Sunday, June 18, 2006

KOSHER WIGS

Superstitious craziness is endless!

link: Wigs pose dilemma for religious Jewish women

By Megan Goldin Wed Jun 7, 12:38 PM ET
TEL AVIV (Reuters) -

To wear them or not to wear them?

That is the question for ultra-Orthodox Jewish women caught in a dilemma after the wigs that many of them wear to cover their hair under religious modesty regulations were found by rabbinical sages to violate Jewish law.

"It was a big scandal because they found out that the hair that was collected in India was used in rituals for idol worship," said Amir Zahavi, the manager of a wig factory on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Hindu rituals, such as those performed in the temples, are considered sacrilegious under strictly monotheistic Jewish law.

The hair used in such practices certainly can't be used to make wigs that ultra-Orthodox women wear under religious edicts that require all married Jewish women to cover their hair in public or when in the presence of men other than their husbands.

The problem arose about two years ago when Israeli rabbis discovered that hair cut from the heads of Hindu worshipers at Indian temples was being used to manufacture wigs worn by religious Jews.

The discovery about hair used in Hindu rituals caused pandemonium. Rabbinical experts went from wig factory to wig factory in Israel and abroad to ensure that wigs for the ultra-Orthodox market did not include hair from India.


6 comments:

ADMITNOTHING said...

www.toughjews.blogspot.com

Jewish Atheist said...

The Jewish blogs had a lot of fun with this one. There was also the issue of whether NY tap water was kosher because of microscopic bugs in it.

Stardust said...

There was also the issue of whether NY tap water was kosher because of microscopic bugs in it.

ja - that is so ridiculous! What about all the microscopic bugs that live on our bodies that crawl into our eyes, ears noses and mouths while we sleep that may not be "kosher" bugs? It is almost sounding like OCD! Looking at the absurdity of xianity is bad enough, but when one starts looking at all the idiocies of all the religions of the world, I feel like I am living on a planet-sized insane asylum.

Delta said...

It was a big scandal because they found out that the hair that was collected in India was used in rituals for idol worship

Damn we live in a messed up world =(

Stardust said...

Damn we live in a messed up world =(

delta - yep...we sure do.

How fucked up is it to wear hair over hair anyway...I mean...I don't understand the point of that as a religious superstition. How is looking at a person's real hair a bad thing? Since superstition starts somewhere, how did it get to be a bad thing? I will have to do some research on this. It will make a good post in the future.

Since culture is relative, I wonder if jewish men get turned on by the various wigs? I wonder if muslim men get excited by a certain "sway" of the hijab muslim women wear to cover themselves? Back in 1910 here in the USA men got all hot when women showed an ankle bone and they found women in their beach bloomers to be hot babes.

Human beings are as michaelbains says "silly".

Jay Denari said...

Hi, Stardust,

It is almost sounding like OCD!

I'd bet that's pretty close to the truth. Some leader centuries ago had severe OCD, schizophrenia, or other mental illness and incorporated it into his religious practices. Because he WAS a leader, nobody questioned it. His followers might have originally done it just to appease him (either out of respect or fear), but subsequent generations did because it was simply they way they did it. That would explain most of the bizarre religious restrictions carried down in many traditions.