So what about clipping fingernails, is there kosher fingernail clippers too?
No.
The thing about facial hair is because of certain areas of the face where the hair cannot be cut. It's not some man made law..
It's just like with kosher meat.. The law is split hoof and chew the cud.
It's not like the man made muslim law that if it has sharp teeth, or if it's a pig, e.t.c.
It seems this law about shaving is straight from tradition. Not even rabbinical law..
There is a law against men plucking hairs, and that applies to hair anywhere. I think that one is under the category of dressing or making yourself look womanly or more womanly. Which is forbidden.
I guess, I think people do it more for hygiene purposes than anything.
you mean less observant people shaving.. and seculars shaving, and gentiles shaving..
I don't think it's hygiene.. just not wanting to attract attention or look weird.
There is nothing unhygienic about a beard. It doesn't have to be massive.
Some observant jews trim the beard alot or completely, with an electric shaver, because they work, and want to look "normal"..
I knew some muslims that didn't wan to grow a beard because it would be hard to be accepted by society.
doesn't that mean majority of Jews/Israelis are violating scripture? Does that imply that you have to have hair on certain places of your face? (not referring to head)
well..
scripture/tenach says
Leviticus 19:27 that "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard."
so I suppose following scripture safely, one would have to have a beard .
or if you know where the corners are or are not, then you could have a funny looking beard.
Thing is though..
tenach/scripture is not the source for what we do. The Oral law is.
That is not to say we go against the tenach.. The tenach hints at everything..
and the oral torah explains things in it.. and adds more information..
It may be explained that a very small beard- like microscopic, is fine! Or to put it another way.
The rule is purely about not cutting the corners of the ***facial hair***. So the facial hair does not necessarily have to be to the extent of what we would consider a beard.
I don't know much about that law..
But here's an example of the tenach saying something, (even apparently contradicting itself). But us going by the oral law, which also happens to reconcile the problem in tenach..
The oral law is our source
For example, the tenach says, regarding pesach.
eat matza for 7 days.
eat matza 6 days
(an apparent contradiction)
deut 16:3 (found via google)
16:3 Do not eat any leaven with it. As part of [the celebration] you
shall eat matzah for seven days.
numbers 28:17 (numbers 28 is famous special maftir)
28:17 Then, on the 15th day, a festival shall begin, when matzahs shall
be eaten for seven days
The command to eat matzah appears ten times in the Torah. Nine times the command is for seven days, "Seven days shall you eat matzah" (Exodus 12:15). The tenth time, however, says, "Six days you shall eat unleavened bread" (Deuteronomy 16:
The oral tradition says eat matza one day, and gives a rule we have by tradition, that is used for deriving meaning from the tenach. It is a rule to derive information that has been divinely encoded into the text. (a rabbi logic professor said something like, the rule is not logical or illogical. It's not a different logic. It's a rule from the author, for deriving meaning from tenach )
Here is the discussion of the problem, and mention of the rule being applied.
Mekhilta, Pischa 8 (Lauterbach)
One verse says "Seven days you shall eat matzah" and one verse says
"Six day you shall eat matzah." How can both of these verses be
maintained? The seventh day was included (in the first verse) but
then
excluded (from the second verse). That which is excluded from a more
inclusive statement is meant to teach us about the whole statement.
So,
just as on the seventh day it is optional (r'shut), so on all of the
other days, it is optional. Does this mean that it is optional on the
first night also? The verse "In the first month, on the fourteenth
day
in the evening, you shall eat matzah" (Exodus 12:18) fixes it as an
obligation (hovah) to eat matzah on the first night.