Rav Shmuel Dovid Gross, the rov of the Gerer kehillah in Ashdod, has announced that people must make sure not to buy shaitels sourced from idolatrous practices.
In light of this concern, Rav Gross directed his kehillah members to exclusively purchase shaitels from manufacturers that have a hashgacha, which he asserts will guarantees the shaitels’ kashrus.
The announcement sparked significant discussion within the city, given the rov’s previous silence on this issue.
While controversies over shaitels have arisen in the past, Rav Gross had refrained from issuing such directives until now.
Rav Gross’s associates clarified that his decision stems from a recent reevaluation of the matter, leading to his current stance.
According to reports, the shaitel controversy originated when Israeli rabbonim discovered that a considerable portion of shaitels in the Israeli market have been sourced from the Indian practice of tonsuring. Tonsuring involves ritual head shaving as part of the pilgrimage to the Tirupati temple of Venkateswara in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Halacha prohibits ownership or benefit derived from idolatrous practices, and so shaitels made from tonsured hair are deemed forbidden by various authorities.
{Matzav.com Israel}
HAIR we go again
🙂 How sadly true. I hope Ger and Ger alone worries about this, not the rest of Klal Yisroel
I think there also needs to be hashgacha on the length of the wigs. Unfortunately so many women who wear wigs do not look like Yiddishe mother’s rather they look cheap and low class.
You’re right they look cheap and low class but are long sheitlech worse than lace wigs?
Ok where can I get shaetil with an hadhgogoh?
coming soon to a Bingo near you!!!
BTW, the Indian hair issue is one that was never resolved because no one today has any understanding of the Halachos of Avodah Zarah, given that the last one to discuss those is the Rambam, and neither the Tur nor the Shulchan Aruch bothered to discuss them as they were deemed irrelevant for “today’s times” – just like they don’t discuss Halochos of Korbonos (lehavdil). As such, no one really knows what IS and what ISN’T Avodah Zarah, and no one has the proper language proficiency to properly converse with the Indians and really understand their practices and the nuances needed to Pasken on this.
So what’s REALLY behind this sudden declaration? Is the Rov going to be providing a Hashgacha on certain Sheitel companies?
The Bubonic Plague killed a third of Europe in the 14th century. Since then it has almost not been heard of. Nobody really knows what it was like, and the details of historical versions are lost in translation. So if you heard that there might be an outbreak today, you have nothing to worry about…
It’s better to err on the side of caution, if there might be an actual avoda zara issue. A sheitel is not a necessity, believe it or not. And there is an option of decent looking, synthetic wigs.
Another way to fleece the foolish sheep for more cash.
Orthodox Jews do not need more chumrahs — we need less chumrahs.
if I want to listen to all these chumras, i’ll move to lakewood. But then, Id need new white shirts because one of the chumras is that one must wear white shirts and only white shirts. And pants must be black.
And only a standard $375 Borsolino hat with the mini brims will suffice. You never know which snitching yenta you’ll pass on the street.
It might not be a chunra. It might be an actual torah transgression
Rav Malkiel Kotler shlita, Rav Wachtfogel shlita and Rav Neuman shlita have all come out recently that there is a serious sheila of tikrovas AZ issue with the human hair wigs and hundreds of women in Lkw and elsewhere already switched to synthetic wigs.
Clearly this is not a minor issue…
I thought avoda Zara was eliminated by the Talmudic rabbis a long time ago. So this is not a real thing.
The expensive cost of sheitels is one more ticket item saddling the frum purse. If Rabbonim proclaim everyone should curb spending and only buy synthetic, no one listens. Here, they found an out. Declare it possible az and advise everyone go cheaper on synthetic. This IS a kulah, it’s a wise way to get the klal to buy something more affordable. Once sheitels take, the Rabbonim will declare real diamonds an eisur of forced labor gneiva, slowly moving all kallahs to synthetic. These reasonings will be kept secret bc people won’t adhere if the true driver of curbing costs were to be disclosed.
Smartphones are assur.