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REMT wrote:<BR>
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<2. With regard to wearing hats - why do some were hats during the<BR>dinner at a wedding and even while dancing (and sweating). One is<BR>not saying beracha (independent of recent link that one<BR>doesnt a hat while davening)><BR>At least in Litvishe circles, this is a fairly recent hanhaga. (I hesitate to dignify it as a minhag.) Fifty-two years ago, I was present at a wedding attended by Reb Aharon, Reb Moshe, Reb Ya'akov and Rav Gifter, and all ate and danced while wearing yarmulkes. I am convinced that wearing the hat began because in the summer, when there was no coat to check, it was easier to wear the hat than have the bother of using the coat room -- and the talmidim saw, and thought it was a hiddur of some kind.<BR>
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I recently heard a mp3 talk on YUTorah by R. Benjamin Yudin about R. Dovid Lifshitz. He mentions that once a bochur visited R. Dovid's apartment . R. Dovid was eating breakfast in the kitchen without a jacket. When R. Dovid noticed the bochur, he immediately put on a jacket (hat I don't remember). It appears from this anecdote that R. Lifshitz would not have appeared in public without a jacket. Perhaps one of his talmidim can confirm.<BR>
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I was once told by a former talmid of R. Shmuel Rozovsky (who, for the record, wore a grey frak) that R. Shmuel once saw a bochur walking in the street in Bnei Brak in the middle of summer with his jacket on. R. Shmuel called him over, told him to take off the jacket and fold it over his arm before continuing. The lesson was that a ben Torah should not go out without a jacket, but equally should actually wear if it was hot.<BR>
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This also reminds me of something I heard R. Meir Eliyahu Klugman (author of the Artscroll biography of RSRH) say during a talk when he spoke about the differences between Yekkes, Litvaks and Chasidim. He said that the Chosid wears his hat and jacket when he learns because for him, it is avodas haShem. The Litvak, on the other hand, takes off his hat and jacket to learn because for him, learning is living. I can't remember what he said about the Yekke.<BR>
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Kol tuv<BR>
Dov Kaiser<BR> <br /><hr />Do you want a Hotmail account? <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/' target='_new'>Sign-up now - Free</a></body>
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