YarmulkeGate: Jews and Texas Justice

There are a lot of people in Texas.  Aside from Kinky Friedman, very few it seems are Jewish.  “He ain’t from around here,” rings out whenever a yarmulke-wearing Jew shows up in town.  The Texas Tornado, Mark Bennett, tells the story about Harris County District Attorney candidate, current Judge and ersatz former litigator, Pat Lykos.


The Juish (as Kelly Siegler might say) witness whom DA candidate Pat Lykos ordered to remove his yarmulke writes in to AHCL’s blog.

The link is to a lengthy comment by a fellow named Gil Fried, who relates that he is a professor from New Haven, Connecticut.  He tells about the choice he was given by Judge Pat Lykos.


I can testify under oath that she forced me to remove my Yalmukah before testifying in her court (either testify without it or be held in contempt and would not be able to testify). In my opinion she was very mean about it and tried to imply that I was wearing it for show (she cited a case from New England involving a former priest who became a lawyer and wanted to practice in court wearing his collar) even when I indicated that I wear my head covering every day.

In New York, we have a lot of Jews.  Some are more orthodox than others, and always keep their head covered.  Some are ultra orthodox, and have an even more distinct appearance.  It’s not for show.  It doesn’t symbolize their membership in the clergy.  It’s considered fairly normal, and nobody around here would blink about it.

Is there a difference between wearing a yarmulke and dressing as Priest?  It seems obvious to me, unless the sight of a Jew wearing a yarmulke is so unusual as to symbolize something strange and foreign, bolstering from God the veracity of this witness.

I would have thought that they would learned something from Kinky.

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