There is a gemara about the man who captures a woman in war and wants to take her as his own. He must shave her head and if at the end of a certain amount of time he still wants to get with her, he could. The whole concept of shaving her head was to dispel any wrongful ideas he may get in his head, and to make sure he had good reasons for wishing to marry her.
I could never figure this thing out, because he obviously took her because lobbing boulders and spears at folks trying to kill you can stress you out real bad and there is nothing like some war encampment sex to relieve the stress. This brings me to my next question, why is it the custom of some Chassidic ladies to shave their heads? If anyone knows the real answer, by all means send it over.
I understand that the generic answer is that they do not want any hair to show, God forbid a bang fall out, and so they shave. But I don’t like this answer, why do they then proceed to add to the ugliness of the shaved head thing by wearing turbans, plastic looking hair and those dorky little nurses hats instead of a nice sheitle or hat? It seems to me as if it is their rebellion against their scruffy unclean shaven husbands. It is almost the opposite, women shave and the men just grow it out, but then again do the women shave everything or just their heads, and use their so called “bullet proof” stockings to cover up the fields growing on their legs and other unmentionable body parts.
There are some advantages to having a shaved head, it is cooler in the summer and you know that shabbos robes combined with bullet proof olive colored stockings must be a nightmare, so they figured shaved heads which cannot be seen can provide a much needed respite from the Catskills heat waves. We must also not forget that much money on shampoo and hair care products was saved by making this the minhag. Think about all the room on the sides of bathtubs and medicine cabinets that was saved from sticky bottles of hair spray, gel and shampoo. Water is also saved, becaue most of the time a women spends in the shower is devoted to hair, and no hair means more time for important things like making cholent and babies.
Another very important aspect of the frum community being wind resistance and speed which have been discussed many times on this blog also comes into play. Although the ladies who have shaved heads cover them all the time, there is one aspect in which the shaved head may actually help speed them along. This is when the women go swimming, someone even suggested that the minhag may have started when women needed to escape the pogroms of
We can all agree that it’s a minhag, since the Maxwell house hagadas display women with hair, so it must be a newer custom, and since minhagim always come from weird places, like shuckeling during davening appeared because an influential Rabbi had terretz syndrome. Shaved heads may have come from the early Chassidic feminists, which have all but vanished, but custom holds strong and the minhag of shaved heads to prove that women are equal to men prevails. I hear that Sinead O’Connor was really named Bracha Leah Freidlandovitz.
Any ideas?
31 responses so far ↓
1 Marli // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:40 pm
They probably spend more money on shaving their heads than they would on shampoo. I mean, a razor costs about as much as a whole bottle of shampoo, and I only use maybe 2 bottles a year (and I have long hair and wash it every day). How many razors do you think she uses?
2 Sandy // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:28 pm
They shave it because of the Mikva.
3 Sandy // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:57 pm
“Terretz syndrome” is when you think you have all the answers. Tourette syndrome is what cause tics similar to shuckeling.
4 Anonymous // Feb 5, 2008 at 11:04 pm
This is more of a historical analysis- during the pogroms in Europe- woman would shave their heads- so when the men would come- rape, pillage and kill- with a shaved head- they would be “revolting” to the cossacks etc.. and then it just stuck and other reasons attached and all together, it is a ’selling’ package.
5 utubefan // Feb 6, 2008 at 1:09 am
OK. This is the straight dope. They shave it so there is no Chatzitza when they are Tovail in the Mikvah. Their Mikvah rules are different than other frum Jews. At our Mikvah, they have their own prep rooms specific to Chasidish women. I’m not sure why, but I was told that their rules are different than mine. Also to clarify: not all Chasidish women shave their heads. It is a Minhag among some sects, not all. I know Chasidish women who do not. Also, the wartime sex is the weirdest explanation I’ve heard. And–man–what else do you guys need to do to pressure us more. We get stressed in war time too and you’re adding the shaving and the sex. Damn.
6 heshman // Feb 6, 2008 at 1:14 am
Hey Marli I bet you they have these underground charedi shaving shops similar to the underground black barbershops where they all go to get the best corn rows.
Utubefan- I love you- that was a freakin hilarious comment.
7 miriam // Feb 6, 2008 at 5:15 am
a quick story: when I was just married my husband had a good head of hair and very short beard. I kinda liked it -even though I knew the preferred conformist way was to grow out the beard and shave the hair.
Our marriage got ’shakey’ for a bit and he decided to shave his hair and grow out his beard. Was that to ‘get back’ at me? not sure. But things got better and out went the long beard and back came the hair!
Another short story -can you imagine the mikveh lady being confronted with a fro’ wearing Jewess?! I almost wanted to shave my hair too!
8 miriam // Feb 6, 2008 at 5:17 am
sorry that didn’t answer the question, I realized. lol
?
9 heshman // Feb 6, 2008 at 5:37 am
Don;t worry, good comments. wow a fro’ huh, would the women also have a pick stuck inside.
