(By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times)
It is called “Tonsuring” and it is at the center of a great debate that has once again resurfaced. Tonsuring is when women cut off all of their hair in a temple for religious purposes. A few years ago, frum Jews across the world stopped wearing sheitels with hair that could have come from these temples. Eventually, the issue settled with many of the wig manufacturers obtaining supervision from Rabbis stating that the source of the hair was permitted.
Now, however, the issue has cropped up again.
What changed?
In a nutshell, the Rabbonim who signed the letter are convinced that it is highly likely that virtually all hair in sheitels, no matter the origin – contain Indian temple hair that is Takroves Avodah Zarah – from which it is forbidden to benefit. The issues of Takoreves Avodah Zaraj, offerings given on the worship of idols are discussed in Shulchan Aruch Yore Deah 139:6. It is based on the Gemorah in Avodah Zarah 59b.
Those that signed the letter and forbid it believe that Indian temple hair is so ubiquitous, that it has found its way into almost every geographical location where sheitels are made. The hair is stripped of its pigment in a near month-long process and supposedly sold to other markets to augment their stocks of hair.
[This latter point, however, is disputed by other industry experts that this author has interviewed.]
The letter, signed by a number of Israel-based Rabbonim, was posted in shuls across the New York area. The letter was signed by Rav Chaim Meir HaLevi Vosner, the Rav and Av Beis Din of Zichron Meir; Rav Sriel Rosenberg a Raavad in Bnei Brak; Rav Yehudah Silman, an Av Beis Din in Bnei Brak; Rav Shimon Bodni, Chaver, Moetzes Chochmei haTorah, and Rav Moshe Mordechai Karp of Modiin.
The letter states that no hechsher on sheitels are effective because it is impossible to truly know the origin of the hair and that temple hair comprises the overwhelming majority of hair for human hair wigs.
The Kol Koreh, believe it or not, quotes a person named “Vince Selva” of the “Indo Asian Human Hair International Inc.” company who makes a number of claims about temple hair. The Kol Koreh also lists 25 alleged “Facts” about the human hair industry
This author was present with Rav Belsky zt”l when he both researched the issue and when he discussed the issue of Avodah Zarah with the Poskim in Eretz Yisroel. Dayan Dunner’s research was that the Indian women were actually giving their hair as an offering to “the gods” and that the hair was, therefore, considered Takroves Avodah Zarah – something that the Torah forbids. The research of others, including that of Rav Belsky zt”l was that the women were offering to shave their hair as a sign of devotion and that the hair was not an offering per se. According to their understanding, the hair is not an offering and is therefore permitted.
This author’s own research at the time, speaking to representatives of India at the Indian consulate, also indicated that it was not an offering per se.
Rav Belsky zatzal discussed other reasons for permitting it in his Sefer Shulchan HaLevi page 438 where letters back and forth with Rav Elyashiv zatzal are printed.
Subsequent research done by this author these past two weeks revealed that there are indeed Hindu pilgrim women who offer their hair for both reasons. Some offer their hair as a sign of surrendering one’s ego. Others offer their hair in payment of a debt. Punari Aruni, a Hindu pilgrim in her 40’s, appears in the documentary “Hair India” and she is definitely from the surrendering ego camp.
According to Hindu lore, Vishnu, “the Preserver of the World”, took out a loan in order to pay for his wedding. Vishnu’s loan was so large, however, that it would take him thousands of years to pay off his debt. Now many devout Hindus help pay off Vishnu’s debt by offering their hair. [Someone wryly noted that the concept of making large chasunahs is what created the sheitel problem in the first place.]
Those Hindus that believe in this lore and donate their hair on this account would be producing takroves avodah zarah.
Another version has it that the “god Vishnu” was hit on the head with an axe which caused him to lose a section of his hair. The female angel “Neela Devi” then offered him a lock of her hair as a replacement. Vishnu was so moved that from that point on, he granted wishes to anyone who offered their own hair in devotion. This version can be interpreted in both ways discussed above.
