Black Hats and Tichels
So here’s a man who says, “What does it matter to put on a black hat? I'm a frum Jew. My head is full of Torah. Who cares if I put on my head a gray hat or a yellow hat or even no hat? What difference does it make?”
The answer is that a black hat makes all the difference in the world because what a person demonstrates outwardly elicits from him a greatness that wasn’t so forthcoming. A black hat means you identify with the best ones! Now make no mistake. It's not penimiyus. A black hat doesn’t mean you gained all the greatness of the qualities that you earn only by years of study and thinking. And still, by putting a black hat on his head he has gained for himself a perfection, a glory, that would have otherwise been stifled.
A woman who wears her hair covered, same thing. It’s the greatest glory for her and it elicits from her a wealth of perfection, of character, of glory. That’s why every morning we make a brachah הָרָ‡¿פƒ ̇¿ּב ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי – He crowns Yisroel with glory. The bracha is on putting on something on your head, a head covering, and it's important to utilize this opportunity of an exterior act. Have in mind now you're doing an act of demonstration that you're a servant of Hashem: “I belong to Hashem and therefore I crown myself with glory.” What is the glory? The glory of demonstrating that I am an eved Hashem.
