By Alex Gordon
HAIFA, Israel — Sombrero (in Spanish, sombrero – “hat,” sombra – shadow) is a wide-brimmed hat with a high conical crown and usually with upturned edges. The sombrero, a hat that is part of the Mexican costume, has gained popularity in hot countries around the world. The wide-brimmed hat protects not only the top of the head from the sun but also casts a shadow over the entire face, neck, and shoulders of its wearer. Sombreros are not worn in Israel, but I wear one. And here’s what happened to me and my sombrero.
One day, I was walking on the campus of an Israeli university wearing a sombrero. It was very hot. Some stranger admired my hat. Thinking that the person in front of me was an Israeli and a colleague, a local scientist, I said to him: “How long can one be a Jew? Well, I decided to take a break and become a Mexican.” But the person I met didn’t speak Hebrew. I repeated my remark in English. He didn’t understand anything.
Then I felt that it would be better to say the same thing in French, because my interlocutor spoke with a French accent. But it turned out that it wasn’t about the language, but rather that this foreign scholarly guest is not Jewish and doesn’t understand Jewish jokes about themselves. He doesn’t know that the chosen people have chosen to make a joke of themselves as their distinguishing feature.
In the Torah, the Jews are called a stiff-necked people, a people who refuse to bow their necks, “a people with a hard neck,” stubborn, disobedient, rebellious. During the holiday of Hanukkah, Jews celebrate their victory over Hellenism, over foreign customs, over the popular, dominant civilization dictating how everyone should live.
In the country of Israel, it is hot. The scorching sun can negatively affect the rigidity of many materials. During thermal expansion, the bonds between atoms can weaken. Therefore, the strength and stiffness of the material of the Jewish neck and Jewish nape may significantly decrease. So, one should keep the head along with the neck and nape in the cold, so they don’t bend under the scorching sun before Hellenism or any other fashionable trend. That’s exactly why I wear a sombrero.
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Alex Gordon is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Haifa and at Oranim, the Academic College of Education, and the author of 11 books.