Och, Man, It's the Jewish Tartan!

Thanks to Stacey Agdern for letting me know about the Official Jewish Tartan.

According to the web-site, Scots Jews have been waiting over 300 years for this tartan. Really? So all 5 of them have been waiting for this? Seriously, I'm sure that there are more than 5 Jews in Scotland (actually there are 6,400) but not by much considering there are only 100,000 in the United Kingdom. The dude at my left is Rabbi Mendel Jacobs who spear-headed this whole thing. He consulted the Scottish Tartans Authority and religious scholars to come up with this tartan.

The tartan is 100% Kosher, so Orthodox Jews can wear it. Its made from a non-wool-linen mix (which means none of the scratchiness you get with wool tartans. Much nicer if you are going commando underneath). The colors reflect the blue and white of the flag of Israel as well as the Scottish flag, the gold reflects the Ark of the Covenant, the silver represents the silver that adorns the Scroll of Law and the color red is the traditional red Kiddush wine.

One of my colleagues who is English but of Scottish descent was peeved that the Jews now have their own kilt because he doesn't believe they should just be creating them willy-nilly. He's a traditionalist that way. I, of course, had to point out that according to Wikipedia, they've been creating tartans for years, ever since the revival of the tartan in the 19th century. All the Canadian provinces have an official tartan, and there are several US states that have tartans including Hawaii (?) and North Carolina (which makes sense because so many Scots and Irish settled in North Carolina after being cleared off their lands by the British or deported).

So hooray for the Jewish tartan. One of my best friends who is Jewish is married to a Scot, and now her boys can wear the Jewish tartan, as an option along with their clan kilt.

And frankly it is very pretty no?