Introduction
The purpose of this work is to give depth and meaning to the obligation of hair covering for married Jewish women.
Chok and Mishpat
Hair covering is halachically required.(*1) What lies behind this obligation?
Mishpatim are laws that have readily accessible, logical reasons. Chukim are sometimes explained as laws that have no reasons. In fact chukim have reasons too, but they are generally beyond our grasp. However, we do have ta’amim (“tastes”) in these mitzvos: not quite reasons, certainly not at an absolute level, but nevertheless at some level we can “taste” what lies behind these mitzvos. Chukim have meaning that can be understood by those sensitive enough; King Solomon understood the chukim except for the parah adumah (red heifer), and Moshe Rabeinu understood even that. So chukim are not laws that have no reasons rather, their reasons exist in a higher realm.
Hair covering is a chok. And like all chukim it has its reasons. Let us try to fathom some of its “taam.”
The exposed hair of a married woman is a type of nakedness (se’ar b’isha erva - Brachos 24a) . Refined modesty demands the covering of nakedness. Lower parts of the body represent a more vulgar nakedness; the uncovered hair represents a more refined nakedness, a spiritual ervah.(*2) This kind of revelation is far more subtle; after all, an unmarried woman’s hair need not be covered - that would not be the case if this revelation were of the lower kind.
Covering the hair hides not a physical, erotic ervah, but an aspect of the spiritual light (aura) that surrounds the body. The aura surrounds the head and the body, and is rooted in the hair. The word “aura” is very close to the Hebrew “ora,” and the part of the aura that surrounds the head, the halo, is virtually identical with the Hebrew term hilo (b’hilo nero alei roshi - with His light that shines above my head – Iyov 29:3).
Mishna Berura and ZoharThe Mishna Berura, in discussing the obligation to cover the hair, quotes the Zohar:
פרשת נשאא"ר חזקיה תונבא ליתי על ההוא בר נש דשבק לאנתתיה דתתחזי משערה דרישה לבר ודא הוא חד מאינון צניעותא דביתא, ואתתא דאפיקת משערא דרישה לבר לאתתקנא ביה גרים מסכנותא לביתא וגרים לבנהא דלא יתחשבון בדרא וגרים מלה אחרא דשריא בביתא מאן גרים דא ההוא שערא דאתחזי מרישה לבר, ומה בביתא האי כ"ש בשוקא וכ"ש חציפותא אחרא ובגין כך אשתך כגפן פוריה בירכתי ביתך, אמר ר' יהודה שערא דרישא [דף קכו עמוד א] דאתתא דאתגלייא גרים שערא אחרא לאתגלייא ולאפגמא לה בגין כך בעיא אתתא דאפילו טסירי דביתא לא יחמון שערא חד מרישא כ"ש לבר, ת"ח כמה בדכורא שערא הוא חומרא דכלא הכי נמי לנוקבא, פוק חמי כמה פגימו גרים ההוא שערא דאתתא, גרים לעילא גרים לתתא גרים לבעלה דאתלטייא גרים מסכנותא גרים מלה אחרא בביתא גרים דיסתלק חשיבותא מבנהא, רחמנא לישזבון מחציפו דלהון, ועל דא בעיא אתתא לאתכסייא בזיוותי דביתא ואי עבדת כן מה כתיב (תהלים קכח) בניך כשתילי זיתים, מהו כשתילי זיתים, מה זית דא בין בסתווא בין בקייטא לא אתאבידו טרפוי ותדיר אשתכח ביה חשיבות יתיר על שאר אילנין, כך בהא יסתלקון בחשיבו על שאר בני עלמא ולא עוד אלא דבעלה מתברך בכלא בברכאן דלעילא בברכאן דלתתא בעותרא בבנין בבני בנין, הדא הוא דכתיב (שם) הנה כי כן יבורך גבר ירא יי' וכתיב (שם) יברכך יי' מציון וראה בטוב ירושלם כל ימי חייך וראה בנים לבניך שלום על ישראל
Rav Chizkiah said: (Tehilim 128) “Your wife is like a fruitful vine…” [a woman’s hair covering] is one of the modesties of the home. A woman who reveals her hair to display her beauty causes poverty in the home, causes her children to lack importance in their generation, and causes negative things to reside in the home. What causes this? The hair of her head that is revealed to the outside. If this is true within the house, how much more so in the street, and how much more so with other forms of immodesty. This is indicated by: “Your wife is a fruitful vine within the privacy of your home.”
