Question:
I work in an office that is not "kippah-friendly"; I get the feeling that people are throwing judgmental stares in my direction. I'm torn, and not sure what to do...
Answer:
Let me tell you a simple story: About thirty years ago, a young psychiatrist took up practice in my hometown of Vancouver. His Jewish orthodox friends, some of them doctors, advised him that for the sake of developing the trust of his patients etc. etc., he should not cover his head in the office. He scoffed their advice and wore a kippah.
My father was a court reporter at the time and needed to deliver a transcript to this psychiatrist's office. I'll never forget the tone of his voice over dinner that evening as he described to us his astonishment. "A psychiatrist with a yarmulke! Sitting in his office with a yarmulke!"
For my dad, Judaism had just burst out of its closet. Now anything was possible. It wasn't long before he stopped answering the phone on Shabbat.
The job of a Jew is to change the world, not to make peace with it. It started with Abraham, a man with guts. Be his child.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman for Chabad.org
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