Freed hostage Rom Braslavski said on Thursday that he has made a personal religious choice to stop wearing a small kippah and instead wear a larger one that covers most of his head. In a video he posted, Braslavski showed the new kippah and said, "Today I decided to stop wearing a regular small kippah and move to a large kippah that covers almost three quarters of my head."
He said he expects some people to label him however they want, including "settler," "ultra-Orthodox," "religious," "extremist," or "crazy Jew," but stressed that the decision is his alone. "You can put me in any kind of box and call me whatever you want," he said, adding, "This is a decision I made, and I am taking it upon myself to wear a large kippah."
Braslavski also distanced himself from what he described as ultra-Orthodox behavior in public protests, saying he is "very against what the ultra-Orthodox do," including demonstrations and calling police "Nazis" or using similarly harsh language. He said he still chose the larger kippah despite that stance. He closed by saying the reason was simple: "We are Jews. I am a Jew in the State of Israel, I am proud of that, and I decided to wear a large kippah that covers almost all of my head only for Judaism and the Torah."