WE SHOULD BE STRINGENT ON EXTENSIONS
It is this author’s view that hair extensions are actually a significant halachic problem and should be avoided. The company “Great Lengths” which produces high end extensions are manufactured exclusively from temple hair. As far as wigs themselves, the origin is more nuanced.
There are also hair exporters that have agents approaching men in India who pay money so that their wives will sell their hair. The exporters offer the Indian men $10 for their wives head of hair, according to a January 2014 article on the subject by Katie Rucke. According to a director at Tirumala Venkateswara Temple the largest of some 28 temples in India that export hair, the temple does not pay the pilgrims any money for their hair and they use the money obtained from selling it to meet the educational, medical and nutritional needs of the desperately poor. The temple offers some 30,000 daily meals for the poor.
There are a number of issues that need to be addressed. The first issue is what percentage of the women are actually offering their hair as a gift to their gods? Some women most assuredly are offering it as a gift and it would thus be considered takroves avodah zarah. It is this author’s opinion that those Rabbis who felt that
Tirumala Venkateswara, for example, attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each day, making it the temple with the most hair donations in India. The temple features 18 shaving halls, but there are so many people waiting to donate their hair that women and young girls can wait for up to five hours to donate.
At the temple, some 650 barbers sit in lines on the concrete floor and tie the women’s hair into ponytails before cutting it off. Once the large portions of hair are removed, the barbers use a razor to shave each pilgrims head, before dousing their head with water to wash away any blood.
For those that are curious, on average, each woman donates about 10 oz of hair, which goes for about $350.
The article continues, “Baskets filled with hair are collected every six hours and stored in a vast warehouse where it is piled knee deep.
It’s estimated that each year India exports an estimated 2,000 tons of temple hair a year. The best – or longest – hair will sell for about $580 per pound. The hair is sold in yearly auctions that take place in March or April.. One ton of hair is equal to donations from about 3,000 women. Since the shaving ceremony and sale of hair is not limited to one “holy site”, and 85 percent of the people in India are Hindu, those companies that export India’s human hair don’t foresee a shortage of temple hair anytime soon.”
SFEK SFAIKAH
In this author’s view, the wigs with a hechsher are permitted threw a halachic mechanism known as Sfek Sfaikah – a double doubt.
Firstly, there is a doubt as to whether it is actually an offering. If someone were to cut off his or her thumb to show his or her dedication to their idol, it does not mean that the thumb was given as an actual offering.
Secondly, it is unclear whether the hair made in other countries actually ever came from India. This is certainly grounds for a halachic safaik. It should be known that not all the hair is sold to wig manufacturers and much of the volume is sold to stuff mattresses, create oil filters, or further extracted for the amino acids – so notwithstanding the volume of hair that is sold – it does not mean that all wigs throughout the world contain the hair. [The impetus for forbidding the entire issue is thus lessened with this information.]
Thirdly, there is a strong possibility that in regard to including it in a sfek sfaikah – that the halacha is that its sale makes it no longer considered a Takroves Avodah Zarah on account of bitul. In other words, the reason we are generally stringent is because it is a serious matter – Avodah Zarah, but for inclusion in a sfek sfaikah it would be permitted. Indeed, this is what Rav Yoseph Teumim holds in his Pri Magadim (Siman 586). This is based on the Gemorah in Zvachim 74a where the Gemorah does not rule like Shmuel. The Beis Shlomo OC 30 is also lenient in this matter of implementing a sfek sfaikah to permit a possible Takroves Avodah Zarah. This case is even better because there are three doubt here.
CONCLUSION
It is this author’s view that the second campaign of this controversy is only just beginning. It is important that the matter be brought up again before the Gedolei HaPoskim in American. It is likely that they will permit it based upon the triple doubt raised here or upon similar grounds. It is this author’s view that any hair marked “ethical” may be problematic because they do come from a temple. Also, any extension sold in hair salons may be problematic as well (but perhaps could be permitted based upon just a double doubt.)
