Thursday, May 16, 2013
Parsha Naso: A Woman's Hair
9:39 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"The Kohen shall have the woman stand before Hashem and uncover the woman's head, and upon her palms he shall put the meal offering of rememberance, it is a meal offering of jealousies, and in the hand of the Kohen shall be the bitter waters that cause curse" (Numbers 5:18)
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita in Ta'am V'Da'as asks according to the Chasam Sofer how could it have been permitted to mention G-d's name in the parsha of Sotah if the woman's hair was uncovered? We know that the Gemara tells us that an uncovered woman's hair is considered licentiousness and a man is not allowed to say a blessing in her presence, so how could the Kohen mention G-d's name in the parsha of Sotah?
We know the Rav continues that if a man must make a blessing in the presence of a woman and her hair is uncovered, he just has to turn his head to the side (not looking at the woman when making the blessing) and that would take care of the problem.
We see from this the stringency about a married woman covering her hair. Here the Torah compares the uncovered hair of a Sotah to a woman who is forbidden to her husband. The Rav explains elsewhere that the Torah does not give an amount of hair that if uncovered is ok.
We can infer from this that even if a little bit of a woman's hair is uncovered then it breaches a serious infraction of modesty. We see from the Rambam Hilchos Sotah Chapter 3 Halacha 5 that even if hair is covered but some is not she is considered immodest.
Some women think that if they cover their hair a little bit then they have fulfilled their obligation. We learn from the parsha of Sotah that even where we have to uncover her hair for the sake of embarrassing her, we don't have to uncover it all the way since even uncovering it a little bit is enough!
This is a lesson for the Jewish woman that covers her hair, that she should be very careful to make sure all of it is covered since if a little bit is uncovered, it leads to breakage in the lass of modesty.
Good Shabbos
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita in Ta'am V'Da'as asks according to the Chasam Sofer how could it have been permitted to mention G-d's name in the parsha of Sotah if the woman's hair was uncovered? We know that the Gemara tells us that an uncovered woman's hair is considered licentiousness and a man is not allowed to say a blessing in her presence, so how could the Kohen mention G-d's name in the parsha of Sotah?
We know the Rav continues that if a man must make a blessing in the presence of a woman and her hair is uncovered, he just has to turn his head to the side (not looking at the woman when making the blessing) and that would take care of the problem.
We see from this the stringency about a married woman covering her hair. Here the Torah compares the uncovered hair of a Sotah to a woman who is forbidden to her husband. The Rav explains elsewhere that the Torah does not give an amount of hair that if uncovered is ok.
We can infer from this that even if a little bit of a woman's hair is uncovered then it breaches a serious infraction of modesty. We see from the Rambam Hilchos Sotah Chapter 3 Halacha 5 that even if hair is covered but some is not she is considered immodest.
Some women think that if they cover their hair a little bit then they have fulfilled their obligation. We learn from the parsha of Sotah that even where we have to uncover her hair for the sake of embarrassing her, we don't have to uncover it all the way since even uncovering it a little bit is enough!
This is a lesson for the Jewish woman that covers her hair, that she should be very careful to make sure all of it is covered since if a little bit is uncovered, it leads to breakage in the lass of modesty.
Good Shabbos
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