Since the attack on the United States we all have been hearing not only jokes, but also about attacks against people wearing turbans. A Turban is nothing more than a linen piece of cloth wrapped around a small hat or the head itself. In Islam, the turban has cultural significance, but the turban was around for thousands of years prior to Islam's existance, and was solely a Jewish development.

Even in the book of Exodus we read that they made "decorated turbans of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twisted linen" (Ex 39:28). God commanded Moses to bring Aaron's sons forward where he "clothed them in tunics, girded them with sashes, and wound turbans upon them, as the Lord had commanded..." (Lev 8:13). When God commands Aaron to enter the Shrine, he orders him to "...wear a linen turban" (Lev 16:4). Turbans, as symbols as purity and pride, are mentioned in the writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Job. The Babylonians later adopted the Turbans, as did other Arab people thousands of years prior to Islam's existance.

Dictionary:  turban \Tur"ban\, n. [OE. turband, turbant, tolibant, F. turban, It. turbante, Turk. tulbend, dulbend, fr. Per. dulband. Cf. Tulip.] 1. A headdress worn by men in the Levant and by most Mohammedans of the male sex, consisting of a cap, and a sash, scarf, or shawl, usually of cotton or linen, wound about the cap, and sometimes hanging down the neck.

Mohammed who was the founder of Islam once said "Wear turbans and thus distinguish yourselves from the peoples who came before you," but he seems to not have realized the existance of the turban prior to the founding of his religion. Like many Jewish concepts, Islam adopted the Turban. To the Muslims, the turban was the symbol of royalty and was used in place of the crown. It was an article of kingly regalia. Throughout the Islamic world, it still continues to be used in place of the crown where monarchy exists.

In Muslim countries, officially, Jews were considered a tolerated minority whose social inferiority was to be enforced by law. In the 17th Century laws demanded Jews agreed, "not to attempt to resemble the Muslims in any way with regard to their dress, as for example with the turban..." At times Islam required Jews to wear distinguishing marks on their turbans, and on other occasions would limit the length of winding cloth that could be used for the turban. At one point only yellow turbans could be donned, and at one point, they were even outlawed to be worn by Jews.

In 1826 the Turban was banned from all of the Ottoman Empire and the Fez was instituted. The Fez was banned in 1925, as the Turks wanted to associate themselves with the "modern" culture. In response of the Turks banning the turban, a British naval officer wrote, "The magical effects of a turban are well known. It gives depth to light eyes, expression to dark eyes; it softens harsh features, relieves delicate ones." Turbans were common on the heads of Jews up until the 1920's. In our modern times the handful of Jews living in certain Islamic lands still don the wrapped headdress. To them, the blessing for donning a turban that is in the Talmud would still be recited in the morning "Oter Yisra'el bi-Tif'arah."

Today, in the modern world, the turban is still represented but is obviously not in widespread use. In Israel there are two Chief Rabbis who represent the individual minhagim (traditions) of their community. The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau wears a European style black fedora, while the Chief Sephardi Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron wears a deep purple turban style headdress. (View the hat here on our sister site. Sephardic Sages)

It's not the hat, its the man underneath it!