should desire this and other titles of authority for their own sake.

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The most common verse sequence used to attack the wearing of head coverings for covenant keeping men is found in 1 Corinthians 11:4-7. Rav Sha’uls initial address on the subject seems pretty straight forward in verse 4: “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, brings shame to his Head….” It is then reconfirmed in verse 7; “For a man indeed ought not to veil his Head” Amazingly as this may sound, Rav Sha’ul was not suggesting that a head covering, much less a Kippah, was dishonourable for a man to wear during intimate communication with the Father or during the delivery of a prophetic message to the masses. Let me explain. The Head is Authority The head being covered has a double meaning. It refers to a man wearing a woman’s veil and to Messiah, which is the Head of every man! We must understand that the meaning of words from the English language, can and do sometimes have very different and opposite meanings in the Hebrew language, which is the language of the scriptures, the language of Yahshua HaMoshiach, and it will be the language that Yahweh will restore, in the millennial Kingdom. One very important thing that we must always consider, when reading the scriptures is that we must, look at the context it was written in, and ask several questions they are: 1. Who was the writer addressing 2. Why was the writer addressing the subject

Many people, who try to present scripture, very rarely do just this and just make up doctrine based on how everyone feels, or what can be gained by what is presented. Another very important thing to note is, whenever we read and study scripture, we must read and study, and apply it from a Hebraic mindset, and from a Hebraic perspective, and not that of a pagan Greco-roman interpretation which I myself and many here today have in past times done. Now one example that I would like us to see is found in this same chapter, in 1 Corinthians 11:14 14 Does not nature itself teach you, that, if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him?

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It is very clear here that Rabbi Sha’ul was addressing cross dressing, and not the fact that head coverings were not to be worn.

1 Corinthians 11:3 provides the context. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Moshiach (Messiah); and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Moshiach is Yahweh” The second part of this verse reveals a deeper scope to Genesis 3:16; "…And your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." A woman should only submit to a man (a woman’s head) as a man submits to Messiah (a man’s head) as Messiah submits to YHWH (Yahshua’s head). This is reiterated by Kepha (Peter) who told covenant keeping women to “…be in subjection to your own husbands…” (1 Peter 3:1), and why a man is to honor the wife “as to the weaker vessel,” (1 Peter 3:7).

The order of human authority harks back to the order of creation. Ahdahm was constructed from raw material by YHWH, but a woman was constructed by YHWH from the material of a man. Therefore in context “the head” signifies “authority.” A little bit further on in 1 Corinthians 11:5,6 it outlines a woman‟optimum2form of worship apparel and code of conduct with yet another double meaning. “But every woman that makes tefillot (prayers), or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head: For that is the same as if she were shaven3. For if the Woman does not have a head covering, let her also be shorn…” The double meaning refers to her head, which is her husband who must be covered by Messiah. In verse 14 it says “does not nature itself teach you, that, if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him?” So Rabbi Sha’ul was obviously dealing with men dressing like women as well, and many Corinthian men wore head coverings (Veils) like women and wore their hair like women which Yahweh calls an abomination. Deuteronomy 22:5

5 The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man; neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are an abomination to Yahweh your Elohim. 2

I say optimum because a woman may wish to pray without any means to cover her head and in such circumstances she brings no dishonour to herself. (Example: Consider the prayers offered up by thousands of Jewish women standing naked in gas chambers.) 3

Deuteronomy 21 explains that it was a dishonour to shave a woman’s hair.

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This is the problem Rabbi Sha’ul dealt with in the Yisraelite Congregation in Corinth. As seen in First Corinthians 11, where men are not allowed to veil their face with hair, or a veil of hanging fabric.

The Plank in the Eye of an Uncovered Christians Head An interesting thing about the common 1 Corinthians 11 attack on head coverings for men is that it never seems to focus on Christian women who ritually pray with their heads uncovered.