When this author spoke to Rav Karp about the letter and questioned the source of the “due diligence” behind the information, he referred me to a few people who provided the information. Stay tuned.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
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29 Responses
So, the Israeli Rabbonim Shlita having basically lost the “Kosher Phone” gambit are now moving back to sheitels.
The research of others, including that of Rav Belsky zt”l was that the women were offering to shave their hair as a sign of devotion and that the hair was not an offering per se. According to their understanding, the hair is not an offering and is therefore permitted.”
“subsequent research done by this author these past two weeks revealed that there are indeed Hindu pilgrim women who offer their hair for both reasons. Some offer their hair as a sign of surrendering one’s ego. Others offer their hair in payment of a debt. Punari Aruni, a Hindu pilgrim in her 40’s, appears in the documentary “Hair India” and she is definitely from the surrendering ego camp.”
As per Rav Belsky, if I remember correct, he agrees that “some” indeed shave it as an “offer per se”, but he claims that according to all Hindu priests it is a concept of self-sacrifice – NOT Takrovas, and therefore, what each individual does is considered “shlo kederech Avodah” and permitted. Rav Elyashov, I think, never responded on that point.
To come out and say כל ישראל חוטאים is a very serious thing to do especially when not everyone is in agreement.
Also it Sounds like there is whole other agenda behind this story. Time will tell of course. Just take a look at the brekel chiken story. The real truth will soon surface hopefully soonet then later. Most likly it has to do with someones investment and a hashgacha .
And what is the hetter to print out in full the name of a Hindu god, when the Torah says “lo yishama al picha?”
I know the people involved in this investigation and a tremendous amount of research was done on the origins of the human hair in the wigs. The ad only contains a summary of the information gathered- anyone can obtain the full report by emailing [email protected].
I also feel that it’s important to state that Rav Elyashiv zt”l never allowed the use of Indian temple hair in wigs-
As it says in an article by Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff:
“The concept of bitul does not apply in most cases when Avodah Zarah items became mixed into permitted items. Chazal applied different parameters to the concept of bitul as applied to Avodah Zarah because of the seriousness of the prohibition. Therefore, if a sheitel contains hair from different sources, such as hair made of European hair with some Hindu hair added, the sheitel should be treated as an Indian hair sheitel. Thus, according to Rav Elyashiv, this sheitel should be destroyed in a way that no one may end up using it. It is not necessary to burn the sheitel. It would be satisfactory to cut it up and place it in the garbage.”
It is astounding to read all the research – there is very strong evidence that the majority of the hair in the sheitels originates from Indian temple hair (regardless of a hecsher as it has been proven by this research). The human hair industry is truly corrupt with no legislation. Mr. Selva (whose full article can be read in the extensive report) is quite familiar with the corruption and knows for certain that a lot of Indian temple hair is bought and than sold to the Jewish market as “Kosher”. All the labels on the wigs are misleading- they only indicate where the wig hair was processed not where it actually originates from.
It would be prudent for the topic to be revisited by American Rabbanim, this is not an issue to be taken lightly. Women also have a right to know what hair is in their wigs and it should be their informed choice if they want to wear it or not.
Until than it looks like it’s time to take those scarves and hats out again!
Thank you Rabbi Hofman.
I just want to add that I spoke to a big mumcha and he explained to me that, though people make it sound like all the hair is the same, its not true. Every single location on the globe the hair has a different texture. A mumcha could tell the difference between Indian and European hair. There is a reason why the Jewish manufacturers make wigs out of European hair, and not Indian. Indian hair is very fine.
Looks like eo is infected with the fake news virus and do not take anything to seriously.
Excellent article as usual from Rabbi Hoffman. But I have to say that I’ve never read so much about avodah zarah as I did just now lol
The timing of this entire series of events is unfortunate. Just days before Rosh Hashonah, when tens of thousands of frum women will want to be in shul wearing their sheitels, these rabbonim come along and create questions as to whether it is allowed. Can you imagine if erev yom tov, these same rabbonim came out with a kol koreh that all Turkish Talleisim purchased in the past 10 years may have shatnes??
