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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

"Simon, the son of Camithus,'' is ascribed by the Rabbis to the fact that even the ceiling of her house had not seen the hair of her head (Yer. Meg. i. 72a). Bareheadedness in a woman was, therefore, considered to be an indecorous form of " 'ervah " (nakedness, Beut. xxiv.

and the

1),

anincentivetoimproperglane.es,

was declared unlawful to presence of a woman whose it

recite the

Shema'

in

(Ber.

was uncovered 24a; Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 75, 2;

Eben

ha-'Ezer, 21,

2).

hair

Originally, this

custom

in-

cluded both married and unmarried women, as may be learned from Ned. 30J. Nor does the law (B. K. 90n), which sets a fine of 400 drachmas upon a man who tears off a woman's head-gear in the street, make any distinction between a married and an unmarried woman. Also Paul (I Cor. xi. 3-12),

Married

when

declaring

that

the

woman

and

should have her head covered in recogTTnmarried nition of the man being her lord, refers Women, to women in general, not to married women exclusively (see also Apostolic Constitutions," i. 8). According to Pirke R. El. xiv., it is a result of Eve's curse that women must go about with the hair covered like mourners. Still, instances are given in the Talmud of unmarried women going about bareheaded, as when the Mishnah speaks of the bride being carried in the procession in her litter, with her hair hanging down (Ket. ii. 1) or when the daughter of Nakdemon ben Gorion covers her face with her hair when seen by Johanan ben Zakkai in her humble condition (Ket. 66i). Later, particularly in Occidental countries, it was not considered indecorous for unmarried women to go about bareheaded (Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 75, 2, against " Yad," Issure Biah, xxi. 15). The married woman was henceforth all the more scrupulous in covering every part of her hair, probably because its concealment was the mark of distinction of married women among the Clipping people surrounding the Jews, as indithe Bride's cated in such expressions as " nubere " Hair. and " unter die Haube bringen." It seems that the Slavonian marriage-custom according to which, with many lamentations " over the destroyed beauty of her hair, the " kosah (the girl's long plait) is taken off and at times sold (Ralston, " Songs of the Russian People, "pp. 272-277, 288-292), and the strange practise of clipping the hair of the bride before the cap (the sign of marriage) is put upon her, were adopted by the Jews of Poland in the Thence it spread to Germany. sixteenth century. The Haggadist, however, does not hesitate to represent God Himself as plaiting the hair of Eve before ushering her as a beautiful wife into the presence of Adam (Ber. 61a Gen. R. xviii.). Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia issued an edict in 1845 prohibiting this usage, against which a pseudonymous article, entitled "Shelomoh ben Yo'ez," was written in Geiger's " Wissenschaf tliche Zeitschrift," 1837, pp. 354-375. '"





in order to conceal the women's own hair, in modern times, prominent rabbis of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Moses Isserles and Abraham Gumbiner, found this

When,

wigs were introduced

objectionable, notwithstanding the Mishnali Shab. Eleavi. 5 (see Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, I.e.

zar Flekeles, "Teshubah me-Ahabah,"

i.

48).

On

Bareheadedness

the other hand, Moses Ai,asiikar, in his Responsa (No. 35), boldly decided that the covering of the hair was only a matter of custom, and that where women

were accustomed to go about bareheaded they might properly do so. This is now the almost general custom among Jewish women of the Occident. Bareheadedness was customary among men in Biblical times,

as

shown

in the story of

Samson

(Judges xiii.-xvi.) and in that of Absalom (II Sam. xiv. 26), and by the use of the name "crown" for the long hair of the Nazarite (Num. vi. 5). Still, the covering of the head was a sign of Baredignity, wherefore the head-tires of headedness the priests are prescribed to be "for of Men. glory and beauty" (Ex. xxviii. 40, R. V.); the high priest's golden diadem upon the miter bearing the sign, "Holv to the Lord " (I.e. 36, R. V.). In fact, the head -gear itself bore the name " peer " (beauty) and when taken off by the mourner, ashes were put in its place (Isa. lxi. 3; II Sam. i. 2; Job ii. 12). But, exceptionally, Ezekiel is told to bind the head-tire upon him while mourning for his wife. In this sense the Scptuagint interprets the words addressed to the priests (Lev. x. 6), "Uncover not your heads" (so also A. V., while the real meaning is, as in R. V., "Let not the hair of your heads go loose "). The morning benediction, "Blessed be thou, O Lord, who crownest Israel with beauty," was originally prescribed for the putting on of the turban (Ber. 604). The hair was regarded so sacred by the Jews that they often swore by it or by the head (Matt. v. 36; Sanh. iii. 2). While it was customary among the Greeks to offer sacrifices with uncovered head " capite aperto " form adopted by Paul for the Christians in his first

—

Greeks,

Bomans, and

1

—

Barefoot

—

Epistle to the Corinthians (xi. 2etsecj.), the Roman priests sacrificed with cov" capite velato " ered head (Mar-

—

quardt and Mommsen,

I.e.

vi.

183).

Moham-

Among Mohammedans it is indispensa-

medans.

ble that the

head be covered during prayer the turban itself is a sacred thing by which they swear and it is disrespectful to receive visitors with uncovered head (Lang, "Customs of the Egyptians, " transl. by Zenker, i. 30, 173; Hughes, "Dictionary of Islam," pp. 170, 647).



The Midrash contrasts the attitude of Moses in hiding his face before the Shekinah at the burning bush (Ex. iii. 6) with that of Nadab and Abihu, who looked on with uncovered heads (Ex. Covering- xxiv. 9,10) the one showing reverence the Head and awe; the other, insolence (Ex. R. The proper attitude, therefore, of During 3). Prayer. one called upon to pronounce the name of God in prayer, the " Sheliah Zibbur," is to be wrapped in the mantle or tallit (R. H. 17J; Ber. 51a; Yer. Ber. vii. llrf; compare the dictionaries, s.v. spy). Accordingly, a man with uncovered head is, like one in rags and half -covered, forbidden to recite the Shema' or, at least, to officiate as Reader or to read aloud from the Torah or to he not being in a recite the priestly benediction position to pronounce the name of God with proper dignity (Mas. Soferim xiv. 15; compare ed. Joel

—

—

Midler, p. 199; Azulai, Responsa "Hayyim Sha'al," Still, the Palestinian custom did not insist 35).

ii.