HALACHA-----yarmulke and chukas akum

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If yarmulkes are only a chumra and only some hold that it's a chiyuv today, why are men so stringent with not making a bracha or even moving without one?

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The Mahari Bruna and the Taz hold that not wearing a Yarlmuka is an Issur D'Oraysah, or Chukas Akum, since it is distinctly Jewish dress to wear a Yarlmuka, and the Goyim consider the contrary - going bareheaded - honorable. Numerous poskim bring the Taz l'halachah (the Mahari Bruna is less well known). Beside that, the Zohar in Naso writes that you should wear a Yarlmuka because the Shechinah surrounds you when you do so.

Even without an actual Issur, other poskim hold that a Yarlmuka is obligatory as a full-fledged Minhag, as opposed to an optional chumrah.