Just remember that the issur of בל תשחית is also a דאןרייתה.so u better be 1000% that it is indeed avoda zara or the likes.
@motchah11
Please see Shemos 14:2
And Rashi there…….
Bal Tzefone……..
Its important for everyone to understand that nothing has really changed since 2004, just that the hair has been re-routed to other countries first and the non-Jews who are selling the raw hair are very quick to lie about the hair’s origins to make a sale.
Not Again!?
At the time this trash started I contacted several experts on their religion and verified that the ladies do not offer the hair to avoda zora. What they do is as a matter of humility they shave off their hair and leave it for the monks to make money with. NO AVODA ZORA.
There however Jews who hate women who wear these too attractive wigs so their want women to wear only cloth hair coverings. Maybe the wigs are too pretty, but they are not avoda zora but these decietful people who prey on women’s ignorance cause them to burn their wigs and cause them monetary harm.
HaShem Ya’azor!
Let me ask you, if Rav Elyashiv zt”l ruled that your tefillin were 100% pasal, would you be so quick to discount the Posek HaDor’s ruling? Would you confidently don these tefillin every day for the rest of your life??
It’s easy for you men to quickly discount a psak that doesn’t go on YOUR head! But for us women out there, we take this very seriously. After all, it’s our eternal Olam Habo we’re talking about. WE’RE not so quick to dismiss such a psak!
Luckshun Kugel, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Read this report and then get back to me. Email [email protected] if you want the report that details this information. That goes for anyone out there who wants to know the truth.
I think everyone here is missing the point. Even though it technically isnt avodah zara, do we seriously want out wives wearing this stuff?
Anyone that is familiar with the human hair industry knows that most of the hair in the wigs is chemically processed before being made in to a wig (that’s how they get the hair to look so silky and beautiful, raw hair is actually not appealing). Once hair is treated it’s impossible to know where the hair originates from- that’s part of the problem. And anyways, Indian hair is considered quite fine and beautiful, after it’s processed it looks exactly the same as European hair that is processed which is why many hair companies will buy Indian hair, process it and than relabel it as European (and every other country) Please read the facts in the ad to better understand the problem.
It is quite incredible that we are so machmir in so many areas but when it comes to wigs we try to find every loophole to allow a major problem of avoda zora. Rav Elyashiv zt”l forbade the use of Indian temple hair in wigs- that was his final psak. It was a pretty serious psak. It’s clear after reading the ad and the extensive report that Indian temple hair is flooding the hair industry market (for extensions AND wigs) – it is in almost all the wigs. And there is no way to prove otherwise. The labels on the wigs are all a lie. Do we really want to wear hair that was cut off an Indian woman’s head (full of blood and lice before it’s sterilized) in a temple – there is enough evidence to prove that this hair is indeed a sacrifice to their god. As Rav Hoffan wrote- he found this evidence too. So we are going to go in to Rosh Hashana wearing sacrificed Indian temple hair on our heads? After Rav Elyashiv ztl stated that this is forbidden?
These Rabbanim wrote this letter to make it clear that the hechsher on all the “kosher” wigs is not reliable. The Indian hair is everywhere and unless someone is watching the entire wig process from A-Z there is no way to know for sure that there is no Indian hair in the wig. And the people who give the hecsher are not watching the process from start to finish- it’s impossible to. Now if there would be a doubt in the hechsher on your meat- would you go buy it anyways and serve it for the Rosh Hashanah meals?
Why should we put on wigs now that they have way more than a doubt of avoda zora in them???
