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muman613:
Shalom,
I was interested in what the Rabbis had to say about hair and I found the following from Ohr Sameach site:
--- Quote ---Bernardo Coiffman wrote:
Dear Rabbi,
What is the significance of hair? Why does Judaism seem so concerned with it? Women cover their hair, men have Payot (sidelocks), and boys have their first haircut at age three...
Thank you
Dear Bernardo,
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary on the Torah discusses the subject of hair and reveals some very powerful and insightful concepts. Take your face for a moment -- I sure don't want it :-). There are parts of your face which we would consider more physical and parts which represent the more intellectual. Your mouth and your eyes would be examples of the more physical parts. Your forehead would be the part which represents the intellectual. We know that both of these categories are important but the physical requires special monitoring. If you allow yourself pursuit of the physical without some mechanism for control you could slide into a pattern of self destruction. Hence the hair. It is a marker that says: "Pay attention to this area!! Monitor it so that it can be used for good. Don't allow it to run off unbridled!!"
If you think about this for a while you will get a sense of why Judaism concerns itself with issues such as the covering of a woman's hair (sensuality), Payot for a man (dividing the part of the brain that controls the sensual from that which is involved in the intellectual); and even why we cut a young boy's hair for the first time at the age we begin his education (learning how to use his intellect to control his behavior).
In short, hair [or long hair :-) ] represents sensuality control.
Sources:
* Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch - Commentary on the Torah, Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5.
--- End quote ---
muman613
2honest:
Hi muman!
What country do you live in?
Do you answer all kinds of questions or are there any restrictions?
MarZutra:
Shalom Muman, Are you currently a Rabbi or studying towards it? Are you partial to "Orthodoxy" or "ultra-Orthodoxy"? If so which "sect"? I use the quotes because, historically and realistically all of these "titles" are fabricated frauds anyway.
Kol tov chavar...
MarZutra
Tzvi Ben Roshel1:
--- Quote from: muman613 on August 27, 2008, 12:15:53 AM ---Thank you very much... My hair has evolved through the ages. I used to have very long hair, but now it is short in the back with some very long peyos...
muman613
--- End quote ---
:o you serious? Your hair is huge. And anyway (furthur down you wrote about what Judaism says about hair- I would like to tell you that having a lot of hair on the head is not a good thing according to Kabbalah (Its sort of bad luck- for men. The hair on the head represent the Gevurot- Strick Judgements. The hair on the beard are the Chessedim, and the Peyot are also Gevurot, but they are good Gevorut, and everone needs some judgements. The best I heard is to connect the Chessedim (beard) with the good gevurot (Peyot), and minimize as much as possible the Gevurot of the head.
muman613:
--- Quote from: 2honest on September 09, 2008, 04:43:05 PM ---Hi muman!
What country do you live in?
Do you answer all kinds of questions or are there any restrictions?
--- End quote ---
Shalom 2honest,
I live in the good old United States of America. I grew up on the east coast. Born in NY and moved to the west coast in my 20s. I now live in the Bay Area of California.
muman613
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