The Kippah

the Gemara relates: Rav Ḥisda would praise Rav Hamnuna to Rav Huna by saying that he is a great man. Rav Huna said to him: When he comes to you, send him to me. When Rav Hamnuna came before him, Rav Huna saw that he did not cover his head with a cloth, as Torah scholars did. Rav Huna said to him: What is the reason that you do not cover your head with a cloth? Rav Hamnuna said to him: The reason is that I am not married, and it was not customary for unmarried men to cover their heads with a cloth. Rav Huna turned his face away from him in rebuke, and he said to him: See to it that you do not see my face until you marry. The Gemara notes: Rav Huna conforms to his standard line of reasoning, as he says: If one is twenty years old and has not yet married a woman, all of his days will be in a state of sin concerning sexual matters. The Gemara asks: Can it enter your mind that he will be in a state of sin all of his days? Rather, say that this means the following: All of his days will be in a state of thoughts of sin, i.e., sexual thoughts. One who does not marry in his youth will become accustomed to thoughts of sexual matters, and the habit will remain with him the rest of his life. Rava said, and similarly, the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Until one reaches the age of twenty years the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits and waits for a man, saying: When will he marry a woman? Once he reaches the age of twenty and has not married, He says: Let his bones swell, i.e., he is cursed and God is no longer concerned about him. Rav Ḥisda said: The fact that I am superior to my colleagues is because I married at the age of sixteen, and if I would have married at the age of fourteen,

BARAITHA. The elders were once sitting in the gate when two young lads passed by; one covered his head and the other uncovered his head. Of him who uncovered his head R. Eliezer remarked, ‘He is a bastard’; R. Joshua remarked, ‘He is the son of a niddah’; R. ‘Aḳiba said, ‘He is both a bastard and the son of a niddah’. They said to R. ‘Aḳiba, ‘How did your heart induce you to contradict the opinion of your colleagues?’ He replied, ‘I will prove it concerning him’. He went to the lad’s mother and found her sitting in the market selling beans. He said to her, ‘My daughter, if you will answer the question which I will put to you, I will bring you to the World to Come’. She said to him, ‘Swear it to me’. R. ‘Aḳiba, taking the oath with his lips but annulling it in his heart, said to her, ‘What is the status of your son?’ She replied, ‘When I entered the bridal chamber I was niddah and my husband kept away from me, but my best man had intercourse with me and this son was born to me’. Consequently the child was both a bastard and the son of a niddah. It was declared, ‘R. ‘Aḳiba showed himself to be a great man when he contradicted his teachers’. At the same time they added, ‘Blessed be the God of Israel Who revealed His secret to R. ‘Aḳiba b. Joseph’.
‘One uncovered his head’: infer from this that bare-headedness is a gross form of bold-facedness.

(6) The disciples of the wise conduct themselves with an abundance of privacy. They should not degrade themselves; and they should not uncover their heads and not their bodies. Even when entering a lavatory he should act decently, not to bare himself before sitting down nor use his right hand to dry himself, and remove himself from every human being and use an inner room, or an inner cave, and if it be behind a trench he should distance himself so that his neighbor will not hear him, and if it be on a plain, distance himself so that his neighbor will not see him; and not talk when voiding even if there be great need. And, in the self-same decent manner he follows by day he should follow by night; but one should train himself to have elimination morning and evening, to avoid the need of distancing himself.

(2) When the perfect bear this in mind, they will be filled with fear of God, humility, and piety, with true, not apparent, reverence and respect of God, in such a manner that their conduct, even when alone with their wives or in the bath, will be as modest as they are in public intercourse with other people. Thus it is related of our renowned Sages that even in their sexual intercourse with their wives they behaved with great modesty. They also said, "Who is modest? He whose conduct in the dark night is the same as in the day." You know also how much they warned us not to walk proudly, since "the fulness of the whole earth is His glory" (Isa. 6:3). They thought that by these rules the above-mentioned idea will be firmly established in the hearts of men, viz., that we are always before God, and it is in the presence of His glory that we go to and fro. The great men among our Sages would not uncover their heads in light of this fact that God's glory was round them and over them; for the same reason they limited their speech. In our Commentary on the Sayings of the Fathers (chap. 1:17) we have fully explained how we have to restrict our speech, "For God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few" (Eccles. v. i).

(6) It is forbidden to walk in an [overly] upright posture, and one should not walk [a distance of] four amot with the head uncovered (out of respect for the Divine Presence), and one should examine one's orifices [to ensure they are kept clean]. Rem"a: And one should cover his entire body, and should not go barefoot (Or Zarua). And One should accustom oneself to relieve oneself morning and evening, which is [included in the virtues of] alacrity and cleanliness (Hagahot Maimoni Chap 5 of Hilchot Deot).