Christian men will draw on this verse sequence to attack the wearing of Kippah and yet completely ignore taking the issue up with their wives who do not pray with head coverings, despite the verse clearly stating that praying without them is dishonourable to a woman.

The Kippah police are always poised ready to level an attack, yet a young man who prays whilst wearing a baseball cap or beanie at a church outreach function gets off scot-free. Can you imagine a soldier in Iraq crouching in a ditch under heavy crossfire unable to pray because he’s wearing a helmet that if removed will increase his chances of never going home?

I can just see him ducking between insurgent bullets thinking to himself, “Father I want to pray to you, but if I do with this life preserver on my head, Ill dishonour myself.”

The Jew even tries to accommodate the Western tradition of removing headwear inside a building by reducing the size of the Kippah to a ridiculously small dimension, but somehow this manages to draw out even heavier criticism than if a criminal wore a Mexican sombrero in a police line up.

Yahweh doesn’t have mood swings Christianity has so much trouble with the books of the Old Testament because their replacement theology portrays a schizophrenic Creator.

In other words Christianity and some Messianic and Nazarene Israelites teach that Yahshua HaMoshiach has come to do away with the Torah of Yahweh or change it in some way or another.

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Yahweh just sits back and allows this even though time and time again Yahweh says in the Tanak that His Torah is everlasting it is forever and given to His people as a sign between Him and Yisrael for ever as an everlasting covenant.

Rabbi Daniel Rendelman has a great saying and has some tea-shirts with these words printed on, “What part of forever do you not understand?”

On the one hand you’ve got YHWH requesting that all priests in the Temple, especially the high priest wear head coverings (Exodus 28:36-38) and centuries later you have a devoted follower of this same Elohim saying that it’s now shameful.

Exodus 28:36-38

36 And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Kadosh-Le-Yahweh. 37 And you shall put it on a blue lace that it may be upon the turban; upon the forefront of the turban it shall be. 38 And it shall be upon Aharon's forehead, that Aharon may bear the iniquity of the kadosh things, which the children of Yisrael shall set-apart in all their kadosh gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. The verses from Malachi 3:6; “I am YHWH I change not…” And Hebrews 13:8; “Yahshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever," seems not to sink into the mind of the average Christian or some so called Nazarene Israelite or Messianic believers.

The Old Testament is continually relegated as a book that depicts a vengeful and angry Creator despite Him mercifully flooding mankind with water and in the socalled fluffy grace garnished New Testament raining down on the population with fire and brimstone and a rock called “Wormwood” that wipes out one third of the earth’s population in a single hit.

The priests and high priests could not preside in any part of the Temple much less enter into the presence of YHWH unless their heads were covered at all times. 5

In fact very few, if any, historical images of Israelites are ever depicted without them wearing some sort of headdress. Christianity even admits that their Jesus (Greco-Romanized version of Yahshua) wore a tallit (prayer shall) that was often pulled up over the back of his head. In fact it is absolutely reasonable to deduce that Rabbi Sha’ul delivered the statements in 1 Corinthians 11 whilst wearing a head covering, if for no other reason than the information I am about to present

Sha’ul (Paul) the Little Tent (Tallit) Maker Most Christians are understandably ignorant of the fact that Sha’ul did not make tents despite the verse in Acts 18:3 that says; “because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.”

This is because the word, “tentmaker” has been mistranslated! Sha’ul actually made four-cornered garments called “tallits,” which functioned as prayer shawls.

The tallit was literally used as a personal “prayer closet” that was pulled up over the head of an occupant when praying to prevent distraction and heighten concentration.

The ignorance the church has as to the true nature of Rabbi Sha’uls profession most likely adds to their inability to see the significance of wearing Tzitzit (tassels), which hang from a tallit (a four cornered garment).

