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Laws of Religion

Laws of Judaism

Concerning Women and Men

 

12.  Personal Grooming and Circumcision

from the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah),

the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

and the Shulchan Aruch

 

Personal Grooming and Circumcision

From the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah)

 

The Torah commands the Israelites not to follow the laws of other nations, including Egypt from which they escaped or the nations in the land of Canaan which they are to conquer.[1]

 

The Israelites are forbidden from rounding out the corners of the hair on their heads or marring the edges of their beards.[2] An Israelite is not to make [3]any part of his head bald or shave the edges of his beard.[4] Nor shall an Israelite cut his flesh for the dead[5] or have his skin tattooed.[6]

 

 

Personal Grooming and Circumcision

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

 

Jews are not to follow the practices of idol-worshippers (polytheists) in such things as dress or hair style. Therefore, it is not permitted to shave one's head on the sides, leaving only the center unshaven. Nor may a Jew shave his face from ear to ear, leaving hair only on the back of the head.[11] However, a Jew who must meet with non-Jewish kings is permitted to conform to their style of dress and shave his face if this is necessary to avoid embarrassment.[12]

 

Since idol-worshipping (polytheistic) priests remove their beards, it is forbidden by the Torah for Jews to do so. A man's beard is considered to have five corners, and shaving of any one of them is punishable by flogging; thus, complete shaving of the beard incurs five floggings. As with the hair on one's head, it is only shaving of the beard with a razor that incurs punishment by flogging; cutting with scissors does not.[13]

 

As required by Leviticus 19:27, cited on this page above, it is forbidden to shave the hair from the temples, with a flogging being the punishment for each temple shaved. This punishment is meted out to a man,[14] but not to a woman,[15] who does such shaving. The person who is, himself, shaved is not flogged unless he assisted in the act.[16] Also, a woman may shave the corners of her own head but she is forbidden from shaving the corners of the head of a man or a male child.[17] These prohibitions against removing hair from the temples apply only to complete shaving with a razor; cutting this hair with scissors is permitted.[18]

 

Shaving one's moustache and the hair just under the lower lip with a razor is permitted, though the custom is to remove only what might interfere with eating or drinking.[19]

 

In places where it is customary for both men and women to remove the hair of their armpits and their pubic hair, such removal is permitted. However, in places where the custom is only for women to remove such hair, men who do so are subject to a flogging for disobedience. This is because (as discussed below) a man is not to adorn himself like a woman.[20]

 

A woman is not to adorn herself as men do, such as by wearing a turban or hat or armor or cutting her hair as men do. Similarly, a man is not to adorn himself as women do. Local custom concerning, for example, whether only women wear brightly colored garments or certain types of jewelry, determines what it means for a man to adorn himself like a woman. The prohibition, however, includes removing any white hairs from the dark hair of his beard or his head or dyeing his hair a dark color.[21] Not only may a woman dye her hair, but she may apply rouge to her face.[22] A woman who adorns herself like a man or a man who adorns himself like a woman is subject to flogging.[23]

 

A woman is forbidden from going out in the street without covering her hair.[24] If she transgresses the law by doing so, she is liable to be divorced without receiving the amount of her ketubah.[25]

 

Circumcision is required for the sons of Jews,[26] for those who convert to Judaism[27] and for slaves of Jews, whether born as the property of a Jew or purchased from a non-Jew.[28] A son who is not circumcised is subject to the punishment of extinction (karet),[29] but this punishment is not inflicted until the son dies after having spent his whole life intentionally uncircumcised.[30] A father who fails to circumcise his son or a master who fails to circumcise his slave has violated a positive commandment of the Torah but is not punished by extinction. The court is to circumcise the son or the slave when it becomes aware of a case in which the father or master failed to carry out this responsibility.[31]

 

Tattooing, forbidden by Leviticus 19:28, cited on this page above, is punishable by flogging. The punishment is to be imposed on a man or woman who both cuts and adds dye to someone’s skin, not on a person who does only one of these two things and not on a person who receives a tattoo unless that person assists in the process.[32]

 

Maimonides says that a person should bathe once a week, using hot water over the whole body and scalding water on the head. This is to be followed by bathing in successively cooler water until the bath is actually cold.[33] Among a wife's obligations to her husband are washing his hands, face and feet.[34]

 

A scholar of the Torah should wear attractive, clean and unstained clothing. It should be neither the garb of royalty nor that of the poor but rather in the middle. He should not go out into the street with perfume on his body, clothing or hair, though filth may be removed by rubbing perfume on his body.[35]

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Personal Grooming and Circumcision

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Shulchan Aruch

 

A man is required to have his sons[36] and his slaves[37] circumcised. If he fails to do that, the bet din (Jewish court) is to ensure that it happens.[38] If a grown man has not been circumcised, he is obligated to circumcise himself. And if he fails to do this, he is subject to extinction (karet).[39]

 

A Jewish baby[40] and an enslaved baby who is the son of a slave woman who has immersed or whose master intends for her to be immersed[41] are to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth.

 

Other male slaves are to be circumcised on the day they are born or purchased.[42] If an uncircumcised slave is purchased and he refuses to be circumcised for one year, he must be sold to a non-Jew,[43] though if the master circumcises and immerses his slave against the slave's will, it is of no consequence.[44]

 

Similarly, a male convert to Judaism must be circumcised[45]; male and female must be immersed.[46] If a male convert is already circumcised or was born circumcised, then blood must be drawn from his penis as a substitute for the circumcision required for conversion.[47]

 

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Abbreviations used in footnotes:

Gen: The Biblical book of Genesis.

Exod: The Biblical book of Exodus.

Lev: The Biblical book of Leviticus.

Num: The Biblical Book of Numbers.

Deut: The Biblical Book of Deuteronomy.

 

MT:  The Mishneh Torah of Maimonides (Code of Maimonides). The names of the specific books and treatises within each book are given according to the Yale University Press translation and also the Moznaim/Touger Hebrew transliterations to facilitate locating the texts posted here.

F:  indicates page numbers in the Feldheim Publishers, Ltd., translation of Book 1 of the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, the Book of Knowledge.

M:  indicates page numbers in the relevant volume of the Moznaim Publishing Corporation’s Touger translation. (Some of the books of Mishneh Torah are published in several volumes by Moznaim, so the Moznaim volume numbers do not correspond to the Book numbers of Maimonides’ work.)

Y:  indicates page numbers in the translation of the Yale University Press Judaica Series.

 

SA:  The Shulchan Aruch of Joseph Caro, with the comments of Moses Isserles noted, as appropriate. Our summaries are based on the Sefaria English translation, which is not yet complete. The four sections of the Shulchan Aruch are on Sefaria at the following links: Orach Chayim, Yoreh De'ah, Even HaEzer and Choshen Mishpat.

    

●  The sources cited are described on the page Source Texts Used for Laws of Judaism.