The Sword and the Red Hat: the Dress of Jewish Physicians Throughout the Ottoman Empire

The Jewish sources that describe the non-medical dress and accessories of physicians are few. The current article focuses on the attire of Jewish physicians in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th-19th centuries. Two major issues regarding clothing items worn by Ottoman Jewish physicians are conspicuous i...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Author: Shemesh, Abraham Ofir
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
Repository:Arquivo Maaravi: Revista Digital de Estudos Judaicos da UFMG
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:periodicos.ufmg.br:article/47629
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/maaravi/article/view/47629
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:História do vestuário
Médicos judeus
Império Otomano
History of clothing
Jewish physicians
Ottoman Empire
Description
Summary:The Jewish sources that describe the non-medical dress and accessories of physicians are few. The current article focuses on the attire of Jewish physicians in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th-19th centuries. Two major issues regarding clothing items worn by Ottoman Jewish physicians are conspicuous in the halakhic historical literature: the hat worn by physicians and the practice of carrying a sword. Written testimonies and illustrations indicate that unlike other Jewish men who wore a yellow hat, Jewish physicians wore a red or blue hat, colors considered more prestigious. The elongated hat they wore was, however, shaped differently than that of Muslim physicians such that they could be discerned from their colleagues.