Is it assur to wear a necklace with a symbol on it?

Is it assur for a man to wear a necklace?

I’m not a rabbi by any means

But I think cross is mostly ????? ???

Anything else abstract that could possibly be or resemble a symbol of A”Z should be ok as long as the item itself has never been worshipped. If the item has been worshipped one may not derive benefit.

A man shouldn’t wear a necklace, just like a man shouldn’t wear a wedding ring. You run into a lot of hotza’ah issues with men and jewelry. Not to mention that a necklace on a man is very tacky, IMHO. Reminds me of a low-class gavone Italian.

What hotza’ah issues? I thought that doesn’t apply to decorative jewelry.

if its a cross or buddha i would imagine its a problem. also big problem if its a sun or any heavenly body.

“just like a man shouldn’t wear a wedding ring.”

From you rebdoniel? Where’d you get that from?

Most BY schools do not permit peace signs.

A word of advice: Do not wear symbols, if you do not know what they mean.

Octopi

Better to be sure. If you don’t mind can you describe in detail what the symbols are? You’ll be surprised how many symbols you think are nothing actually mean something.

writersoul: You should. Or you will be very confused when the principal pulls you over.

The gemara (Shabbat 62) allows a man to wear a signet ring in reshut harabbim, as it is common for men to wear those. Other rings, however, are not normally worn by men, and they thus cannot be considered a garment. Wearing such rings thus constitutes carrying, rather than wearing, and is forbidden in a public domain on Shabbat (OC 301:9).

While a man’s wedding ring is probably not to be considered beged isha, it still conveys an effeminate spirit, in my opinion, and portrays marriage in a light inimical to classic Jewish understandings of matrimony.

“The gemara (Shabbat 62) allows a man to wear a signet ring in reshut harabbim, as it is common for men to wear those. Other rings, however, are not normally worn by men, and they thus cannot be considered a garment.”

B’zman hazeh it IS normal for men to wear wedding rings (and nobody wears signet rings anymore unless he is a king or something). The only question is whether or not that would be chukas hagoyim.

Well, again, it’s a question of chukas hagoyim. In 2013 MEN wear rings, and even many frum men wear rings. If they don’t in your community and therefore you want to hold by chukas hagoyim, go ahead. But when the gemara says that men wear signet rings, it doesn’t mean in a particular “community”, it means in society as a whole. The gemara doesn’t pasken for individual communities.

jewishf- not only is it chukas hagoyim, which btw has nothing to do with how motzui it iords about it.s, R moshe has a teshuva where he uses very, very strong language about men wearing rings. even in 2013. and toeiva is still toeiva. even in 2013.

From my husband:

Based on Igros Moshe EH 4:32: Rav Moshe’s maskana about men wearing rings ( ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?’ ??? ????? ?????? ??”?) could be taken as a mild discouragement of the practice. However, Rav Moshe writes this in the context of a polemic against double-ring ceremonies (which, IMHO, can only be done through highly questionable halachic sleight-of-hand). The chukos ha’goyim in having a men’s wedding ring is using the wedding ring as part of the ceremony, NOT in wearing the ring after the ceremony (ad meah v’esrim). Rav Moshe says that goyische men will wear wedding rings for ornamental reasons (“l’noi”), as well as (probably the most important reason) to make it clear to opportunistic women (r”l) that the man is married, and these are not assur mishom chukos ha’goyim. (I think one can find greater elaboration of Rav Moshe’s shita on chukos hagoyim from his teshuvos about Thanksgiving and Nittlenacht)

The only reason for a wedding ring to be assur is if it were somehow obvious that the ring was actually used as part of a double-ring ceremony as practiced by some goyische communities. However, Rav Moshe found it to be inconceivable that a double-ring ceremony would ever actually happen in the presence of a Mesader Kedushin, two kosher eidim and an audience including frum friends and family. More importantly, he found it inconceivable that a stam yid who sees a wedding ring on the hand of a chassan would believe that the ring was from a double-ring ceremony.

Perhaps a chassan who wants to be particularly careful about preventing perceptions that his wedding ring was part of a double-ring ceremony should wait a few days after the wedding before buying his ring so that friends at sheva berachos can tell that the chassan’s ring was not part of the ceremony. (my wife and I didn’t pick out my wedding ring until after our sheva berachos when we were already in Las Vegas).

writersoul: It’s associated with a certain liberalism. Like nowadays they’d be upset if you wore a rainbow.

I would hold that halakhically, al pi din, there is most likely nothing wrong with a man wearing a wedding ring. The issue is one of hashkafa; it is an attempt to impose non-Jewish, modern conceptions of marriage (a ring is a symbol of the husband’s position and stature in a marriage). A lot of things are mutar al pi din, but are still poor decisions that are out of touch with the ethos of Torah Judaism.

“A lot of things are mutar al pi din, but are still poor decisions that are out of touch with the ethos of Torah Judaism.”

Yes, but not this one. What you say applies more to, for example, hunting.

As already stated, there are real, legitimate reasons for wearing a wedding ring, chief among them being to signal a man’s marital status to those who don’t know him. Additionally, many men like to wear something tangible that they can look at and think of their wives when they are apart– almost like, lehavdil, a kippah reminds one of Hashem.

jewishf- so when R moshe called it michu’ar, i think he meant to invalidate those frumme cheshbonos.

As mentioned above, the necklace you are referring to should be fine.

I had a necklace with my name on it and someone made a comment that people that those necklaces are tacky and show the person has a low IQ. Although i cant figure out why…and i have an average – above average IQ.

jewishfeminist02: lol! i told her it was a nameplate so others wouldnt feel funny if they didnt remember my name!!