- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 1 week, 5 days ago by .
-
Posts
-
PSA: I’ve seen Yeshivish kids (primarily under bar mitzvah but there are some over bar mitzvah) with haircuts that totally take off the sideburn and leave the Yeshivish payos. My son saw other kids like that and asked the barber for it too, but BH he knew the Halacha (especially since the payos diagram hangs on the wall of the barbershop) and I asked my Rav and he confirmed it to be true. So just want to let it be known since it seems like it’s not widely known
Yes, there are many in the yeshiva community who have what we may call a “zecher” of peyos and confuse that with their actual peyos. Since they don’t want to grow the whole area of their actual peyos long, they leave a few strands of hair from the peyos area a bit longer. Perhaps this is done as a way of associating with yeshivishe people or out of guilt for not cutting them shorter altogether. I have seen this with some chasidim as well. However, this “chumra” of a few strands is clearly leading to confusion, with people thinking that counts as their actual peyos (as shown in the popular charts)
Most barbershops do not have these charts, and it is worthwhile for everyone to know the halachosNever less than a two, never less than a two. You cannot go wrong if you just stick to this description
It’s hard to believe we’re still confused about something not that complicated in halacha. It’s one pasuk with 2 bits of info. No rounding out the head = shaving off any of the sides lower than a number two clipper. No destroying the beard = using a razor on any part of the face from where the mandatory sideburns end. People get confused that you can shave your face quite clean but that doesn’t apply to the sides of your head, that must be left at number two.
At each of my son’s upsherins I made sure to specify to all present that the “yeshivish” peyos we were leaving are a chumrah at best and may have certain kabbalistic significance as well. I briefly explained what the actual Issurim are and further specified that our decision to leave “big” peyos is mostly a fashion choice.
I did this for multiple reasons: firstly, to ensure that my children actually know what is muttar and assur (don’t worry, it’s not the only time I plan to discuss it with them), secondly, so they Ch”v look down on their peers who don’t have such peyos. I also wanted to set the precedent that this is bli neder, and if my sons choose to thin out their peyos at a later point, there should not be a chashash on that front.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.