First of all, the Torah commandment is not only for Hassidim, but intended for every Jewish male. The Torah teaches: "Do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head A Jewish male must leave sideburns peyot down to the joints of the jaw that are opposite the ear, approximately a third of the way down the ear. The front part is the intellectual, the rear part is the more physical, the more sensual.
The wearer of peyot is thus making a statement that he is aware of both facets of his mind, and intends to keep them to their appointed tasks. The previous answer first appeared on soc. Another is that some ultra- Orthodox groups have embraced the mobile phone and the internet, allowing their youths unprecedented access to the outside world. Noam acted just in time. Five months earlier, after a childhood in which he was segregated from the opposite sex he was allocated a wife in an arranged marriage.
Had the couple submitted to the communal pressure to have children, he would probably still be living a life in which every decision was made for him - from his clothes black double-breasted suit and hat, white shirt to his kosher diet, to the timing and manner of his sex life. It was not just a matter of living in a community, he recalls. It was everything. He wanted more than that.
He wanted independence and choice. Television, radio and newspapers are usually banned by the haredim. He broke the rules by secretly buying a television set, which he set up in his three-roomed flat in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea She'arim quarter, whose walls carry notices warning women to "dress modestly" and whose residents have been known to hurl stones at those who do not. Smuggled in within a microwave box, the TV was kept in a cupboard when he wasn't watching it.
The first film he ever saw starred James Cagney; he still recalls his astonishment at the discovery that there was such a being as an actor. Drawn toward the wider world beyond, Noam rang the Hilel organisation's hotline from a phone box.
After meeting one of their representatives, he packed his belongings, had a final conversation with his wife without revealing his plans and walked out. On the same day he cut off his peyot, the ringlets worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, and his beard. The exact definition of sideburns refers to the hair in front of the ears that extends to underneath the cheekbone which is level with the nose Talmud — Makkot 20a.
The Talmud explains that this law only applies to men, not to women. Maimonides explains that the prohibition of "rounding" prohibits the complete removal of the sideburns, by any means. However, it is permitted to trim the sideburns using scissors or a beard trimmer. The remaining hair should minimally be long enough that each hair can be folded back down to its root.
See Shulchan Aruch Y. Even though sideburns are enough to satisfy the Torah requirement of peyos, many Jews grow their peyos long as a way of emphasizing the commandment peyos sounds like pious, right?!
Some will curl their peyos, while others while tuck them behind their ear. It's just a matter of individual taste, or communal custom. Hair is also a symbol of vanity, a preoccupation of how one looks. The prohibition against cutting off the peyos reminds a person that he shouldn't overrate his looks when wishing to express himself, rather he should depend on intellect and good character. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, 19th century Germany. From a mystical perspective, peyos separate between the front part of the brain which is used for abstract thought i.
This they do visibly, in a variety of styles, including straight, curled and behind the ear. While some interpret the rule in a way that encourages them to grow their payes long, others see it merely as prohibiting altogether removing the hair that grows there. So, while a Jewish man would not be able to shave his head or to get a mohawk without violating this prohibition, most secular haircuts would not pose any sort of problem.
Similarly, if one wanted his hairstyle to emulate Elvis or the Beatles in their heydays, that would have coincided pretty nicely with our halachic requirements. Jackson, etc. The reality is that sometimes crew cuts and shaved heads are in style, so this mitzvah does inform our style choices. As an adult male with thinning hair, let me assure you that the shaved head is indeed a tempting hairstyle.
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