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532 Bareheadedness Barges, Jean

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

on the covering or veiling of the head at the priestly benediction (see Miiller, "Hilluf Minhagim," p. 839). Isaac of Vienna (thirteenth century), in " Or Zarua'," ii. 43, states that the rabbis of France say the prayer with uncovered heads, and that on Simhat Torah the boys are called up to the Torah bareheaded. It was deemed necessary that the fear of God should manifest itself also in man's general bearing and after R. Joshua ben Levi had taught that " a man ought not to walk four cubits in an erect position, which, suggests overbearing Walking pride, ignoring God's omnipresence," BareRab Huna, the son of Joshua, would headed. not walk four cubits without having his head covered, for he said: "The Shekinah is above my head " (Kid. 31»). He declared this custom to be especially meritorious (Shab.ll8i), and in the course of time it was adopted as a general rule of Jewish conduct (Shulhan 'Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 2, 6). Children were not included in the rule requiring the head to be covered (Ned. 30&). The mother of Rab Nahman bar Isaac, having been told by an astrologer that her son would become a thief, kept his head always covered in order that the fear of God might be always with him but on one occasion, as he was studying under a palm-tree, his head-covering fell off, and when he looked about, the desire to steal dates came upon him (Shab. 156i). Unmarried men did not wear a turban. When Rab Hamnuna was introduced to Rab Huna. as a great scholar, he was astonished to see that the latter wore no turban (Kid. 2%). In Maseket Kallah, ch. i., and in Kallah Rabbati, ib., itis related that R. Akiba, seeing a child with uncovered head, said he was sure that the child was the offspring of an incestuous marriage, which passage is in contradiction with the above-quoted Talmudic passage (Ned. 30b), which speaks of the uncovered heads of children as common. Of rather late origin, and evidently pointing to Christian surroundings, is the following Midrashic passage " 'My people, wherein have I wearied thee? (Yalk., Micah vi. 3). R. Berekiah says, 'When a king sends an order to a city, the people rise to their feet, uncover their heads, and read it with fear and awe, trembling and obedient. But God says: "This Shema' is My order; I have not wearied you, and have not said unto you, 'Read it standing and with uncovered heads, but when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and





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(Lev. R. xxvii. 6: Tan., Emor., ed. Buber, p. 92; Pesik. xii. 102«; Yalk., Micah, 554). The medieval codes, almost without exception, embodied the prohibition against uncovering the head (Alfasi, Kid., ed. Vienna, 2174; Maimonides,

"Yad,"De'ot,v.6; Tefillah,v.5; Yoreh

Medieval Codes.

De'ah, 91, especially Bet Joseph on the passage; further references in

Low, "Gesammelte Schriften," ii. Of special interest is the report of Abraham ben Nathan of Lunel ("Ha-Manhig," ed. Berlin, p. 321).

that he found in Spain that the people covered during prayer, a comment which indicates that the practise was not customary in France The Cabalists have, in in the thirteenth century. their usual wajr, attempted to find in the custom a 15),

their heads

532

certain mysterious meaning.

Thus, the Zohar (Par. Naso, p. 1224, in Ra'ya Mehcmna): "Because the Shekinah is above him, it is forbidden to the son of man to walk four cubits with uncovered head." This passage is quoted by Josef Solomon del Medigo with the addition " It is, however, customary in all parts of Italy, in Crete, and in many countries under the dominion of the emperor [of Germany] and other Christian rulers. " Evidently they accept the view of Maimonides, quoted by Joseph Caro, in "Bet Joseph," 91 ("Mazrcf Lahokmah," ed. Odessa, 1865, p. Another interesting contribution is found in the 71). responsa of Israel Isserlein with reference to a law promulgated in Breslau about 1450, requiring the Jews when taking an oath to pronounce the holy name of God (Yuwn) with uncovered head. Isserlein declares that while the pronunciation of the name Yhwii is prohibited, yet if the law were made with the intention of forcing the Jews to transgress a religious law, he would not object to swearing

with uncovered head ("Terumat ha-Deshen," 203). The same view is taken by Solomon Luria (16th century), who rebukes his contemporaries for paying no attention to the Talmudic prohibition against walking (nSlpf nD1p3) four cubits in an erect position as an attitude of insolence, while they are very punctilious in regard to the injunction to keep the head covered, which after all is not a law, but a mere custom (Responsa, No. 72). David Halevi of Ostrog (17th century) was the first to declare that the prohibition against uncovering the head was based on religious law, in opposition to the Christian mode of worship. He founded his decision on the Talmudic interpretation of Lev. 3 " Ye shall not walk in their ordinances ("hukkat ba-goy," Ture Zahab, Orah H avvml v "'The same view is taken by the physician Solo3). mon Levi of Verona, Amsterdam, 1731 (see Lampronti, "Pahad Yizhak," s.v. B>X"I ^i)On the other hand, Elijah of Wilna, like Solomon Luria, holds that the prohibition is based merely on cusxviii.



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tom or propriety. The principle of reform in modern Judaism hinges upon this question, whether any religious form should be excluded from the synagogue because it is taken from another religious sect, Reform and is, therefore, "hukkat ha-goy " (heathen rite). The leaders of radical View. Reform claim that, as it is more in keeping with the Occidental view to stand bareheaded before persons who claim our respect, so should men stand before God in prayer or in the house of worship, this being the attitude which suggests respect and awe. The Conservatives maintain that to pray with the head uncovered is to imitate a non- Jewish custom ("hukkat ha-goy"). The first attempt to combat the Oriental view in theory was made by Aaron Chorin (1766-1844), who, in a pamphlet entitled "Iggeret Elasaf " (Prague, 1826), advocated the uncovering of the head during worship; the first in practise, by the Reformgein Berlin, in 1845, when the removal of the head-gear was made obligatory during services, while the worshipers were permitted to wear a skull-

meinde

cap (Levin, "Die Reform des Judenthums, FestThis congregation 43, Berlin, 1895).

schrift," p.