I have been following the exchange regarding hashgacha on sheitels, and while both previous writers raise important points, I believe a crucial piece is being missed.
The second letter correctly describes how difficult it is to supervise the human hair supply chain. The process is complex, global, and not comparable to kosher food. That is true, and no honest person should claim that a sheitel hechsher today offers the same level of control as a hechsher on a package of chicken.
But from that truth, the wrong conclusion is being drawn.
To say that hashgacha is difficult, and therefore worthless, is to make the perfect the enemy of the good. A hechsher, even if it cannot guarantee 100% certainty, is certainly better than nothing. It represents an attempt — often a very serious, expensive, and logistically difficult attempt — to source hair from places that are not connected to avodah zarah, to supervise factories, and to avoid the most problematic channels. For a woman who holds like the many poskim who are machmir on this issue, that effort matters. It may not be perfect, but it is not meaningless.
We also have to be realistic about what happens if we declare all hechsherim worthless. It is tempting for some to imagine that if there were no “kosher” options, all women would simply switch to tichels. That is not what will happen in practice. If faced with no acceptable sheitel option, many women will not cover their hair with a tichel. They will instead rely on the minority opinions that hold the entire avodah zarah concern is not an issue today. Whether one agrees with those opinions or not, it is undeniable that most rabbanim in our communities do not pasken that way for themselves or their families.
Therefore, the argument that “no hechsher can be trusted, so don’t bother” does a disservice to Klal Yisroel. In practice, it is being machshil people. It removes the middle ground and pushes women who want to be machmir into a position where their only choices are to ignore the issue entirely or to stop wearing a sheitel altogether. Most will choose the first option.
A more constructive approach would be to focus on the positive: some hechsherim are better than others. Some have more extensive controls, more reliable sources, and more rabbinic oversight. Let’s talk about those differences. Let’s encourage companies to improve their standards and to be transparent about what their hechsher actually covers and what it cannot cover. That helps a consumer make an informed decision according to her rav’s guidance.
Perhaps there will come a day when the sheitel market is fully covered by suppliers with the highest level of supervision, from the point of origin to final production. If we reach that point, then a discussion about which hechsherim are insufficient may be beneficial. But we are not there today. Until then, telling women that all hechsherim are worthless does not solve the avodah zarah problem. It only ensures that fewer women will try to avoid it.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Reader
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17 Responses
Well said!
I find this whole discussion simply amazing. Nowhere is there a psak halacha saying that sheitlach have to be made from human hair. I have been wearing perfectly presentable sheitels made from synthetic hair for half a century, and I find them quite satisfactory. In fact, they’re easier to take care of than human hair, which never seems to hold a set for any length of time.
Of course this only applies if you’re not one of those people who like to say “I spent X thousands of dollars on this sheitel (so you should be jealous)” You can look great and still not have to push the boundaries of heterim. The whole issue is a false dichotomy. The Torah provides ways to do things within halacha, without having to suffer angst about feeling deprived.
The much much bigger problem is the rampant pritzus in the common styles of sheitels with long gaudy hair.
This letter makes a very good point. People are quick to put down or dismiss various systems. Why? Because it is easy and makes you feel superior. The difficult next step is to offer a practical solution, and then the next crucial step is to make a move to help the situation.
Take any issue: Shidduchim, wedding expenses, kids OTD, seminaries, materialism, the draft, chinuch salaries, mental health, etc.
The pattern is always the same. One person puts forth an idea or complaint. The smarter ones include a practical solution in their point. The good ones take action towards the solution. The lazy armchair “chacham” says something negative in an attempt to shoot down the solution. He gets a bunch of people on his side and blam! back to square one.
Hopefully, our concerned reader will next be one of the better ones and take the next step of making a practical move to help change the situation
The headline here is a stolen phrase from Rabbi Yisachar Frand at the said 13th Siyum Hashas
He used it to explain that finishing shas doesn’t require perfection, rather consistent progress counts
Think-
Rabbi Frand “stole” the phrase from Voltaire….
Once again, the hypocrisy in the observance of orthodox Yiddishkeit is overwhelming
Actually, the quote is originally attributed to the French philosopher, Voltaire.
