In other Hasidic groups, only married men wear a shtreimel.

There is much speculation surrounding the origin of the shtreimel.

Usually the bride's father purchases the shtreimel for the groom upon his wedding.

Peter the Great wore a hat resembling a shtreimel.

It is possible to buy a shtreimel made of synthetic fur, which is more common in Israel.

"If you go to a bookstore, you are on the street and people will see you," Shtreimel said.

They wear bowlers, not just the Sabbath fur hats known as shtreimel.

The shtreimel is always worn over a kippah.

Several wore the flamboyant fur Sabbath hat, or shtreimel.

It is narrower and taller than the shtreimel and is generally black.

Shtreimel said that he first dipped into the Internet out of curiosity and soon was confiding his religious skepticism in e-mail messages.

The shtreimel is generally worn only after marriage, except in many Yerushalmi communities, where boys wear it from their bar mitzvah.

The shtreimel is only worn in conjunction with other articles of clothing that comprise "Shabbos wear".

Hasidim originating from Congress Poland wear a high shtreimel (often called a spodik).

And Shtreimel is not alone in posting his doubts in a public forum (conartistic.blogspot.com is his latest address).

Rabbi Rubinstein didn't wear in Paris a Shtreimel.

While there are no official rules as to when the shtreimel is to be worn, it is usually worn on the following occasions:

The fur lined shtreimel alludes to the law of shaatnez and began as a way of keeping warm without wearing wool.

The shtreimel is comparable in construction to fur hats worn by Polish and Russian nobility and royalty.

The shtreimel of the Rebbes of the Ruzhin and Skolye dynasties is pointed upward.

The shtreimel manufacturers (shtreimel machers in Yiddish) keep their trade a closely guarded secret.

After Napoleon conquered Poland in 1812, most Poles adopted western European dress, except the Jews, who wore the old style, including the shtreimel.

His blogger pen name is Shtreimel, the Yiddish word for the round fur hat that a Hasidic man wears on Sabbath.

Because of its great expense, sable fur is typically integrated into various clothes fashions: to decorate collars, sleeves, hems and hats (see, for example the shtreimel).

In Israel, due to the economic circumstances of most members of the Hasidic community in that country, the vast majority of shtreimel-wearers own only one shtreimel.