HARAV DON SEGAL shlitaExcerpts from his speech given in Beis Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, NJ Elul 5783

In attendance were the Roshei HaYeshiva Hagaon Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler Shlita and Hagaon Rav Yisrael Neuman Shlita as well as thousands of B’nei HaYeshiva Hakedosha.

In truth, there is another thing that needs to be addressed. It’s hard to talk about but it is one of the things which is the shemira of Klal Yisrael. It is the inyan of KEDUSHAH, KEDUSHAH, KEDUSHAH! Mis’haleich bekerev machanecha lehatzilcha … Vlo yireh becha ervas davar veshav meiacharecha. Rav Aharon Leib said that nowhere else does it say Veshav meiacharecha even not apikorsus only on Kedusha! And on this we see the Yetzer Hara works in full capacity, full capacity, in our circles, we are not talking about more modern circles.

I don’t want to get into details but it’s not pashut, not pashut. Maybe Hashem will mun from me if I don’t go into details, I don’t know. I’ll say one detail. I’m starting again with a story.

I asked my Rebbi, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach z”tl about a sheitel. I remember his lashon. He told me like this; “Fifty years ago if someone would wear a sheitel in Yerushalayim, they would stone her and the sheitels then looked like straw! Even a blind person would say that it was a sheitel. Today they come to me, and I don’t know if it’s a sheitel or their own hair. It is very disgusting, that means besides the halacha that it should be assur, it’s very disgusting!!! Mashal lemah hadavar domeh someone eats a kosher piece of meat, and he does everything to make it look treif. They cover their hair, and they do everything that it should look natural.” Today it’s not just plain natural. Hashem yeracheim, Hashem yeracheim, es is nisht pashut.

I’m speaking openly, people come to me, and they say that they stumble with impure thoughts and the like, from frum women more than frei. This is fire, fire! Eish Ocheles! What does Rashi say in Parshas Noach, “Where there is Gezel vezima anderlemusya baah leolam vehoreges tovim veraim”. What an Anderlemusya (chaos) there is today! Raim vetovim. Is Hakadosh Boruch Hu chashud to act without justice? THIS IS FIRE! We see this michshol by the most choshuva, the best of the best! Pachad!!

In truth, it comes from the fact that people don’t understand the chumras hadavar, they don’t evaluate it right. Every single person that would realize that because of them there will be sickness, destruction, and all bad things, Anderlemusya. We need kirvas Hashem Yisbarach and this is the hatzlacha  in everything gashmi and ruchani, klal and perat. We need kirvas Hashem. Mis’haleich bekerev machanecha lehatzilcha!

 Timeless Words from Gedolei Yisroel 

The posek hador, Harav Shmuel Halevi Wosner zt”l, stated, “The wigs that were worn approximately sixty years ago—even in the more modernized country, Vienna—were clearly recognizable from a distance. It was clear that it wasn’t the woman’s own hair since those wigs did not have the natural characteristics of hair. Yet the wigs of today look just like natural hair.” He then added, “They incite the yetzer hara even more than natural hair, and there would be no posek in previous generations who would be able to find any type of leniency to permit such a sheitel.” 1

Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l declared, “The dispute about if the sheitel is permissible applied to the wigs of previous generations (which were short and stiff, and the hairs did not move from their place). But the natural-looking sheitels incite the yetzer hara just like hair… Who can permit wearing such a sheitel, which is ervah?” 2

Harav Baruch Auerbach zt”l, the son of Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, related the following episode: “A few years ago, there were many tragedies occurring… People knew that this was a wake-up call from Hashem to repent, yet they were unsure in which area of avodas Hashem they should strengthen themselves. A group of women decided to ask Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach what Hashem was requesting of them. The rav’s answer was clear and profound: ‘לדעתי, אלעס זענען די שייטלעך שולדיג!- In my opinion it is all due to the sheitels!’ And then he added, ‘איך מיין נישט דווקא די לאנגע, איך מיין די קורצע אויך!- I am not referring only to the long ones! I mean the short ones, as well!’” 

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