Did you know there are some 6,400 Jewish people living in Scotland? And each one is as Scottish as they are Jewish. This begs the question: why did Scotland’s Jews have to wait so long to get a kosher tartan? No matter. It’s here now, and Jews who find kilts fashionable are rejoicing.
According to the Daily Mail:
“The tartan, featuring distinctive tones of navy and burgundy, is a kosher non wool-linen mix which abides by shatnez – the Jewish law prohibiting the mixture of wool and linen in garments. Religious experts and tartan authorities worked together to come up with a design that represent both Jewish values and Scottish history.”
Users of social media also took note of the new invention. A few hours after the Jerusalem Post and Daily Mail ran their respective stories on the fabric, “kosher kilts” started trending on Facebook. Twitter was also buzzing with the news.
Shame it took 300 years, still amazing: World's first 'kosher tartan' for Scottish Jews https://t.co/Qd7JyH77h7 via @IBTimesUK #Jewishtartan
— Gary Spedding (@GarySpedding) March 29, 2016
The idea for the kosher tartan came from Dr. Clive Schmulian, a Scottish/Jewish dentist who got to thinking about Jewish kilts when he realized “there aren’t any.”
“So,” Dr. Schmulian explains, “we commissioned Slanj, a leading kilt outlet in Scotland to come up with three designs.”
“We put them to an online poll on the Jewish Telegraph’s website, 10,000 people voted, one was chosen and the winning design was announced. Our aim is for the tartan to be worn by Scottish Jews, ex-pat Scottish Jews, members of Jewish organizations, individuals of any religion with links to the Jewish / Israeli communities, so we also expect interest from expatriates and Jewish people in Scotland.”
Looks like Scotland’s Jews had been waiting for something like this for a very, very long time. Mazel tov!
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