The practice of wearing four cornered garments (Numbers 15:38) is ritually avoided within church despite YHWH specifically instructing all the tribes of Israel (not just Judah) to wear such garments throughout their generations. Numbers 15:37-41 37 And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 38 Speak to the children of Yisrael, and tell them that they are to make tzitziyot in the wings of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the tzitzit of the wings a cord of techelet: 39 And it shall be to you for a tzitzit, that you may look upon it, and remember all the mitzvoth of Yahweh, and do them; and that you seek not after your own lev and your own eyes, which you used to go whoring: 6

40 That you may remember, and do all my mitzvoth, and be kadosh to your Elohim. 41 I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim, to be your Elohim: I am Yahweh your Elohim.

The argument that this was just for Jews becomes unravelled when one realises that the Jews where just one of eleven other tribes who stood at the base of Mount Sinai to receive Yahweh’s Commandments. Remember this: “All Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews” Why would Rabbi Sha’ul say that no man should cover his head when he sold garments that were used to do that very thing? The answer is Rabbi Sha’ul was not talking about head coverings, but veils as worn by women.

Yahshua even wore a head covering as we see in the following verse: Matthew 4:9; “And he (S.a.tan) said to Him (Yahshua), all these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me and bare your head to me.”

In other words if you bow down to me Yahshua and take off your head covering.

The Scriptures not only commanded priests who presided in the Temple to wear head coverings, but all followers to wear them. Ezekiel 24:15; “Also the word of YHWH came to me, saying… (17) …bind the turban of your head upon you… (23) And your turbans shall be upon your heads…” This was a direct reference to wearing a head covering written by a prophet that according to a cursory understanding of Sha’uls writings is allegedly renounced as dishonourable. All Israel are a nation of priests (Exodus 19:5-6; 1Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6) and the wearing of a head covering by a Jew or Messianic believer is an outward sign of a believer’s constant anticipation and readiness for the Bridegrooms return. Exodus 19:5-6 5 Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, ands homer My brit, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to Me above all peoples: for all the earth is Mine: 6 And you shall be to me a malchut (kingdom) of Kohanim (priests), and a kadosh (set-apart) nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Yisrael. 1 Peter 2:9 7

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a kadosh nation, and a peculiar people; that you should show forth the tehillot of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous Light: Revelation 1:6 6 And has made us melechim (kings) and Kohanim (priests) to His Eloah and Abba; to Him be tifereth and dominion le-olam-va-ed. Amein. For those who say we as Yisrael are not kings and priests unto Yahweh are not Yisrael because their statements are contrary to Yahweh’s blessed Word. The people of Yisrael are kings and priests let start acting and being what we are meant to be.

I’ve read many well researched papers on the tradition of head coverings and how they have no Biblical basis. Some of the most compelling studies that refute the wearing of Kippah are actually written by fellow Nazarene Israelite believers. But at the end of the day, the final word has to come from the Scriptures themselves.

Half a Hill on Your Head Depending on the source, the traditional appearance of the Kippah has a variety of origins.

Some sources site its diminished size and shape as having evolved to make it easier to remove and hide from occupying Greek or Roman soldiers. But the most reliable source for the shape of the head covering is provided in Scripture.

The old English word “tires,” which means “round,” appears in the King James Version in Ezekiel 24:17, 23.

KJV Ezekiel 24:17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. KJV Ezekiel 24:23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. RSTNE Ezekiel 24:17 Hold back from crying, make no mourning for the dead, bind the turban of your head upon you, and put on your sandals upon your feet, and cover not your lips, and do not eat the lechem of men. 8

RSTNE Ezekiel 24:23 and your turbans shall be upon your heads and your sandals upon your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall waste away for your iniquities, and mourn with one another. A clear reference that all Yisraelites, not just priests, wore head coverings. Interestingly the word “tires” also appears in Isaiah 3:18 when referring to a round or domed shaped pendant.

KJV Isaiah 3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The Hebraic meaning of head covering in Ezekiel 24 literally means “half of a hill” or “dome,” hence the domed shape of the Kippah worn by the modern Jew and many Nazarene Israelites today.

