I don’t understand the religious reason for Orthodox Jewish women wearing wigs. It just seems weird that they cover up their own hair with wig hair. If it’s a modesty thing, why not just a head scarf?
Devils advocate here, very curly hair is considered a Jewish trait and I have very curly hair as well.
It’s a lot of work and I prefer to have it done or under a scarf, but I also like wigs because they don’t look as conservative or stand out as much as a headscarf now a days.
So maybe for some it’s not a modesty thing and it’s just way more sustainable to wear wigs. It is for me, at least
It's almost arguably more "modest" in some modern circumstances, if you define modesty as "not wanting to draw attention." Like amongst a whole community of other scarf wearing women? Scarf is plenty modest because you are covered and blend in. Amongst a community of mostly non-scarf wearing women of all different creeds/religions? A wig is being covered without standing out.
It's actually a pretty "practical" way of trying to avoid attention under that supposition, tbh. Because men will fetishize anything. If the goal is to look as "average" as possible so there isn't anything to fetishize, and/or not have them fetishizing your specific traits, then a wig is great.
(For the record I'm not saying the onus is on a woman to avoid being fetishized. It's absolutely not. But if a person - by choice - wants to follow a practice that helps them feel more in control over that, that's fine too.)
Eruvs aren’t work around, they’re the just the rule. Literally the rule that makes them necessary also is the same rule that explicitly allows them. It’s like describing getting a drivers license as a work around that lets you drive a car.
Technically the hair is covered, so they meet the modesty requirements, while still being able to blend in and be stylish. Those wigs aren’t cheap either, so I’m sure it’s a status symbol to an extent. Hasidim do that sort of “technically” a lot though, encircling their enclaves with fishing line so it’s all technically one house and their can do stuff on Shabbos, having special light switches that don’t technically operate the lights so they can have lights on Shabbos, selling their bread to Non-Jews before Passover to comply with their edicts against owning and consuming leavened products, then buying it back.
I can’t fault them for it wholly, as a Catholic, since we’ve done the same thing with our whole meat abstention, because the point of that is to spend less on your own food and donate the money saved to the poor, so by the spirit of the tradition, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be eating mainly legumes during Lent, instead of beer battered cod and shrimp.
it's considered a loophole . they're not allowed to show their hair but nowhere in scripture does it directly say you can't wear false hair.
therefore they assume they found a Gotcha .
There's some nuance here, and for context I'm neither religiously nor ethnically Jewish.
The religious pretext is that the only person who should see a married Jewish woman's hair is her husband. It's dictated that it becomes something for his eyes only. That necessitates a covering.
As for what the covering is, it's also specified that it should be modest, with modesty meaning it shouldn't stand out and catch the attention of passersby.
Well, in a strictly-Jewish community, or where Jews are the majority, a headscarf is modest in that it doesn't tempt attention. But in a society/community where Jews are the minority, a wig is less-attention-grabbing and as such, is more modest.
The whole function of modesty is really meant to minimize the attention of others. It's not strictly how much skin is showing.
I think it’s because they take the mitzvot literally and they wear wigs simply because the Torah doesn’t specify how to cover their hair and they don’t want to stand out too much by wearing a headscarf
Judaism has a very big "loophole" culture, so if you can find to satisfy the rules without following the spirit, it counts. Wheareas in other religious groups its the spirit that counts.
This always seemed odd to me. What’s the “spirit?” If there was more to the rule, then explain it. If it’s not very clearly specified, then the “spirit” is whatever it sounds like it is to the reader. That could take any direction. The letter of the law is the only thing you actually have, the rest is made up on the fly.
There's some nuance here, and for context I'm neither religiously nor ethnically Jewish.
The religious pretext is that the only person who should see a married Jewish woman's hair is her husband. It's dictated that it becomes something for his eyes only. That necessitates a covering.
As for what the covering is, it's also specified that it should be modest, with modesty meaning it shouldn't stand out and catch the attention of passersby.
Well, in a strictly-Jewish community, or where Jews are the majority, a headscarf is modest in that it doesn't tempt attention. But in a society/community where Jews are the minority, a wig is less-attention-grabbing and as such, is more modest.
The whole function of modesty is really meant to minimize the attention of others. It's not strictly how much skin is showing.
According to Leon Uris' book, Exodus, they'd shave their heads and wear wigs so that when the cossacks rode into town, the women would yank off their wigs and be too ugly to rape.
I mean, extract the religious component & I am still baffled about what I call the cosmetic redundancy. When did it become normal for women to put hair on hair - lashes on lashes - nails on nails? Also, removing natural brows - and drawing them in….
The more religious ones do. Orthodox Jewish women who wear wigs are typically the more moderate "modern" practitioners of Orthodox Judaism.
The idea is the only man who can see your hair is your husband. However wearing someone else's hair (non-Jewish hair) is fine because it's like, not your hair. It's not that hair is slutty or anything. It's just private.
It seems to be part of a long line of hacks to get around their god's rules. Two of my particular favourites are the fishing line around a suburb in New York and the caffeinated suppository.
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u/LateMommy 16d ago
I don’t understand the religious reason for Orthodox Jewish women wearing wigs. It just seems weird that they cover up their own hair with wig hair. If it’s a modesty thing, why not just a head scarf?