Jewish Tartan

[gilmore]

Wow, what a thought, that one would be assumed to be JEWISH from wearing a kilt! ...

To be clear, it was the rabbi who said he assumed that some one wearing a Gordon tartan in that neighborhood would be Jewish, not the person who told me about it. In other words, that is how common it is for Glaswegian Jews to wear Gordon tartan.

I don't think it's any stranger than to be assumed to be a Robertson if one is wearing a Robertson tartan, or a Campbell if wearing a Campbell tartan, etc. In fact that is why many if not most of us wear kilts: to identify with a clan or other group of people.

[Galician]

To be clear, it was the rabbi who said he assumed that some one wearing a Gordon tartan in that neighborhood would be Jewish, not the person who told me about it. In other words, that is how common it is for Glaswegian Jews to wear Gordon tartan.

I don't think it's any stranger than to be assumed to be a Robertson if one is wearing a Robertson tartan, or a Campbell if wearing a Campbell tartan, etc. In fact that is why many if not most of us wear kilts: to identify with a clan or other group of people.

I understood that it was the rabbi making such an identification, which, for me, gave it real authority.

I disagree with your second point, though, because a Robertson is a Robertson worldwide, and any Robertson could claim use to that tartan for group identification. Jews worldwide don't have this connection with a kilt.

That's why it's both curious and a bit funny.