The funny thing is that even the Vatican, the mother of all Christianity even though some of its church daughters have tried to disassociate themselves from her, holds to wearing head coverings.

All Popes at least wear a Kippah in public.

But for some reason the Vatican hierarchy do not encourage their followers to do the same.

Now let’s have a look at some other scriptures concerning Yisrael wearing head coverings Leviticus 10:6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which

hath kindled.

Leviticus 21:10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; Numbers 5:18 And the priest shall set the woman before , and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse: 9

Exodus 29:6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. Leviticus 21:5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 2 Samuel 15:30 And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. Esther 6:12 And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. Job 19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. Psalm 140:7 O Elohim , the strength of my salvation; thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Song 5:7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Isaiah 3:23 the mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the large veils. As we can see that there are many scriptures where the people of Yisrael covered their heads, in fact Yahweh does not like baldness, for those of us who naturally lose our hair then we have a solution wear a head covering.

Daniel 3:21

21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, and their head coverings4, and their other garments, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Zechariah 3:5

5 And I said; Let them set a clean turban upon his head. So they set a clean turban upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the heavenly malach of Yahweh stood by.

The Tallit Deuteronomy 22:12; "You shall make yourself twisted threads, on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself." 4

Yisraelite men and women wore head coverings.

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The head covering is part of the tallit, which foreshadows the heavenly garment all members of the Commonwealth of Israel will receive in the New Kingdom. Adam and Eve were not naked before the fall, as we perceive someone to be naked today. They were clad in a heavenly covering that was not a foreign object, which is the definition of clothing in the true sense of the word. In a way, they were just like a crab or a bear that are naked, but are clad in their own natural coverings. So in essence they were naked before the fall, but they were not without coverings. The wearing of four tzitzit (tassels) that must hang from a fore-cornered garment is a mitzvah (commandment).

Numbers 15:38; "Speak to the children of Yisrael and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of blue (Hebrew: tekhelet) on the fringe of each corner."

Tzitzit: - Plural Tzitziyot. Found in both the Tanak and Brit Chadasha. The tzitzit is worn as a remembrance of the Torah. Numbers. 15:37-41; Deuteronomy. 22:12. Yahshua also wore the tzitzit as found in the Brit Chadasha. Matthew. 9:20; 14:36. Zechariah 8:23 23 This says Yahweh tzevaoth; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the tzitzit of him that is a Yahudi, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that Elohim is with you. It is a foreshadowing of the heavenly garment that is given to the saints in the golden altar which resides in the vicinity of YHWH (Revelations 6:9-11).

To be against the wearing of a Kippah or tallit (pulled up around the head) during worship is to believe that even a baseball cap or bowler hat is 11

impermissible as a part of a person’s dress, particularly in the act of prayer or prophesying. We can’t have our cake and eat it. If one is to espouse a teaching against the wearing of a headdress whilst in the presence of YHWH one denounces YHWHs Torah where it stipulates the high priests garment consisting of a turban and gold headband. Contrary to popular belief the Torah was not done away with on the execution stake. When Yahshua was asked whether his appearance and future atonement was going to change or replace any aspect of the Torah, His answer was as follows, "Think not that I have come to weaken, or destroy the Torah (law), or the neviim (prophets): I have not come to weaken, or destroy, but to completely reveal it in its intended fullness.” (Matthew 5:17). The head covering, whether it is a veil for women or a Kippah for men, is a Biblical requirement. Yes, the Greeks wore similar head attire for sport functions (2 Maccabees 4:1013) and as a sign to represent knowledgeable individuals affiliated to Hermes, the god of Philosophy, but this is the same as saying, Pagans pray to their gods, so we won’t pray to YHWH because that custom is kept by them, Or like saying we will not keep Shabbat because the Seventh Day Adventists keep Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom!

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