Hi Lisa, I don't have the answers to your questions, but I do have a possible reason for why illustrators are putting kippot on characters. With the call for more diverse books, a kippah is an easy way to indicate that a character is Jewish. Other diverse groups have varying skin tones, clothing, or adaptive equipment (ie: wheelchair) to represent their ethnicity, culture, physical handicap, etc., but non-Hasidic Jews look like most other people. A kippah is one way to distinguish male Jews. That's my observation, but the illustrators may have their own reasons.
Martha Simpson https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.Martha-Seif-Simpson.com__;!!KGKeukY!nCY0WloF3cUjFHioa53YQGLFDoCHqYwepv7vBTm4HH7PKru2pu6-hBBc8I-OQ-BUYr-1Tkq-Ss858WQ$ @MarthaSimpMLS Facebook: Martha KidLit Author On Tue, Aug 3, 2021 at 12:01 AM Lisa Silverman via Hasafran < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi safranim, > I am co-editor of the AJL children's book reviews and have noticed a trend > but I need someone who knows more about this to comment, please. > > It seems that children's illustrators are putting kippot on most of the > men and boys in Jewish-themed books, and I assume it is to make them > acceptable to all denominations. But I find this a rather false narrative > in many of these books. > > For instance, there is a lovely new picture book about Rabbi Joachim > Prinz and how he was a civil rights activist and spoke at the March on > Washington, but he is wearing a very visible kippah there at the Lincoln > Memorial, and photos of him at the time do not reflect that. Here are my > questions for anyone who can help--- and certainly one person would not > have to answer all of them-- > > > 1. Would Joachim Prinz be wearing a kippa at any time in public? > 2. Do any Jews affiliated with the Reform or Progressive movements > ever wear kippot in public? > 3. Do Reform Jews wear kippot at all times in the synagogue? Do they > have kids wear them at Hebrew school? > 4. Would a book be too confusing to children if some men at, say, a > sukkot gathering, wear a kippah and some do not? > 5. Do Orthodox or more observant denominations only buy picture books > if all the men and boys wear kippot? Or do they not buy picture books from > secular publishers anyway? > 6. When was the practice of wearing knitted or patterned kippot begun > in North America? > > > > thank you in advance for any light that can be shed on this! > > *Lisa Silverman* > *Co-editor, AJL News and Reviews* > *Curator, Jewish Journal Streaming Guide* > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!nCY0WloF3cUjFHioa53YQGLFDoCHqYwepv7vBTm4HH7PKru2pu6-hBBc8I-OQ-BUYr-1Tkq-A-s_erk$ > > Earlier Listserver: > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!nCY0WloF3cUjFHioa53YQGLFDoCHqYwepv7vBTm4HH7PKru2pu6-hBBc8I-OQ-BUYr-1Tkq-WjHnjoA$ > > AJL HomePage > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.JewishLibraries.org__;!!KGKeukY!nCY0WloF3cUjFHioa53YQGLFDoCHqYwepv7vBTm4HH7PKru2pu6-hBBc8I-OQ-BUYr-1Tkq-0lPiceE$ > > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran >
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