Bekishe

The bekishe derives from the Hungarian {{lang|hu|bekes}} {{Circa|16th century}}, a sort of fur-lined coat with a collar, fastened by clasps. The {{lang|hu|bekes}} was often richly decorated, sometimes with galloon.{{cite web |last1=Goldberg-Mulkiewicz |first1=Olga |title=Dress |url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Dress |website=YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |access-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415140623/https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Dress |url-status=live }} One force driving caution with use of wool is the Biblical injunction against mixing it with linen (Lev. 19:19; Deut. 22:11).

File:Admor sitting with bekashe.jpg Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam wearing a Tish Bekishe]]

The bekishe is typically black. There are two main types of bekishe. The glatt (plain, lit. smooth) bekishe is solid colored, and is usually worn for Friday night and Saturday morning prayers. For Shabbos meals, the patterned bekishe, also known as a tish bekishe (table Bekishe), is worn. The tish bekishe is also worn by some during the Shabbos afternoon prayer service and the night after Shabbos. Both can be made of silk, although nowadays it is usually polyester. Some non-Hassidic Orthodox Jews wear a tish bekishe at home during the Shabbos meals. Many Hassidic Rebbes, mainly of Hungarian lineage, wear {{transliteration|yi|italic=no|tish bekishes}} with various colors, usually either blue or silver, often with black. Many Hassidic Rebbes wear {{transliteration|yi|italic=no|samet}} (velvet) or {{transliteration|yi|italic=no|strohkes}} (velvet piping), symbolizing tefillin, on the bekeshe.

File:HasidicRebbe.jpg Rebbe wearing a kaftan.]]

The gold and blue striped garments worn by Yerushalmi Haredim such as Toldos Aharon, Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, Dushinsky, Neturei Karta, Shomer Emunim, Pinsk-Karlin, and many but not all in Breslov and Karlin-Stolin, as well as other non-affiliated Yerushalmi Haredim such as the Perushim are called kaftans. Those members of these movements centred in Jerusalem or one of the Jerusalem-affiliated suburbs such as Beitar Illit, Ramat Beit Shemesh or Modi'in Illit wear these gold coats. Those who live further away, for example in Bnei Brak, Ashdod or outside of E. Israel, usually wear black {{transliteration|yi|italic=no|bekishes}} like most other Hasidim, as do some of those who live in Jerusalem.

The gold kaftan{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/18/archives/jewish-is-jewish-is-beautiful.html |title=Jewish Is Beautiful |quote=in kaftan and yarmulkah |author=Brederic Morton |date=October 18, 1970 |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108225019/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/18/archives/jewish-is-jewish-is-beautiful.html |url-status=live }} is generally worn after marriage; before marriage, either a black bekishe or weekday-style clothing is worn on days when a bekishe is usually worn. Some of those who wear the gold bekishe switch to black on Shabbos afternoon before Mincha; this is seen in, for example, Dushinsky and with many of the Prushim.

Married Chabad hasidim wear a long black kapoteh (frock coat) instead of a bekishe. The kapoteh or frak, besides its unique waist seam construction, has four buttons in the front (as opposed to six [or eight in Nadvorna - Kretschnef] on the front of a bekishe), as well as slit in the back, which is lacking on the bekishe. The kapoteh can be made of either wool or silk.{{cite news

|newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/08/nyregion/basement-synagogue-causes-a-clash-in-rockland.html

|title=Basement Synagogue Causes a Clash in Rockland

|quote=and a kapote, or silk robe.

|author=Joseph Berger

|date=December 8, 1986

|access-date=November 7, 2022

|archive-date=November 7, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107164924/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/08/nyregion/basement-synagogue-causes-a-clash-in-rockland.html

|url-status=live

}} Although black is the preferred predominant color,{{cite news

|newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/16/arts/isadore-twersky-of-harvard-and-the-hasidim-dies-at-67.html

|title=Isadore Twersky, of Harvard and the Hasidim, Dies at 67

|author=Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr.

|date=October 16, 1997

|access-date=November 7, 2022

|quote=his long black kapote

|archive-date=November 10, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110171048/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/16/arts/isadore-twersky-of-harvard-and-the-hasidim-dies-at-67.html

|url-status=live

}} other hues can be present, including on the buttonholes.{{cite news

|newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/style/tmagazine/13hasidic.html

|title=Now Plugging My Yiddishe Tailor

|quote=in bright hues

|author=Sarah Kleinberg

|date=September 11, 2009

|access-date=November 7, 2022

|archive-date=November 7, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107164932/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/style/tmagazine/13hasidic.html

|url-status=live

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons-inline|Category:Bekishes}}
• [http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=3186 Why the Long Black Coat?]

{{Clothing}}

Category:Frock coats

Category:Hasidic clothing