Jewish Tartan

[Galician]

This just in from our intrepid informant in Glasgow who talked to his neighborhood rabbi in the most heavily Jewish section of Glasgow, and of Scotland. "He said he can't think of any tartan other than Gordon that Jewish folk wear, but he says he certainly assumes someone is Jewish if he sees them wearing the Gordon tartan in this area of Glasgow. (Dress or regular.)"

Vox populi, vox Dei. Gordon seems to be the tartan most authentically associated with Jewish Scots.

Thanks Arlen.

Wow, what a thought, that one would be assumed to be JEWISH from wearing a kilt!

But just as there are differences of liturgy and language between Shepardic and Ashkenazim, why not accept that other tartans could be developed for Jewish identification? Personally, I wonder if one would want to be identified as a Gordon OUTSIDE of that region if the link is one's status as a son of the covenant.

[gilmore]

Wow, what a thought, that one would be assumed to be JEWISH from wearing a kilt! ...

To be clear, it was the rabbi who said he assumed that some one wearing a Gordon tartan in that neighborhood would be Jewish, not the person who told me about it. In other words, that is how common it is for Glaswegian Jews to wear Gordon tartan.

I don't think it's any stranger than to be assumed to be a Robertson if one is wearing a Robertson tartan, or a Campbell if wearing a Campbell tartan, etc. In fact that is why many if not most of us wear kilts: to identify with a clan or other group of people.

[Galician]

To be clear, it was the rabbi who said he assumed that some one wearing a Gordon tartan in that neighborhood would be Jewish, not the person who told me about it. In other words, that is how common it is for Glaswegian Jews to wear Gordon tartan.

I don't think it's any stranger than to be assumed to be a Robertson if one is wearing a Robertson tartan, or a Campbell if wearing a Campbell tartan, etc. In fact that is why many if not most of us wear kilts: to identify with a clan or other group of people.

I understood that it was the rabbi making such an identification, which, for me, gave it real authority.

I disagree with your second point, though, because a Robertson is a Robertson worldwide, and any Robertson could claim use to that tartan for group identification. Jews worldwide don't have this connection with a kilt.

That's why it's both curious and a bit funny.