And just to clarify the matter Indian hair is way more abundant and affordable than European, Russian, Brazilian etc.. hair – which is why it’s sold to many countries and relabeled as European, Russian etc…
Do you really think there are so many village girls going around anymore in Europe, Russia, Brazil etc.. selling their waist length hair to make enough of the long (or short) sheitels in the market today? It takes about five women to make one wig. Do you know how expensive a wig would be if it actually came from the raw ponytails of five village girls?? Way more that $2000! There are MILLIONS of Indian women shaving their beautiful waist length hair every year! It’s than sold all over the world to benefit their temples. Do the math.
Time to wake up and stop being fooled by one of the most corrupt industries
luckshun kugel –
As I have pointed out, Rav Belsky came out with the same results, but according to Rav Elyashiv’s emissary, he asked individuals at the site and they did claim A”Z. However, Rav Belsky argued on the halahcha and some argued on the facts as well.
Ahava613 –
Regarding Rav Elyashiv’s ZTL p’sak, as far as I understand, the ones arguing are NOT arguing in P’sak, rather, on the FACTS of the issue. Huge difference!
Everyone should read the facts and the full report and do some of their own research and they will see clearly that everything written in this poster is totally accurate. The Chashuv Rabbanim that signed this letter are Dayanim- they looked in to this very well. They wouldn’t come out with a letter like this unless they had enough accurate evidence.
I pesonally recommend the documentary “just extensions’ where one sees clearly that there is no Brazilian and South American hair- it’s all Indian hair processed and relabeled! The woman who made this documentary looked all over to find village girls in Brazil that were selling their hair and there weren’t any. There was only Indian hair.
I think we women are strong enough to hear the truth. And if our sheitels are a problem, we won’t wear them. There are bh other attractive alternative head coverings available on the market right now
Millions shave their heads to surrender their ego, then we “bend down” and “collect their ego from the floor”. Our wives then wear it on their heads to build their ego. Kinda unsettling….
Thank you for bringing this important information to the public. I have been a shaitel macher for over 18 years. I know every back nook and cranny of the industry. I know how to hand make a wig from A-Z ( mshaas k’tzirah until its cut and styled and sent out on a woman’s head), identify hair ( to Thinker123 I am a “mumcha” in this business and I can tell you that there is no way in the world to certainly say that hair is “Indian.” It is possible to say that hair “isnt Slavic/Russina,” but Indian hair is so easily transformed into the look and feel of other cultures hair that its impossible to say which ethnicity is. Indian hair diameter is very small just like Slavic hair. Unlike south american and Chinese hair which have thicker diameters in each strand). I am also a skilled in cutting and color, repair, and hand ventilating. I have experienced first hand how dirty and dishonest this market is. I have walked away from manufacturing my own wigs because of the insider info I know. I couldn’t simply cover my ears and say ” I am not mekabel.” This industry is full of lying and cheating. No wig wearer can be certain what is in her wig or how it got there. All the factories I have dealt with in China were willing to affix any tag stating anything I wanted it to ( “European hair,” kashrus certification, virgin hair etc) even when we both knew full well the tags were deceitful. The wholesale hair suppliers have sold me “European or South American virgin Raw hair” which was delivered already single drawn and “cleaned” making it hard to identify and surely not raw. ( “European hair” is a misnomer, its bought from other continents and processed to look “European”).I have worked with suppliers peddling Indian hair who sell to other frum people. It’s cheap and readily available. I also know that the little bit of hair originating in the the Baltic regions can contain hair from corpses. This is a very well kept secret and a very big problem for us.
Between unscrupulous Chinese factories, deceitful hair suppliers, and knowing that the Indian hair issue never really went away I had to back away from manufacturing my own line. I wouldn’t have been able to say anything about my own product with any measure of certainty. This mitzvah is way to important to mess around with.
The “facts” on those posters are true. The facts on the ground show that women are incredibly entangled in their wigs. The Rabbanim are not looking to start up with women. They are trying to open our eyes. I hope that this time around both the Rabbanim and all of Klal Yisroel will take the opportunity to see the emes of the entire picture.
