Thesudra (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:סודרא,romanized: suḏārā;Hebrew:סוּדָר,romanized: suḏār) is a rectangular piece of cloth that has been worn as a headdress, scarf, or neckerchief inancient Jewish tradition.[1] Over time, it held many different functions and is today sometimes understood to be of great cultural and/or religious significance toJews.
It is mentioned in various ancient and medieval Jewish andChristian religious texts inAramaic andKoine Greek, written in or around theNear East. Among them are theNew Testament, theTargum Neofiti, thePeshitta, theBabylonian Talmud (this text makes numerous mentions of the sudra and is an important source for the role it played in Jewish life at the time), and theTargum Pseudo-Jonathan.
The Englishsudra derives from Jewish Aramaicסודרא,suḏārā. It in turn derives from theKoine Greek:σουδάριον,romanized: soudárion,lit. 'towel', a borrowing of the pre-AugustanLatin:sūdārium,lit. 'cloth for wiping away sweat, handkerchief', if not directly from Latin. The word originates in Latin, deriving from theadjectivesūdārius ,lit. 'sweaty' fromLatin:sūdor,lit. 'sweat' and the suffix-ārium meant to denote purpose in this case.[2][3][4][5]
The Babylonian Talmud presents what Jastrow calls a "playful etymology" of the term as a contraction ofBiblical Hebrew:ס֣וֹד יְ֭הֹוָה לִירֵאָ֑יו,romanized: sudʾadonay lireʾāw,lit. 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him', a section ofPsalm 25:14.[6][7]
The exact historical origins of wearing a piece ofcloth wrapped around one's head are, at the moment, unclear. Some of the earliest examples can be found in artworks from ancientMesopotamia, like statues ofstatues of Gudea wearing aturban-like garment.[8] Similar headdresses might have been worn back as early as 2600 BCE. These headdresses are often imbued with great historical, religious, and cultural significance in theNear East.[9] According to the Irish Professor ofBiblical studies John Raymond Bartlett, theHebrews also wore pieces of cloth, either fashioned like thekeffiyeh, a folded-up piece of fabric wound around one's head, or like a turban orknit cap.[10]
Thesūdārium was kept much like a pocket handkerchief but mainly used for wiping away sweat, as the name implies. It was a modern invention around the time ofCicero when fine-linen first came toRome. In the east of theempire, the term was borrowed byHellenistic writers asσουδάριονsoudárion, replacing older terms. It can be found in texts dealing with events inProvince of Judaea like theNew Testament for example, where it is mentioned inLuke 19:20,John 11:44,John 20:7 (seeSudarium of Oviedo) andActs 19:12.[11] Besides being used to wipe away sweat it was also worn around the neck as a piece of clothing akin to a scarf. In the Latin-speaking empire the termōrārium came to replacesūdārium during the Augustan age. This piece of cloth when waved in the air also came to be used to signify applause in Rome, replacing the lappet of thetoga used previously for this purpose.Wilhelm Adolf Becker argues against the use of thesūdārium being used to wipe one's nose.[4] Thesūdārium also came to be part ofRoman military armor, commonly calledfocale in its function as aneckerchief to protect against chafing by the armor.[12] This use of thesūdārium inRoman military attire is sometimes seen as precursor of the modernnecktie.[13][14]
In the 5th century when thePeshitta was translated, the termsudra refers to ashroud (burial cloth); for example, inJohn 11:44 (Classical Syriac:ܘܰܐܦ݁ܰܘܗ݈ܝ ܐܰܣܺܝܪܳܢ ܒ݁ܣܽܘܕ݂ܳܪܳܐ,romanized: wappaw asīrān bəsūḏārā,lit. 'and his face bound in a sudra').[15] This meaning is reflected in the names of therelics of theSudarium of Oviedo and theSudarium of Veronica.[16]
Katz, Houtman, and Sysling explain why the same name would call a burial cloth and a headdress. While discussing the meaning ofHebrew:שְׂמִיכָה,romanized: śəmiḵā,lit. 'blanket', a word mentioned a single time in theHebrew Bible inJudges 4:18, rabbinical scholars ofSyria Palaestina championed definitions for the obscure term, which define it as a sudra, while those from Babylon champion the definitionמשיכלא "cloak". This elucidated theJewish Palestinian Aramaic use of the term sudra as a broad term for textile sheets used for coving the bodies of human beings.[17][18] Sokoloff corroborates this broader use stating the sudra to have been a "piece of cloth [...] employed to tie and cover a variety of items" apart from a garment.[a][5]
