Who's being thoughtless?
The request that Turkey's Muslim leader wear a kippa at Yad Vashem was absurd, not his refusal to do so
Buried within this incident are the sub-issues regarding the meaning of head covering in Jewish tradition, the religious nature of Yad Vashem, and Turkey's relationship to Jewish holy places.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to know that head coverings only gained currency amongst Jews in the 18th century. The custom derives from the Hassidic movement, which took it's cue from rabbinic writings.
The original intent was to distinguish between man and the Divine Presence (shekhina in Hebrew) hovering overhead. But several important rabbinic officials relax the religious requirement to cover one's head in certain uncomfortable circumstances, such as working in an office with non-Jews.
Religious Ornament
Today, head coverings have another significance: they are yet another religious ornament, the many types of which demonstrate a wearer's allegiance to one community or another.
Why was the Divine Presence established to be "hovering" above our heads rather than crawling under our feet? It has to do with an atavistic meaning of direction: "up" is associated with good, "down" with bad.
Therefore, God is said to rest in heaven above rather than below, the soul flourishes rather than sinks, and prayer rises rather than falls.
This approach would seem to contradict the religious outlook that says God is everywhere, meaning it would even be appropriate to direct our prayers downward. But the earth is finite, whereas the sky is infinite.
Opposite customs
I do not know why the Christian custom is directly opposite to ours: they pointedly remove their hats upon entering their holy places, as do all cultured Westerners, who remove their hats as a sign of respect to those greater than themselves.
I also do not know why Muslims remove their shoes before entering a mosque, whereas in Jewish tradition, only two people were ever told to remove their shoes - Moses at the burning bush, and Joshua, as he prepared for the Battle of Jericho.
Jewish athiest, religious Moslem
But we return to Erdogan. Yad Vashem is not a religious institution, and the requirement to don a kippa there apparently stems from the need to distinguish it from other, ordinary, sites.
I, too - a total, committed, atheist - put on a kippa at Yad Vashem, in order to eulogize those who were butchered for their Judaism. I simply find no other way to express these feelings.
But Erdogan is not a Jewish atheist, he is a religious Muslim, and under no circumstances would he enter a Jewish house of prayer, just as no religious Jew would enter a non-Jewish one.
In short, it was not Erdogan's refusal to don a kippa that was thoughtless, but the request that he do so.
Had they been asked at the time, his aides would surely have said there was no way the leader of an Islamic party could be photographed wearing a Jewish kippa. Such a move could easily have been interpreted by his followers as an insult to their values and even a first step towards converting to Judaism, God forbid.
When Jewish leaders meet with the Pope, Vatican leaders are careful and respectful of Jewish sensitivities. They do not request Jews bow and kiss the pontiff's ring, as Catholics are required to do.