Maybe it’s people who are opposed to human hair wigs for tznius reasons, they think sheitlach should be only synthetic or rather no sheitel at all just a tichel, so they come up with this reason as a way of getting people to not wear human hair sheitlach. But since they have another reason for wanting people not to wear the human hair wigs, it’s like they’re noige’ah bedavar, and they can’t be believed. Then they give their misinformation to Rav Elyashiv.
The above Report states the following:
Approximately 10 years ago, a prominent Jewish Brazilian
businessman initiated a venture in the wholesale human hair
trade with the intent of supplying the Jewish market with
“kosher certified” 100% non Indian hair. This businessman
quickly determined through market insiders and hands on
research that Brazil was completely saturated with Indian hair.
It was close to impossible to secure large amounts of hair….
At another opportunity, the businessman asked R’
Landau of Bnei Brak to supply a hechsher. Rabbi Landau, who
was in Argentina at the time for other kashrus transactions,
traveled to Brazil to inspect the human hair market. After
laborious and intense research, Rabbi Landau adamantly
refused to give a hechsher on the grounds of the market being
flooded with Indian hair in a most unscrupulous fashion. He
would take no part in overseeing a kosher certification in such
a corrupt market. It was impossible to certify any hair “kosher”
in South America.”
Something is amiss here:
If Rav Landau did indeed verify the issue (Note – ten years ago – give or take!). Why didn’t he come out with the facts then!?
Where is his signature now?
Why are only these rabonim in the mix? Where are the prominent poskim like Rav Nissim Kerelitz, etc? This is relevant to all of Klal Yisrael – where are the Gedolim?
Adding to the above question –
I just noticed the letter was signed in Tamuz i.e. Two Months ago.
Why now? And again, where are all the other Gedolim? Two months is enough time…
Total hairsay
In the 10 day of repentance we should not be reading this as it will come to knocking rabbis. This was sent to other major Jewish news outlets and rejected for print. This we only come to Loshan horah. Shame on you (Yeshiva world news) for posting this, this should be removed.
Gmar chasima tova to all
Anyone who is a yirei shamayim and truly wants the emes will find the emes. Thank Hashem that we have our wonderful Rabbanim. Let’s take a look at the biggest Rabbi in Mitzrayim – Amrom, father of Moshe and Aharon. Can any Rabbi today compare to Amrom? Amrom was a true adom gadol. We find that Amrom did a grave error. After the decree to drown all the male newborns, Amrom divorced his wife. He proclaimed: “In vain we will work”. We will birth children, and have them die in front of our eyes. All of klal yisroel did the same – they all divorced their wives. Their Rabbi told them so. Klal yisroel was going to collapse. No Moses. No geula. What happened then? Along came Miriam, a child at the time. She said to her father – Abba, your decree is worse than Paroe’s – he’s killing only the males, and you are killing the females too. Amrom, and his humility, saw the emes of Miriam’s words. He remarried his wife, and so did all of klal yisroel. And then Moshe was born, and the geula was born.
Our Rabbanim are wonderful and really mean our best. However, that does that rule out this tremendous issue here. If Amrom would say – who are you – just a little girl giving me mussar?! Then the geula would never be born. Look at what this sheitel macher says – ‘Yemj’. We have to urge our Rabbanim to investigate this matter carefully.
All our sheitels today are “thanks” to the Russian Czar – he made a decree that forbade the jewish women to cover their hair properly. He wanted them assimilated, so he’ll have no jews left. He wanted to get rid of the jews. He tried tormenting them physically, but it did not work. He was way more successful ripping them spiritually through assimilation decrees. Our Rabbanim should be urged to look into this carefully. The czar attacked the head-covering, but this is worse – it’s idolatry too! Our decree is worse than the czar’s!
Wait.I purchase from a Brazilian frum woman, she has a reliable hechsher from Israel. She goes to places in BRAZIL and oversees the cutting herself. The mashgiach knows her sources and visits. She discloses everything to the mashgichim. Besides that my family and I know her personally for years for her frumkeit and integrity. So I can continue wearing!!!