The two pictures above show men working for Shas, the right wing religious party. This is probably the strongest political example of hat/party correlation. People who wear black hats are likely to vote for Shas, and Shas represents mainly the interests of people who wear black hats.
I feel that I should point out, that I did not intentionally take an unflattering picture of the man above. I waited and waited for him to stop scratching his nose, but he never did. I guess he had a very itchy nose. Also, for the uninitiated of you who can't tell this for yourself, the woman here is wearing a wig.
This woman is not wearing a black hat, but is wearing headgear I associate with the women in what is actually called here the "black hat community."
Just to make clear, I would never presume to guess who is voting for who. I simply group these people together because of their hattage.
This young man is working for Nir Barkat, our new mayor. I can tell because the shirt on his head says so.
The next few pictures are of "knit kepot." Knit kepot are most often worn by members of the dati leumi community - literally "religous and patriotic." - these hats often denote rightist political leanings and strong sense of Zionism. Unlike the Haredim, or black hats, above, who often do not support the state of Israel because it is too secular, people wearing knit kepot are often fiercely patriotic. They also, as a rule, serve in the army, whereas the black hatters, as a rule, do not. Obviously there are exceptions to both rules. I will go in into the culture surrounding the knit kepah in more depth when I get around to giving them their own entry.
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This larger kind of knit kepah (above) often is worn by people of a more spiritual bent, and often somewhat more leftist.
I don't know if the man above should really be included. He was walking his dog past the polling place, but as of when I spoke to him, he wasn't sure yet if he was going to vote.
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The charming hats above seem to be worn by the older generation. I admit to not knowing what flavor of religion they go with.
And...presenting the secular men! Secular Jewish men are easier to spot than secular women. No hat = secular. Here are a few varieties.
The people sporting this particular style (above) are commonly referred to as arsim. (s. ars). As headwear goes, the ars can be identified by his short spiky hair and copious gel. This subgroup is secular, in general, though they do sometimes follow various rules as part of family tradition.
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And the women. It's harder to tell religiousness with the women, because single religious women do not cover their hair. However, as a guideline, the religious single women generally do not have hair dyed colors that do not appear in the population naturally. So here is a hodgepodge, with no identification attempted.
And welcome to new mayor, Nir Barkat! Called in bbc.com a "champion of secular Judaism", he does not wear a hat.
