How Shreiml is also from Mt. Sinai

From Wikipedia. License here.

Shtreiml is an old German word that became preserved in Yiddish as something that is made of streaks or streams of furry animal tails.

Having heard the most ridiculous fantasies about this hassidish head gear, I checked out Wikipedia articles on English, Hebrew and Russian.

Hassidim do succeed in mystifying their fantasies, and these fantasies do sync with the first accounts I heard.

The first one said that a shtreiml has a deep secret meaning that was explained only on Mt. Sinai and was handed down only through the leaders (admors, or admorim: an acronym, which the Hassidim might not be aware that in Yiddish also alludes to "someone to admire," ADoneinu, MOreinu, Rabeinu - our master, our teacher, our rabbi) of Hassidic dynasties.

"Did we wear shtreiml at Mt. Sinai?" I asked one. "Of course, together with the rekel (plain black long coat) or a kapoteh" (velvet or satin long coat).

More interesting explanations from Hassidic sources I found on Wikipedia.

A shtreiml is holy because it was included in the tzitzis commandment, and it must contain 13, 26 or 39 animal tails.

A shtreiml might not be so ancient, but old enough to originate from our time in Spain, and it is a Spanish (!) word and an article of clothing(!), which was to mark all Jews, and we just kept on wearing the headgear as a matter of our identity.

So there is no end to hassidic imagination!