Sudra (headdress)

The sudra (Aramaic: סודרא‎ suḏārā; Hebrew: סוּדָר sudār) is a rectangular piece of cloth that has been worn as a headdress, scarf, or neckerchief in ancient Jewish tradition.^[1] Over time, it held many different functions and is today sometimes understood to be of great cultural and/or religious significance to Jews.

It is mentioned in various ancient and medieval Jewish and Christian religious texts in Aramaic and Koine Greek, written in or around the Near East. Among them are the Gospel of Luke, the Targum Neofiti, the Peshitta, the Babylonian Talmud (this text makes numerous mentions of the sudra and is an important source for the role it played in Jewish life at the time), and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan.