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Rabbi Chaim Coffman
Rabbi Coffman has helped people from all across the spectrum to prepare themselves properly for Orthodox Conversion to Judaism. His students admire his vast knowledge and appreciate his warm, personal attention and endearing sense of humor.
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Followers

Welcome to Rabbi Chaim Coffman's Blog!

I would like to thank you for visiting my blog, Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism.

The conversion process can be a lengthy and daunting one to say the least and I want you to know that I am here to help you through it.

I have been teaching newcomers to Judaism for over a decade and over the last few years I have seen that conversion candidates really lack the support and knowledge they need to navigate the conversion process and successfully integrate into the Orthodox Jewish community.

I created my mentorship program in order to help make this whole experience as smooth and as painless as possible! (Can't do much about the growing pains, though ;)

Feel free to get to know me a little through the posts on my blog and visit the mentorship and syllabus page if you are interested in possible joining us.

I sincerely wish you all the best in your search for truth and spiritual growth.

Looking forward to meeting you,
Chaim Coffman

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Sternbuch

In case you were wondering why I have all of these articles written by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, he is my Rebbe, and one of the gedolei hador (greatest Rabbis of our generation).

Rav Sternbuch fully endorses me and supports my mentorship program.

He is the address for all of my halachic or hashkafic (practical and philosophical) questions that I or my students may have.

The articles are based on his weekly talks on the Torah portion that the Rav gives in Jerusalem in his kollel. As a member of the kollel I get first dibbs on the photocopies and I type them up for my blog so you can all benefit from the Rav's erudition and insight.
Thursday, May 16, 2013

Parsha Naso: A Woman's Hair

"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

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