Rabbi Yehudah said: The hair of a woman’s head, when revealed, causes other hair to be revealed and harm her. Therefore a woman should take care that even the walls of her house do not see one hair of her head, and all the more so outdoors. Come and see, just as with the male the hair is the most stringent – so too for the female. See how much damage is caused by the hair of the woman: it causes harm above and harm below, it causes her husband to be cursed, it causes poverty, it causes other harm in the home, it causes importance to depart from her children...
This is why a woman should conceal herself even within the walls of her home. If she does this: “Your children are as olive saplings.” How are they similar to olive saplings? The olive does not lose its leaves neither in autumn nor summer and is always superior to other trees – so too her children will rise in importance over the rest of the world. And furthermore, her husband will be blessed with all blessings, above and below, with wealth, children and grandchildren. Thus it is written: “Behold in this way a man who fears Hashem will be blessed” and “May Hashem bless you from Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and see your children’s children; shalom upon Israel.
To understand the importance of this Zohar, we need to explain its elements.
The body is surrounded by a spiritual light that expresses a deep connection to its source. This aura or surrounding light is known as a makif - an enveloping light. Covering the hair dims this light and concentrates it within. This is both a modesty and crucially, also a protection - inappropriate exposure of holy things makes them vulnerable to the external forces (chitzonim) of harm that are always ready to attack.
Sources (i) V’ner daluk al rosho - (Niddah 30:2). Referring to the fetus in the womb, the Talmud describes a light above the child’s head. (This is at the place of the tefillin). The child “sees from one end of the world to the other” by this light. This is not a light of sight but of insight, of total knowledge.
(ii) Ziv ha’panim, The face is a place of revelation of the inner light of the soul (ziv ha’panim - “the glow of the face”). Moshe Rabbenu’s face shone with this light - karan ohr panav. Moshe’s facial aura was so strong that people could not bear to gaze upon it. Tansparency of the ego makes this possible. This is a unique feature of the human, and it is the reason that no garments are necessary for the face (see section on shame and garments).
(iii) Chochmat adam tair panav - a person’s wisdom lights up his face (Koheles 8:1).(iv) When Adam was created, he wore “garments of light” - he shone with a cosmic light. Even after sinning and in death, the light that shone from his heels (the least illuminated part of the body) was greater than the sun (Baba Basra 58a).
(v) At the Creation, a light shone that far transcended any light that is visible now. This light was subsequently hidden (Ohr Haganuz - the hidden light; Rashi on Bereishis 1:4 from Chagiga 12 and Bereishis Rabbah 3:6). This light was hidden so that it should not be misused by the wicked (Bereishis Rabbah 12:6). This is directly parallel to the modest hiding of the inner light of the body so that the external forces should not have access to it.
Woman and her Light
A woman’s aura shines out from the time of her marriage; that is, from the time she becomes complete. (A man’s also shines - but only when he is married and elevated in some way, for example during an aliya to the Torah or during prayer, and that is why the custom in many communities is for men to wear a tallis and cover the head with it only from marriage.)
The aura surrounding the whole body emanates from the head - the soul is rooted in the highest aspect of our being; our roots are in the cosmic realm. When the hair is covered this light is hidden.
There is another reason for covering a spiritual light: in order to reveal an inner dimension, the outer dimension needs to be subdued. When God appeared on Mount Sinai, the mountain was covered by thick cloud; when God’s presence descended on the Mishkan (Sanctuary), that revelation was also from within a cloud. The paradoxical message here is that revelation requires concealing. Because the physical and the spiritual live in tension in the world, one must be controlled to allow the other to be asserted. Only when the physical is subdued can the spiritual manifest.
This is the key to tzniut, modesty, and the kavod, dignity that it gives. Dignity (or honor) always requires a measured revelation. If all is revealed, that is vulgar. And if nothing is revealed, nothing manifests at all - no dignity or honor are perceived. Dignity means the revelation of only the minimum required. Less is too hidden, and more is immodest. The fine balance needed is not easy to define. A dignified teacher reveals exactly what is needed for the student to grasp, and no more - that would be unnecessary and only empty pride.
A dignified woman reveals the elegance and feminine beauty that is perfectly appropriate in each situation. There are indeed halachic rules of revealing and covering, but there is far more to tzniut than merely the length of a sleeve or the cut of a neckline. A walk, a style of speech, all aspects of deportment and personal presentation are relevant - all of these can be vulgar or refined. The light of the aura should not be exposed because it reveals the internal, and revealing too much of that private internality is not tzanua (modest; dignified).