Joseph Goebbels,
“The much much bigger problem is the rampant pritzus in the common styles of sheitels with long gaudy hair.”
You are clearly the expert on pritzus in the street since you’re a sick lecher full of Nazi blood. You’re not even Jewish!
Voltaire “stole” it from an italian proverb; and he also “stole” it from Montesquieu.
Giving a hechsher on a pritzus wig is like giving a hechsher on chazer fleish. I have bought hair straight from a source in Ukraine that has only Ukrainian donors, it is not hard at all to have hachsheirim on hair, you just need to go to sellers that cut hair from donors themselves and there are many such places all over Ukraine and Russia. But I find all this talk about hachsheirim ridiculous when women we are talking about hair for wigs that are pritzus length and wigs that look like they are growing out of their scalp, both with are totally against halacha. So basically, this talk is about kashering the chazer.
Philosopher you are totally accurate!
The wigs today are so immodest (even the short ones), all the letters about hechsherim are missing the point. Even if a wig is watched from the time of the cutting all the way to the end production (the only way Rav Elyashiv zt”l and more recent American Rabbanim have stated is the only way to know if a human hair wig is not from India), it is still an item of pritzus and therefore forbidden to be worn.
But if one wants to only focus on the tikrovas avoda zora issue, almost all the hechsherim do not buy human hair straight from the women who cut off their hair (the only halachic way to ensure that it’s not Indian hair according to all the Gedolim). Buying it from a human hair seller is useless as so much Indian hair floods the human hair market every year and is sold in multiple countries under different names (“Russian”, “European”, “South American” etc…).
And yes, women can wear tichels. Many do and it solves both the tikrovas avoda zora issue and the modesty issue with the wigs today. It’s the way Jewish women covered their hair for thousands of years and is halachically and hashkafically the most correct way to cover the hair.
So we’re only worried about the origins of the hair when it comes to idol worship but we have no regard for the actual styles and lengths that rabbanim have spoken up often enough about the modesty issues, but it goes on deaf ears. I guess there’s too much money in it
BaruchLesin, philosopher, and all the anti-sheitel posters:
The quote below is on page 465 in the ArtScroll biography, “Rav Chaim, The Life and Legacy of the Sar HaTorah Rav Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky”:
“I spoke to my grandfather several times about married women wearing a sheitel,” shared R’ Avraham Yeshayah Shteinman. “I told him that many people are saying it is better to wear a kerchief, and I asked about the practice of the Chazon Ish’s wife.
“She wore a sheitel,” Sabba replied.
Is it preferable to wear a kerchief? I asked.
“‘Our mother and grandmothers more sheitels, and that is the correct thing to wear,’ was his response.”
The whole “Indian hair” issue was well known at that time.
Of course, very long sheitels are immodest, but not all sheitels are pritzusdik.
On the other hand, many tichel-wearing women have hair sticking out from all sides – some on purpose, but others, unintentionally. Women with very fine hair have a hard time keeping it from creeping out, even with velvet headbands to try holding it in. For these women, kosher, refined sheitels cover their hair more completely, and they feel much more dignified and tzniusdik than the messy tichel look. True, some women look neat-as-a-pin, very put-together in a tichel, but others don’t.
Sheitel vs. tichel is not a one-size-fits-all issue, as the anti-sheitel camp claims.
The synthetic hair tack is actually interesting, but one would need strong rabbinic backing and brilliant marketing tactics to make it work, especially for anyone under age 50, or who wants to look like they’re under age 50…
Ladler:
This quote in the Artscroll biography was proven completely inaccurate (and Artscroll was contacted about it).
Rav Elyakim Shlezinger zt”l, a very chashuv Rosh Yeshiva in England who had direct contact with the Chazen Ish Zt”l verified (it’s recorded) that the Chazon Ish held that women should cover their hair with cloth (or at least they should wear a tichel over a sheitel that covers most of the wig). There is a sefer, “HaDor VeHatikufah”, that was written by talmidim of Rav Shlezinger that verifies that this was the psak of the Chazon Ish.
In addition, Rebbetzin Elyashiv only wore a tichel (without a sheitel underneath it) and she was Rebbetzin Kanievsky’s mother. There are pictures of Rebbetzin Elyashiv in the biography of Rebbetzin Kanievsky and one can see clearly that she only wore a tichel.
Rebbetzin Yaacobson (a granddaughter of the Steipler zt”l) was also contacted recently and she verified that the Steipler’s Rebbetzin only wore a wig for the first few years of her marriage, but after moving to EY the Rebbetzin only wore cloth head coverings for the rest of her life. This clearly proves that both Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s mother and mother in law wore tichels and not wigs.
Rav Avraham Yeshaya Shteinman shlita was also contacted about the above story and he stated that he does not remember hearing these statements from his grandfather Rav Kanievsky zt”l or any of this conversation.
While Rebbetzin Kanievsky did wear a wig, in almost every picture printed it is obvious that the Rebbetzin wore a very large tichel or hat on top of the wig and it covered most of the sheitel. And what was visible of the wig is so clearly short, stiff and very wiggy looking (only stiff bangs were visible under the large hat or tichel). No one today is wearing a wig that remembles the sheitel that Rebbetzin Kanievsky wore nor would anyone put one on (they don’t even make wigs like that anymore).
Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l stated that anyone that says a wig is preferable to a tichel because of the few hairs that might be sticking out is speaking devarim betailim (from the sefer “Ashrei Ha-ish”). Rav Elyashiv also stated said, “פאה נכרית הוא מחלוקת בעיקרההלכה אבל מטפחת זה גלאט – a wig is a dispute in the essence of the halacha but a tichel is glatt.”
Some more words from Gedolim:
HaGaon HaRav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner zt”l: “The wigs of today look just like natural
hair. They incite the yetzer hara even more than natural hair, and there would be no posek in previous generations who would be able to find any type of leniency to permit such a sheitel.”
Rav Wosner also wrote: “Surely we need to support and encourage those who want to return to the kisui rosh of a non-sheitel headcovering, like the Chasam Sofer writes in his Shaalos u’Tshuvos and in his holy tzava’ah” (Letter written 15 Teives 5757).
HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Zalmen Auerbach zt”l: I can’t distinguish between a sheitel and
hair, for me it’s very disgusting. In my opinion, all tragedies come from the sheitels, and I am also referring to the short ones.”
HaGaon HaRav Yosel Shalom Elyashiv zt”l: “The dispute about if the sheitel is permissible applied to the wigs of previous generations (which were short and stiff, and the hairs did not move from their place). But the natural looking sheitels of today incite the yetzer hara just like hair… Who can permit wearing such a sheitel, which is ervah?”
HaGaon HaRav Nissim Karelitz zt”l wrote: “I would like to encourage the women who
have strengthened themselves to cover their hair with a cloth covering, instead of a covering made of hair. They have done this after they became aware that the sheitel can cause many severe issurim. These women are deserving of bracha, and may there be more such women in Klal Yisroel.
Halevai women would wear tichels instead of sheitels…
Ladler- in case you missed this…
A new letter was publicized in many frum publications (on Yeshiva World too) about sheitels/tichels that was signed by many prominent Rabbanim and Roshei yeshiva in EY and America including Rav Wachtfogel shlita, the 4 Roshei Yeshiva of BMG (Rav Malkiel Kotler shlita, Rav Yisroel Neuman shlita, Rav Olshin shlita and Rav Shustel shlita), Rav Aaron Feldman shlita, Rav Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlita, Rav Chaim Scabbes shlita, Rav Yaakov Forcheimer shlita and Rav Shmuel Meir Katz shlita.
The letter stated:
“We are stating our opinion, that because the situation of the wigs in recent years is getting worse and worse, and the great Poskim have already declared that many of the wigs of today are forbidden by halacha, therefore certainly covering ones hair with a headscarf is a big correction of this matter, and one must strengthen and encourage those who make the effort to do so.”
Women should be encouraged to wear headscarves, not wigs.
Especially not today’s wigs which are very natural looking and immodest (even the short “refined” ones)
@think sensible: That’s one of the oldest adages in the book, and it was said either by Voltaire or Rochfocauld. Rabbi Frand did not originate that