HAIR
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
HAIR
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
II. Maturity is determined by hair
In this study I would like to try to understand what the Torah and our Sages reveal about hair. I would like to understand the purpose of hair and why we cover our hair sometimes.
The Hebrew word for hair, “se’ar”, has the same letters as the word “shi’ur” meaning a measured portion.
Narrowness is associated with the spiritual energies of harshness, of din (judgment). Therefore, the narrowness of any physical thing, such as hair, indicates that it contains the spiritual energies of harshness. Every physical item is a reflection of the deep mystical mechanisms of its underlying spiritual essence. Rabbi Nachman taught that because HaShem's life-sustaining light is so powerful, it must be constricted, filtered, and diluted. Human hair accomplishes this through its spiritual mechanism of constriction, thus HaShem's light is absorbed into the body through the hair. We will also see later, that hair moves energy both in and out of the body.
According to the Kabbalah, in a spiritual sense hair is the waste product of the brain. Long strands of hair in men may act as ropes to which negative influences may take hold. This is considered particularly true regarding the hair at the back of the neck near the brain stem, which is the point of connection between the brain and the rest of the body. Harmful influences seek to attach there in order to "sever" a healthy connection between the spiritual and physical, effecting a sort of spiritual decapitation.
Interestingly, the Zohar[1] differentiates between the rest of the hair and that at the sides of the head and the beard. This hair is said to originate from holy sources and projects positive spiritual energy: "The hair locks are shaped and hang in wavy curls from one side to the other side of the skull. This is what is written, 'His locks are wavy'....They are situated hanging in curls, because they flow forth from great springs of the three divisions of the brain. From the spring of the first space in the skull, [Chachmah - wisdom]....From the second space, [Binah - understanding]....From the third space, [Da'at - knowledge] go forth thousands of thousands of rooms and chambers, and the hairs flow forth continuously from all. Therefore, these locks (of the beard) are curls upon curls."
Halakha requires Sefardi women to cover their hair. Halakha
also requires all Jewish
men to cover their heads. There is a BIG difference between covering a woman’s hair and covering a man’s head.
The hair of a woman which derives from nukva of Atzilut, must be covered, since it can allow for the sustenance of negative forces.
The
Torah’s attitude towards hair seems to have different ways of treating hair:
When the Jews sinned
with the Golden Calf, they used the spiritual energies of constriction,
derived from the celestial mechanism called the "upper hairs", to
place their trust and belief exclusively in an idol. This tainted the
"upper hairs", for their energies of constriction and limitation were
to be the channel only for exclusive belief in HaShem.
Since the Levites were strongly connected to the
constricting energies of the "upper hairs", they were able to
maintain their focus solely on HaShem and remain loyal to Him. Therefore, the
Levites were the only ones who did not sin with the
Golden Calf and, in fact, they helped Moshe to destroy it. However, the sin of
the Golden Calf severely damaged and polluted the holy constricting energies of
the "upper hairs". As a rectification, since the Levites' spiritual
essence is integrally related to the "upper hairs", when they were
sanctified to serve in the Tabernacle and assist the
kohanim (priests), they were commanded by Hashem to
shave off all of the hairs of their bodies.
The Hebrew word sa’ar is translated as "hair." The first use, in the Torah, of the Hebrew word for hair relates to Esav who was born hairy as the Torah relates:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 25:25 And the first
came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
The letters of the Hebrew word for "hair" (sa'ar) are the same as that for the Hebrew word for "gate" (sha'ar): rga (shin-ayin-reish). This suggests that hair acts like a gate. Just as a gate act as a connection between those inside and those outside, so too does hair act as a connection between two domains.
Literally, the word 'din' means 'judgment,' but it refers to the light within creation that tends to constrict the light of HaShem rather than reveal it, as does the light of Chesed. Hair, for specific reasons, represents this light and therefore by cutting it, the light of Gevurot is being tempered somewhat and rectified. By growing his hair, the nazir is increasing his power of tzimtzum, that is, his power of constraint.
The central physical function of the hair on the head is to protect the head from moisture. In fact, a gland is attached to the follicle which moisturizes the hair. Furthermore, the hair on the head serves to protect the head from the sun's rays.
Hair signifies a very diminished form of life force: it is constantly growing, but can be cut without causing pain. It therefore signifies the transference of a highly limited and diluted level of life force from the area of the body from which it issues.
The beard thus signifies HaShem's attribute of mercy. Elsewhere, the Arizal describes the thirteen "rectifications" or "tufts" of the beard, and how each one corresponds to one of the thirteen attributes of mercy.
The analogy is that, just as a man's and woman's head grows hair, so, too, is there a concept of "hair" in the world of the Sefirot. And, just as hair sits on top of a man, like a crown on the holiest part of his body, his head, so, too, does hair sit on top of the uppermost sefirah, Keter, also called "Crown." In fact, its level in creation is so high, that, for the most part, we are forbidden even to make reference to it.
However, whereas human hair may serve little function other than for appearance-sake, or to keep us warm, in the Sefirot, the "hair" functions like little spiritual pipes, through which the light of HaShem can begins its descent to the lower Sefirot, and, eventually, us. In other words, Sefirical hair represents the spiritual interface between a sefirah, and the one after it, a kind of spiritual interface. This is true whether we are looking at the entire, overall, general scheme of Sefirot, or, the smaller sub-systems of Sefirot that exist within each one, like between Chachmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding).