The Essence of the Female
The greatness of the female is to give life through containment. Binah, the female faculty of spirit, is also the power to build - boneh. The same root means separation and construction. The matriarchs, the ultimate builders of our nation, managed this through using their deep intuition in setting clear boundaries - Sara separated Yishmael in a way that Avraham could not, and that was necessary to build Yitzchak. Rivkah separated Eisav and brought about the blessings being given to Yaakov, again, in a way that Yitzchak could not see, to build Yaakov. Rachel and Leah were the ones to tell Yaakov that it was time to leave Lavan’s house, they were the agents of separation from their father’s house to go on to build the shevatim, the Tribes of Israel. This separation creates the channels through which creative power can flow.
Tznius: Not Revealing Too Much
The laws of modesty require covering an aspect of ourselves that should only be selectively revealed. We should choose carefully where and how we share this inner part of ourselves.
Busha, shame (in the sense of modesty), is part of the human psyche; we have an inner sense of the inappropriateness of revealing too much. We experience shame when we perceive a discrepancy between essence and what is shown. Shame is caused by a mismatch between potential and actual - when you should have done better but did not, you feel shame. We feel ashamed when naked because we sense that our inner being is angelic and it is being projected by a body that is animal - that discrepancy is perceived as shame.
Embarrassment is an experience of incongruence, a feeling of what is inside not being reflected by what is outside. When you say something foolish in public you are embarrassed because you have portrayed yourself not as you really are. When you do something morally wrong you sense shame because in essence you are moral; shame is the psychic pain you feel at the outer behaviour betraying the inner essence.
In Gan Eden, after the sin, Adam and Chava saw that their lofty souls had become trapped in animal bodies. Prior to that sin their bodies had demonstrated their inner essence; now their bodies showed only the material. That is why previously they were naked and not ashamed (Bereishis 2:25). Now, shame overwhelmed them; that is why they hid (Ohr HaChaim on Bereishis 3:7).
God responded by providing them with dignified clothing. Clothes do two things: they hide nakedness and they reveal dignity. A king’s robes hide the king, but they reveal his royalty. The letters of the Torah demonstrate this: Alef is the spiritual letter representing the soul - it is silent and denotes unity. The next three letters, bet, gimmel, daled, spell beged, meaning “garment.” The clothes are to the body what the body is to the soul. Beged means clothing but it also means treachery - boged is a traitor. Clothes can portray or betray the person.
Kavod, dignity, means revealing the right amount; shame is the response to having all revealed. Total hiddenness is not kavod either - where nothing is seen, there is no kavod. A perfect balance is required: it is a matter of refined taste to know how much to reveal and how much to hide; Torah provides these parameters.
At a deeper level, when all that is within is revealed, there is a detachment from source. Human essence derives from the inexhaustible and unfathomable Source; a connection to that Source must always be maintained. When people reveal all that they are, they have left no connection to the Infinite. Human essence can never be fully expressed in a material world; for every revelation of that a person allows in the world there must always be far more that remains unrevealed because that depth cannot be revealed.
Beauty: Appropriate Revelation
So the correct covering is a selective revealing. We should choose when to reveal, how to reveal and in the presence of whom to reveal. This relates to the Jewish woman’s essence. Covering is not only to prevent expression; it is also concentrating it for correct use. Modesty does not destroy inner essence but channels it.
The inner aspect of the self should be exposed only in certain ways and only at the right moments - then it is sanctified and glorious. It is a misunderstanding that the laws of modesty require a woman to look drab and neglect the physical. That is not the Torah approach. On the contrary, ein isha ele lenoi (Taanis 31a); one of woman’s primary roles is to manifest beauty. Physicality and aesthetics are not to be ignored, but to be asserted appropriately.
King Solomon states in Mishlei (Proverbs): “Nezem zahav b’af chazir, isha yaffa vesaras taam - A gold ring in the nose of a swine, so is a beautiful woman who lacks taste (refinement).” In the final chapter of Mishlei, in the famous verses of Eishes Chayil (a Woman of Valor), we find “Sheker hachein vehevel hayofi, isha yirat Hashem, hi tis’hallal - Charm is a lie and beauty is vanity; (but) a woman who fears God, she shall be praised.”
