[Avodah] several questions

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 07:57:02AM -0700, Harry Maryles wrote:
: I've always wondered about that back-handed reference to covering hair
: as a source for requiring married women to cover their hair...
: That would indicate to me that hair covering is based at least in part
: on the prevailing Tznius customs of the time and the place...
...
: The fact that is that in the late 19th and early 20th century many
: of the married religious women of the Litvishe Kehillos abandoned the
: practice of hair covering. This led Rabbi Epstein to permit making
: Brachos in front of them ...which seems to indicate that there is room
: to speculate about that possibilty.

But also at most in part. It's considered a gezeiras hakasuv, and thus
das Moshe. Even the AhS, who says that because of ubiquity, a man may say
Shema in the presence of a married woman with uncovered hair, says that
ubuiquity is "baavoseinu harabim". I see in his words the exact opposite
of the conclusion you draw from them -- even where its commonplace,
it is still just as assur.

I suggested in the early days of this list that perhaps "sei'ar be'ishah
ervah" is not the original source of the issur, but an effect. Because
anything normally covered becomes ervah, and because a married woman's
hair is supposed to be covered deOraisa, it thereby becomes ervah.

It is unclear whether the use of "deOraisa" in Kesuvos 72a is literal,
RYBS reportedly compared it to the words of the Sifri. The braysa has
"af al pi she'ein ra'ayah ledavar, zeikher ledavar, shene'emar..."

But straight peshat is as I wrote, the gemara considers it a gezeiras
hakasuv.

: Rabbi Michael Broyde has written a lengthy discussion where
: he is melamed Zechus for those MO women who do not cover their
: hair. Unfortunatley I do not have a URL.

For people who have accounts on Tradition, it's at
http://www.traditiononline.org/news/article.cfm?id=105511
RMJB on RYBS's opinion including a discussion of the Sifri is available at
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol06/v06n077.shtml#17

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Mussar is like oil put in water,
micha at aishdas.org        eventually it will rise to the top.
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