TheBabylonian Talmud details different Jewish customs surrounding the sudra; for example in tractateBava Metzia it tells of letting another man touch a sudra, at least 3 finger-widths by 3 finger-widths large, in place of the sandal demanded byRuth 4:7, for purposes of authorising a transaction.[23][24] Wajsberg identifies this mention of the sudra as a late addition to the text, being absent from earlier versions and as evidence of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic linguistic influence on the Babylonian Talmud.[25] Havlin also observes that some versions of thetargum of theBook of Ruth 1:17 contain the term. In most versions of the section, in whichNaomi lists four methods of execution employed by the Jews, the fourth method is stated as 'cruxifixction'. MS De Rossi 31 however deviates from this claim, through what appears to be a scribal correction of what the corrector understood to be ahalakhic error. It states:וחניקת סודרהuḥəniqaṯ suḏrā "and suffocation [by means of] sudra" instead ofוצליבת קיסאuṣəliḇaṯ qaysā "and crucifixion on wood". Havil's view of the sudra being a tool for torment and execution in halakhic tradition is based on numerous mentions of this use, such as theTargum Pseudo-Jonathan's translation ofExodus 21:16 (יתקטיל בשינוקא דסודראyiṯqaṭṭil bšinnuqā ḏsudrā "he should be killed by strangulation of the sudra") as well as a section fromAvodah Zarah which states,רמו ליה סודרא בצואריה וקא מצערו ליהrmu leh sudrā ḇṣwāreh uqā mṣaʿʿaru leh|lit "They threw a sudra around his neck and tormented him".[26][27][28][29][30]
The Babylonian Talmud states fashions of wearing the garment and who wore it. Several tractates thereof describe it as being wrapped around one's head.[5][31]Berakhot 60b:5 additionally provides a prayer to be recited upon attiring the garment in this fashion:ברוך ... עוטר ישראל בתפארהbaruḵ ... ʿuṭer yiśraʾel bṯip̄ʾārā|liṯ "Blessed ... is he who crowns Israel with glory".[32]
Another fashion mentioned therein is wearing the sudra around one's neck,Marcus Jastrow suggests that it also had been worn over one's arms. TheOrach Chayim section of theShulchan Aruch, a collection of religious law from 1565, states that the Arabic name of the sudra worn this way isשי״דšid;סודר שנותנין על הצואר במלכות א"י שנקרא בערבי שי"ד וכן ביק"א שהיו נותנין בספרד על כתפיהם פטורים,lit. "A sudra which is worn upon the neck in the kingdom of theLand of Israel named in Arabicšīd, also thebiqā, which was worn inSepharad (Spain) over their shoulders are exempt [from the requirement oftzitzit]".[33][27][34] The 10th century commentatorRashi states, "And the Sudra is arranged on one's neck – and the ends were used to wipe one's mouth or eyes" (וסודר שבצוארו - ותלויין ראשיו לפניו לקנח בו פיו ועיניו), commenting on this passage.[35][27]
Saul Lieberman suggests that the headdress worn by religious authorities called "a sudra" is unrelated to the Roman sudarium and is instead acidaris (κίδαριςkídaris), a loanword from a Semitic language and cognate to Hebrew:כֶּתֶר,romanized: keṯer,lit. 'crown'). For this he, cites an early medieval Latinglossary which states, "The Cidarim is a cloth which Jews keep over their heads during day of the Sabbath." (Cidarim linteus est quod repites iudeorum die sabbato super caput habent ualde mundum.)[36][37] The cidaris was a turban-like headdress worn by theKings of Persia and, as stated before, also the rabbinical authorities.[38]
According to Lier, Targumim suggest Moses wore a sudra on his head, specifically his radiant forehead, thus concealing the nature ofYahweh, except when revealing theTen Commandments, when he is meant to have removed his sudra from his forehead according to Lier.[30]
There is textual evidence for its use as footwear.[5][39]
AmongstMizrahi Jews, the custom mostly remained despite prohibitions imposed by various non-Jewish rulers. One example of such a prohibition is the 1667 ʿAṭarot decree issued by theQasimid State, which prohibited Jews from wearing anything resembling an ʿaṭaroṯ (Judeo-Yemeni Arabic:עטרת,romanized: ʿaṭaroṯ,lit. 'cloth turbans', fromHebrew:עטר,romanized: ʿāṭer,lit. 'to crown'); that is, from wearing any cloth to cover their heads. The goal of this decree was to humiliate Jews by depriving them of a respectable appearance by forcing them to use their clothes to cover their heads. The situation was remedied byYemenite Jews bribing government officials. The solution achieved through this allowed Jews to wear cloths on their heads again, but they had to be shabby cloths.[40][41]
traditional Jewish head-dress was either something like the Arab'sKeffiyeh (a cotton square folded and wound around a head) or like a turban or stocking cap