These verses seem to imply that beauty is not good. But on the other hand we find that the matriarchs are described as beautiful. Sarah was exquisitely beautiful; her beauty was almost supernatural. And we know that physical beauty is intended here because the Egyptians were ready to kill for her, and they were most certainly not interested in inner beauty - they were utterly depraved.
Now if beauty is negative, why would the Torah mention its great women’s beauty as praise? And if external beauty is not a worthy value, why do we find halachot, laws, that emphasise the great importance of paying attention to externals - “Hisnaeh lefanav bemitzvos” is a requirement - to beautify the mitzvos. The objects of mitzva observance should be beautiful; but why?
In resolving the tension between the internal and the external, the Torah approach is that outer beauty is an advantage when it reflects inner content. On the contrary, it enhances the content.
A gold ring in the nose of a swine - that gold ring might be exquisite but when placed in the nose of a swine it loses its beauty, in that setting its beauty is a mockery. That is beauty out of context. A beautiful woman who lacks inner content is likened to this; her external beauty is an empty shell. Her outer beauty is being mocked by her lack of refinement, and the external beauty mocks the inner emptiness.
Sheker Hachein vehevel hayofi - beauty is false and external appearances are vanity; that is when the external is all there is. But Isha yiras Hashem, a woman who fears G-d, hi tishallal - she is praiseworthy - the Vilna Gaon explains that this is how to read this verse: If the beauty is only external, then it is a lie. But if this beauty belongs to a woman who fears God, a woman who has profound inner content, then hi tishallal - she is praiseworthy. ‘She’ is not referring to her alone, but rather to the beauty itself. That is what is praiseworthy - because now it is an appropriate reflection of this woman’s content. ‘She is praiseworthy’ refers to the whole package. That is the place of beauty in Judaism.
One of Sarah’s names was Yiska (Rashi Bereishis 11:29) which means to see through. She was transparent; when you looked at Sarah you saw God. That is tzniut, and that is real beauty.
Why the Hair?
Every part of the body reflects an aspect of the supernal pattern that underlies all of Creation. Every fine detail of anatomy represents an aspect of that cosmic form. What does hair represent? Hair is both part of the living body and also outside it - it lives and grows, but does not feel or bleed. Hair is called ‘motarot’ - an ‘extra.
’Hair is the junctional zone between the body and the clothes; kezakan Aaron ha’yored al pi midosav - as the beard of Aaron which flows down onto his garments (Tehillim 133:2). It projects the body into the world. We find hair on parts of the body that have the ability to project or create - under the arms, for example, as the arms are the organs of effect in the world. Eisav’s body was hairy - he was a man of outer expression (“a man of the field”); Yaakov was smooth - he was a man of inner depth (“a dweller in the tents” of Torah).
According to the kabbalistic tradition, hair consists of tzinoros, the “channels” that bring the unlimited inner essence into the measured outer world of revelation. Inner essence is unbounded; revelation in a finite world must be manifest in discrete amounts, via discrete channels. The word for hair, se’ar, is the same root as sha’ar, a gateway that allows only a certain amount through, and shiur, a measured amount. Esav, “the hairy one,” lives in a place called Se’ir.
Hair is a manifestation of gevuros, the aspect of powerful control and limitation. That is the female side; woman’s hair represents an extreme of gevurah. The female is the side that brings down into the finite world - she brings the unbounded energy of the male down into the world and gives birth to a finite and specific reality; she channels the infinite into the finite. That is her essential contribution, and that is where danger lurks - too much limitation is a manifestation of death forces. The Midrashic literature mentions a female spiritual creature - characterized by wildly unkempt hair - who engaged Adam in a harmful relationship.
Since the gevuros bring down the spiritual light, they are the prime target for the chitzonim (external forces) that seek to suckle from the most potent light source possible. Covering the hair prevents that. The gevuros need to be controlled; covering the hair is the necessary protection.Source of BlessingWhen light is contained, it is concentrated. Modest covering of the hair not only hides woman’s light from the external world, it concentrates that light and amplifies it within.
1. Bamidbar 5:18; Kesubos 72a; Orach Chaim 71 & Mishnah Berurah (Rama there discusses sheitels).
2. This is not a physical ervah; that is the reason that the Orach HaShulchan rules that nowadays, since we are unfortunately used to seeing unmarried women with uncovered hair and in addition, this ervah is not intrinsically erotic, we may say blessings in the presence of a woman whose hair is uncovered.
