News Reports
KAUAI, HAWAII, May 16, 2004: More information has come in regarding the rabbinical edict (HPI May 15) banning wigs for Jewish women to be made from hair collected at Hindu temples in India following devotees shaving their heads. Orthodox Jewish women wear wigs because of a custom that they do not show their true hair anywhere outside the house. The wigs are very valuable, thousands of dollars, and in one posting were referred to as a woman’s “most valuable possession.” There is no sense in any of these reports how Hindus might find the edict a bit insensitive, based as it appears to be on the Jewish belief that they only worship the “One True God,” apparently not allowing for the validity of other religious beliefs.
An Israeli paper, Haaretz, wrote (“source”) writes, “People began running around preparing lists of permitted and forbidden wig shops; others demanded that the sellers of wigs made from Indian hair be tried in a religious court. In Bnei Brak, some people even started collecting Indian wigs and throwing them to the bonfire. The storm began four weeks ago, when someone told the rabbis that most natural wigs imported from Europe are actually made of Indian hair. Two years ago, rumors had begun circulating that this hair was bought from Indian priests who gathered it up after the women cut it during a Hindu religious ceremony. This would be a serious problem, since Jewish law forbids the use of objects employed in idol worship (which in Judaism means all polytheistic religions). Apparently many wig-sellers concealed the fact that their wigs, though made in Europe, used Indian hair.”
And another from Israel (“source”): “Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, considered the top Halakhic [Jewish legal] authority in most religious Jewish circles, has added his name to those banning the use and benefit of all human hair wigs originating in India. The decision is based on confirmed reports that human hair in India is often shaved off for the purpose of idol worship practices, and is afterwards sold to companies that manufacture wigs. Although there is no certainty that any specific Indian-made wig is made of hair used for idol-worship, the widespread practice there means that each individual wig involves at least a “possible” violation of the Torah ban on benefiting from idol worship, and may therefore not be used. Rabbi Elyashiv said that his ruling does not imply that wigs in general are appropriate as head-coverings, and that on this issue, each woman should follow her rabbis’ instructions and her own family customs.”
One HPI reader, a Jew, writes, “I’ve just now consulted a Rabbinical authority, who explained to me that Zevicha, which means slaughter, was an ‘inner service’ for idols, and so also shaving is included and considered as such. Therefore, if Hindus don’t believe in “one” god and what they do is shaving for the gods, whether they mean to offer the hair for the god or just to come to the god shaved, thus shaving for the event of coming to the god, this is considered idolatry and forbidden for Jews to have pleasure from the hair. In Monroe, and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (New York State) yesterday night, and now at the present moment, huge fires are taking place, by Orthodox Jews, burning masses of wigs of human hair which come from India.”
Reader Suzan Douglass writes, “I am not an ‘expert’ per say in matters of Hindu rituals, but I have studied Judeo-Christian theology for more than 20 years and was a member of the Carmelite Order for 14 years. According to Mosaic law, a Jew must not use anything that has been ‘sacrificed to idols’ for any reason. This includes food items as well as clothing. Even if the hair that is shorn is not offered to the deity but discarded, due to the penitential nature of the act an orthodox Jew would consider it an act of sacrifice thus rendering the hair as unclean and unusable. Mosiac law regards all images as idols which is strictly forbidden in the practice of Judaism. The idea is that God has no form, so one cannot be made of the ‘true’ god. If images are made, they are representations of something which is considered as ‘false’ gods in the Judeo-Chistian world. There is no room in their thinking for images that represent god’s power or attributes, which of course has led to much bloodshed for too many years.”