KIPPON

Your Yarmulke is on to stay! Comfortably throughout the day!

No more bobby pins,
No more clips!
Say goodbye to
anxiety trips!
Fits all sizes –
adult or child,
Fits all hair types –
straight or wild!

how kippon was born

On the High Holy Days, as well as on the Sabbath and at weddings and bar mitzvahs, yarmulke-wearing males share an ancient and universal problem: how to keep their skullcaps on their heads.

Bobby pins are used by everyday wearers of kippahs. This solution is not ideal, as bobby pins tend to get lost. A Brooklyn Rabbi, Sholom Ber Schapiro, in search of a sophisticated scientific solution to the skullcap-slippage problem, contacted an Israeli scientist, Herman Branover, at the Beer-Sheva University of Negev, whose field is magneto-hydrodynamics. Branover referred the rabbi to his friend from Russia, BNL Mechanical Engineer Lev Neymotin, Department of Nuclear Energy (DNE).

Rabbi Schapiro suggested the use of glues or magnets, but Neymotin immediately thought of a simpler, mechanical fastener: Velcro. After consulting with the manufacturer of Velcro and experimenting with various Velcro samples, “Kippon” was begotten last March. It is an ingenious product with a clever name, to keep your kippah on.

“Take the Kippon kit. Conceived by Lev Neymotin, a nuclear physicist from Long Island, it is intended to hold yarmulkes firmly in place with four strips of Velcro (TM) that grab hair but release gently. Mr. Neymotin, who is usually occupied with the safety of nuclear reactors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, said in a telephone interview that the product’s name was a play on “keep on” and “kippah,” the Hebrew word for yarmulke…”

JEWISH WORLD

“The talk of Mea She’arim and Bnei Brak is an invention that solves a perennial problem of the Orthodox: how to keep one’s skullcap on….The designer adapted the idea of Velcro tape, and developed a tab of Velcro nylon that holds onto the hair but releases it without pulling…”

“… The two final comments. There is no hair loss when a Kippon-fastened kippa is removed from the head. And unfortunately for bald pates, Kippon cannot adhere to a hairless head.”

“Thinking of the possibilities this invention allows for, one imagines yeshiva basketball players being able to dribble downcourt without using one hand to hold their kippot on their heads; mothers being able to send their little ones off to school without loading their curls with annoying clips; and young men being spared the embarrassment of going into drug stores to buy bobby pins.

All of which reminds one of the Mel Brooks 2,000 year old man routine in which he is asked the greatest invention of the 20th century and responds immediately, “Liquid Prell.” What about the iron lung, he is asked. “That’s good,” replies Brooks, “but when you drop it, it breaks.” Surely, now, Velcro can take its rightful place among the greatest discoveries of our time. Can’t you just hear Mel Brooks asking, “when else could you run to shul on a windy day without worrying?”

“… And so, to Rabbi Schapiro, Prof. Branover and Dr. Neymotin, we give our thanks and do what seems to be the most appropriate. A doff of the old yarmulke.”

“In an effort to make the product more ecumenical, Mr. Neymotin offered kits to Pope John Paul II and to Cardinal O’Connor of New York, for help with any Catholic headgear problems…”

It's a problem for every Jewish man. And for every Pope...

CATHOLIC WORLD

“I am writing at the direction of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to acknowledge the gift that you sent for his acceptance.

I have the honor to assure you of His Holiness’s gratitude for your thoughtful gesture and his appreciation of the kind sentiments which prompted it.”

“Your gadget is the greatest – If His Eminence ever gets a toupee I trust that it won’t come off when removing his “Catholic Yarmulke”.

His Eminence is most appreciative of your thoughtfulness.

However, only a very few of the Catholic Clergy (the Bishops) use skull-caps and in this instance because of numbers, there would be no real value in trying to market your product in this area.”

USERS

“It seems that I have exhausted the supply in my area inasmuch as I now I am able to wear different colored kippas to match my various outfits, and did not enjoy using a clip or bobby pin… I can personally attest to the efficiency of your product. It is a brilliant idea whose time has long been coming…”

“I’ve been using your product for several years and am very satisfied and will be until I go bald! (G-d forbid)…”

“Your product Kippon recently came to my attention and I am thrilled with it!… When I do weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, these are really quite in demand!..”