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If, G-d forbid, a Jew should behave badly in public (anything from simply doing something quite embarrassing, to being rude, to making a scene/causing a disturbance, to actually [ch"v] committing a major sin or breach of ethics) should he then try to conceal the fact that he is Jewish?
Two cases: both if it would involve another sin to do so (such as removing his kippah [?]) and if not.
No, he/she should not conceal the fact that they are Jewish. When you do this, you say that you worship men more than you worship God. The Jewish people are called to be a nation of priests to the whole world, and we are commanded to wear certain clothing to illustrate this point. It's understandable that there will be certain points at certain times where you will fall short of this ideal, and you will have sinned against God. But the moment that you become more worried about how others will perceive your sin, rather than being worried about the fact that you sinned against God, you have a much bigger problem. Because you are worshiping men, rather than worshiping God.
It has become commonplace to view tzit tzit or kippot as outward expressions of ones being Jewish. Rather than their actual purpose, which is to remind us of God's commandments, anywhere at anytime, especially when we are sinning. A practical example will be that one will be afraid to be seen wearing a kippah at a McDonalds in which he is grabbing a coke (which is permissible), but feels no remorse about actual sins in which no one is looking at him. Rather than this hypocrisy, one should embrace their Judaism at all times, and all moments, using it as a force toward holiness and repentance to God.
A great example of this is brought down in the Talmud in Menachot 43b-44a
Once a man, who was very scrupulous about the precept of zizith, heard of a certain harlot in one of the towns by the sea who accepted four hundred gold [denars] for her hire. He sent her four hundred gold [denars] and appointed a day with her. When the day arrived he came and waited at her door, and her maid came and told her, ‘That man who sent you four hundred gold [denars] is here and waiting at the door’; to which she replied ‘Let him come in’.
When he came in she prepared for him seven beds, six of silver and one of gold; and between one bed and the other there were steps of silver, but the last were of gold. She then went up to the top bed and lay down upon it naked. He too went up after her in his desire to sit naked with her, when all of a sudden the four fringes [of his garment] struck him across the face; whereupon he slipped off and sat upon the ground.
She also slipped off and sat upon the ground and said, ‘By the Roman Capitol, I will not leave you alone until you tell me what blemish you saw in me. ‘By the Temple’, he replied, ‘never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you are; but there is one precept which the Lord our God has commanded us, it is called zizith, and with regard to it the expression ‘I am the Lord your God’ is twice written, signifying, I am He who will exact punishment in the future, and I am He who will give reward in the future. Now [the zizith] appeared to me as four witnesses [testifying against me]’.
She said, ‘I will not leave you until you tell me your name, the name of your town, the name of your teacher, the name of your school in which you study the Torah’. He wrote all this down and handed it to her. Thereupon she arose and divided her estate into three parts; one third for the government, one third to be distributed among the poor, and one third she took with her in her hand; the bed clothes, however, she retained. She then came to the Beth Hamidrash of R. Hiyya, and said to him, ‘Master, give instructions about me that they make me a proselyte’.
‘My daughter’, he replied; ‘perhaps you have set your eyes on one of the disciples?’ She thereupon took out the script and handed it to him. ‘Go’, said he ‘and enjoy your acquisition’. Those very bed-clothes which she had spread for him for an illicit purpose she now spread out for him lawfully. This is the reward [of the precept] in this world; and as for its reward in the future world I know not how great it is.
Source: http://www.halakhah.com/rst/kodoshim/42b%20-%20Menochos%20-%2027a-58b.pdf
Rather than taking off his tzit tzit when he was on his way to the prostitute, he kept them on. Rather than hiding the fact that he was Jewish when he realized he was sinning, he made it very clear that he was Jewish, and even explained the Judaism to a gentile, and the world was made better for it.
