Check out this crazy controversy:
"A Hair-Raising Fear of Idols," by Tamar Rotem
David Ben Ezra, a Bnei Brak shopkeeper who sells wigs made of real hair, cannot handle all the telephone calls he is receiving from worried customers wanting to know where the hair comes from. Another wig-seller, A., said that her customers are demanding proof of the hair's origins, and are refusing to accept her word. The customers have been in a panic ever since rumors began flying that hair from India - which is where most of the hair used in natural wigs comes from - was originally used in an idol-worshiping rite. As a result, ultra-Orthodox women - who, according to Jewish law, must cover their own hair once they are married - are suddenly switching to synthetic wigs, or even to hats or kerchiefs (which, though preferred by the religious Zionist camp, are usually shunned by the Haredim)...
After a month of tension, Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv (the leading rabbi of one of the two main branches of ultra-Orthodoxy) finally issued his ruling on Wednesday: Wigs made of human hair from India may not be worn...
The storm began four weeks ago, when someone told the rabbis that most natural wigs imported from Europe are actually made of Indian hair. Two years ago, rumors had begun circulating that this hair was bought from Indian priests who gathered it up after the women cut it during a Hindu religious ceremony. This would be a serious problem, since Jewish law forbids the use of objects employed in idol worship (which in Judaism means all polytheistic religions). Apparently many wig-sellers concealed the fact that their wigs, though made in Europe, used Indian hair.
Crazy, right? Orthodox women all over not wearing their shetyls (wigs)... Here's another
article about it...
Shabbat Shalom!!