The Gemara, in Sotah 10a, relates that Shimshon received all his power because he never cut his hair. The hair is an extension of the eyes; that is why we don’t cut our hair during Sefirah.
The Arizal says in his Sefer HaLikutim, (Sefer Shoftim,) that even when a person falls to wherever he falls to, he must never say, “it is right in my eyes”, this is my path. He must, instead, say and know that he doesn’t know why HaShem did this to him, he doesn’t know why he fell. If he says, “it is right in my eyes,” then he falls completely. That was why they cut off Shimshon’s hair, because the hair is an extension of the eyes’ vision. When he blemished his eyes, his strength was compromised and they were able to cut his hair.
YYY
Bamidbar 5:11-15
HaShem told Moshe, "Speak to the Children of Israel, and tell them about
when a man's wife deceives him, and another man lies
with her carnally and defiles her, out of sight of her husband and closed
off somewhere, and no witnesses against her can be found He must bring his wife
to the priest "
This is the law of the Sotah, the suspected adulteress, and the parsha then goes on to detail the procedure for determining her innocence, or guilt.
These are the ones who go out (are divorced) without a ketuba Those who break laws which are Da'at Moshe or Yehudit What is an example of Da'at Yehudit? A woman who goes outside with uncovered hair Wait! [The prohibition against] uncovered hair is from the Torah, as it says, "[The kohen shall have the woman stand before HaShem] and uncover the head of the woman.[2]
Kethuboth 72b [IS
DEEMED TO BE A WIFE'S TRANSGRESSION AGAINST] JEWISH PRACTICE? GOING OUT WITH
UNCOVERED HEAD. [Is not the prohibition against going out with] an uncovered
head Pentateuchal; for it is written, And he shall uncover the woman's head,
and this, it was taught at the school of R. Ishmael, was a warning to the
daughters of Israel that they should not go out with
uncovered head? — Pentateuchally it is quite satisfactory [if her head is
covered by] her work-basket;1 according to traditional Jewish practice,
however, she is forbidden [to go out uncovered] even with her basket [on her
head].
Part of the procedure of humiliation of the Sotah was the uncovering of her hair, which, we are assuming, was covered to begin with. But, perhaps all women covered their hair in Moshe's time, including single women? As a matter of halachah? Hardly; it is extremely unlikely that only part of the halachah would still survive, that part which only pertains to married women.
The obligation to cover one's hair after marriage is based in the Oral Law. We have a tradition that all details of the Oral Law are, at least, hinted to in the Written Law, on the level of either remez, drash, or sod. What part of the Written Torah can be considered the basis for the Oral Law halachah of a married woman covering her hair?
Can there be a more direct, more obvious source in the Written Torah than the verse commanding the uncovering of the Sotah's hair (5:18), as if to say: You have acted as a single women through your act of infidelity, and now your hair covering, the symbol of your relationship with your husband, shall also be removed.
THE NAZIR
Bamidbar (Numbers) 6:5
All the days of his vow to be a nazir, no razor shall go across his head until the fulfillment of the days of being a nazir.
He shall be holy; the hair of his head shall grow wild (perah).
Following on the heals of the mitzva of the Sotah is the halachah regarding the Nazir, the man or woman who vows to abstain from wine and wine-related products, and several other restrictions due to the person's changed spiritual status.
One such restriction of being a Nazir is the halachah to not take care of one's hair; it is to grow wild, just like the Sotah's hair becomes when unwrapped by the priest:
Bamidbar (Numbers) 5:18 The kohen shall have the woman stand before
HaShem and uncover (pharah) the head of the woman.
There is a clear connection between the two parshiyot, for, in each case, the words are spelled, peh-reish-ayin. This is aside from the other important connection the Talmud makes between the Sotah and Nazir:
Why is [Tractate] Nazir [in the Book of Women]? The Tanna is basing himself upon the posuk: If she does not find favor in his eyes, because she has acted unfaithfully[3]. What caused her to sin? Wine! As it says: All who see the Sotah in her predicament takes an oath to abstain from wine.[4]
In fact, the letters peh-reish-ayin, are the basis of
the word used to describe the licentiousness (or, in this context, the
constraint of licentiousness; see Rashi) of those who worshipped the golden
calf while Moshe was away from the camp, on top of
Shemot (Exodus) 32:25 Moshe saw that the people had been
restrained (parah), because Aaron had restrained (paroah) them by doing only a
small part of what some demanded to be done.
Not coincidentally, these letters are also the root letters of the word "Pharaoh", the very symbol of immorality and sensual living from which the Jewish people were supposed to have fled! Certainly, given the emphasis Western Society places on hair care (a multi-billion dollar industry while people starve from want of basic foods in other parts of the world), and the role the appearance of hair plays in the attraction of men for women and vice versa, one can see how hair can symbolize sensuous living, and narcissist behavior, as the Talmud portrays:
Lets look at those who took Nazirite vows:
Shoftim (Judges) 16:15-21 Then she said to him, "How can you
say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you
have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of
your great strength." With such nagging she prodded him day after day
until he was tired to death. So he told her everything. "No razor has ever
been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set
apart to HaShem since birth.
If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak
as any other man." When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she
sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has
told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the
silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her
lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of
his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she
called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his
sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But
he did not know that HaShem had left him. Then the Philistines seized him,
gouged out his eyes and took him down to
So, Samson the judge lost his strength (God is our strength) when he lost his hair.
Luqas (Luke) 1:8-17 Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, He was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped w