When the king assented and Jason came to office, he at once shifted his compatriots over to the Greek way of life. In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred fifty more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enroll the people of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. “When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview three hundred sixty talents of silver, and from another source of revenue eighty talents. As recoded in 2 Maccabees 4:7-17, he favored the Greek culture and vigorously sought to incorporate Antiochus’ policy of assimilation: In the year 175 BCE, Jason, of the Oniad family, was appointed high priest. This is what motivated the Maccabean revolt and the rise of the Hasmonean Empire. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid emperor, made it his personal goal to force the Greek culture upon all of his empire, including the Jewish people. “Wearing of a head covering (yarmulka, skullcaps, kippah ) for men was only instituted in Talmudic times (approximately the second century CE).” The Jewish Virtual Library So if the kippah is absent from the Bible, how was it adopted? The tradition likely goes back to Greek culture. It is also nowhere found in the New Testament. The Old Testament is silent on the wearing of the kippah or skull cap. From where did the practice of wearing the kippah or yarmulke develop?
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