10 M // Feb 6, 2008 at 8:10 am
This was funny- a very intelligent bit of humor, if I may say. And I disagree with women having shaved hair. I don’t understand how their husbands manage.
11 heshman // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hey at least they are more streamlines and can save on gas mileage.
12 Left Brooklyn and never looked back // Feb 6, 2008 at 2:44 pm
utube, their “rules” are different based upon different minhagim. As we know all to well minhagim vary from location (and group) to another. BTW, not just “frum” women go to mikvah every month
13 heshman // Feb 6, 2008 at 3:00 pm
And to add many seemingly “frum” people may not go to the mikvah every month- its one of those things you just never know about. Unless your the mikvah lady.
14 Frayda // Feb 6, 2008 at 4:07 pm
heshman, your comment about seemingly “frum” people is offensive to me. Who cares if someone goes to the mikvah every month? You aren’t their husband. In addition, if someone uses different mikvahs, the mikvah lady would not know if they were going every month. Lastly, there are some birth controls that lessen the amount of periods a woman gets. Therefore, a woman who does not go every month should not EVER be judged. So, thanks for your mocking, ignorant comment.
15 heshman // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:45 pm
First of all I am from a small town and I guess should have referred to the fact that where I live there are maybe 30-40 people that use the mikvah and the mikvah lady is my surrogate Mom, you are absolutely right and I apologize for that ignorant comment.
16 Moishe // Feb 7, 2008 at 4:44 am
well maybe theyr husbands liek it shaved off? i dunno a friend got married and the first thing his wife did was shave her hear off of her haed. its stange indeed
17 heshman // Feb 7, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Or maybe they all go crazy like Britney Spears? Or maybe they are all planning a secret run at the olympic swim team?
The world may never know.
18 suitepotato // Feb 8, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I wonder if this custom was in the back of the minds of those working on Star Trek: The Motionless Picture… “hmmmmm… bald, sexy… this could work.”
Personally I insist my wife grow her hair long as I do not want to have our children’s first image of their mother to be looking like an old lesbian feminist or David Lynch. Either one. They’re interchangeable.
19 M // Feb 11, 2008 at 5:36 am
I’m growing my hair precisely becasue I want my future husnabd to enjoy it and not planning on stopping till it’s at least waist long. I actually want to see how long it will get. I always liked the look of those women in the 1800s who had hair down to their ankles. Feminine redefined.
20 heshman // Feb 12, 2008 at 3:28 am
Hey I always wanted for frum families to start sheitle farms, such a market for real hair and so many kids who could just take on an oath of a nuzeer- and then they would have a good excuse not to cut it.
21 Anonymous // Feb 12, 2008 at 8:23 am
terretz syndrome would be “Tourette’s syndrome”. But, bei all means, the site’ sex cellent.
22 heshman // Feb 12, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hey if you read the disclaimer you would have realized that I take responsibility for the poor spelling and grammar usage on this site and blame that on my yeshiva high school “education”.
Back in the day all the critics wold use the spelling as my weak point so I had to write a disclaimer- you must understand.
23 chnyock // Feb 12, 2008 at 5:35 pm
besides for britney spears, have you ever seen a chariedi woman with a shaved head?
I know britneys chareidi simply because she shaved her head. lol
24 heshman // Feb 12, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Nope, thank God, but how would I if their heads are guarded by bullet proof turbans
25 tovah // Feb 17, 2008 at 2:52 pm
There is a woman mentioned in Gemara or Midrash (I cant remember) by the name of Kimchit. The story talks about how she never let the wall of her house see her hair, and for that she was zoche to see all 7 of her sons as Kohen Gadol.
26 chnyock // Feb 17, 2008 at 6:20 pm
…and that is why the pious women cover their hair even at home when only in the presence of their hubbys
27 evelyn // Apr 28, 2008 at 12:18 pm
dont shave pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
28 Hesh // Apr 28, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I hate shaving!
29 QuiteLiked // Jun 25, 2008 at 1:55 pm
The real reasons are Kabalistic in nature.
There are general anti-Kabalistic sentiment in more modern circles.
In addition, there were and are communities who side with the Shulchan Aruch over Kabalistic sources, and have therefore firmly held to their minhag of not shaving.
The bottom line here is this: It is extremely naive to take a position based on personal preference without at least doing the mandatory research to see what your ancestors practiced - as shocking and misunderstood as the minhag may be, by not following your fore bearers customs, you can be setting the stage for your children not following yours.
Again: Research your roots. The Net is not the place where I would be looking for positive or informative comments on this much maligned custom, although it is a great resource.
30 QuiteLiked // Jun 25, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I might add that the Chabad custom, from what I read, is to cut hair to approximately two finger widths in length.
31 Anonymous // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:18 pm
the first par. of this essay is based on psukim…. although it may be in the gmara as well
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