[Menachem Mendel] Rabbinic Haircuts

I am sure that many people reacted with scorn to the “Islamic” haircuts that are now permitted in Iran. Well I have news for you, many rabbis would feel right at home with such a decree. In a text that was appended to the Sifra that listed actions that were prohibited in order that Jews not follow the “Ways of the Nations” (see Lev. 18:3-5), is found the following:

ר’ יהודה בן בתירה או’ שלא תינחור ושלא תגדל ציצית ושלא תספר קמי

R. Judah ben Baterah says: That you should not dress extravagantly (?), and that you should not grow the fringe, and that you should not cut the hair.
(trans. by Beth Berkowitz)

Beth Berkowitz has discussed this source and related ones extensively in her article, “The Limits of “Their Laws”: Ancient Rabbinic Controversies About Jewishness (and Non-Jewishness).” Jewish Quarterly Review 99, 1 (2009): 121-57. Beth suggested that “the irritant for R. Judah ben Baterah is not pagan worship practice but pagan elite cultural practice.”

The other well-known hairstyle from rabbinic literature is the בלורית, which is mentioned in numerous places (see M AZ 1:3; T AZ 3:6; T Shabbat 6 (7):1) The blorit occupied an importantplace in the image of the new Sabra. See this article for some discussion of the word.

Rabbinic discussion of haircuts can be found in most of the major halakhic codes, see e.g. Tur, BY, and ShAr YD 178.

Trying not to blend in too much, and keeping some distance from the majority culture, was no small concern for rabbis.

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