Corners of the Head and the Beard

Sources

You [men] shall not round off the side-growth on your head, or destroy the side-growth of your beard.

Leviticus 19:27

They shall not shave smooth any part of their heads, or cut the side-growth of their beards, or make gashes in their flesh.

MISHNA: One who creates a bald spot upon his head, and one who rounds the edge of his head by shaving the hair adjacent to the ear, and one who mars the edge of his beard, and one who cuts one incision in a display of mourning over the dead, are all liable to receive lashes. If he cut one incision over five dead people, or five incisions over one dead person, he is liable to receive lashes for each and every one. For rounding the edges of his head, one is liable to receive two sets of lashes…

Makkot 20a:9-11

ופאת זקנם לא יגלחו NEITHER SHALL THEY RAZE THE CORNER OF THEIR BEARD — Because it is written in the prohibition addressed to the ordinary Israelites, (Leviticus 19:27) “thou shalt not destroy (תשחית) [the corners of thy beard]”, I might think if one took it (the hair) off with a מלקט or a רהיטני, tweezers or plane-like or file-like tools that may be used for destroying the hair, he is guilty of violating the law! Scripture therefore states here "they shall not raze off (לא יגלחו) the corner of their beard", the two statements supplementing each other…

Rashi on Leviticus 21:5:2

[YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEADS.] Scripture states, Ye shall not round the corners of your heads as the non-Jewish nations do, so that you will be separated from them. Now since the hair on the head and the beard serve to glorify a person it is unfit to destroy them. Some say that this verse is connected to Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead (v. 28), for there are people who destroy the hair on the corner of their heads and also on the corner of their beards for the dead.

Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 19:27:1

And likewise with destruction of the beard, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:27), “and you shall not destroy the side-growth of your beard.”

Sha'arei Teshuvah 3:78

§ The mishna teaches that women are obligated in all prohibitions except for the prohibitions of: Do not round the corners of one’s head, and: Do not destroy the corners of your beard, and: Do not contract ritual impurity from a corpse. The Gemara asks: Granted, a woman of priestly lineage is not obligated in the mitzva of: Do not contract ritual impurity from a corpse, as it is written: “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall become impure for the dead among his people” (Leviticus 21:1)…

Kiddushin 35b:2-5

לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEAD — This refers to one who makes his temples exactly like (as hairless as) the back of his ears and his forehead (cf. Rashi on Makkot 20b, ד״ה המשוה צדעיו) by removing the hair on his temples, so that the lower edge of the hair that surrounds his head (i. e. his skull, because we are not concerned with ‎hair at the back of the neck) forms a complete circle, since above the back of his ears the roots of his hair are situated much higher than his temples (and it is thus only the temples which prevent an uninterrupted circular line…

Rashi on Leviticus 19:27:1-2

To not encircle the corner of the head: To not encircle the corner of the head, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:27), “You shall not encircle the corner of your head.” And they, may their memory be blessed, explained that the matter is that it is forbidden for an Israelite to shave and even out the hair of his head behind his ears and to his forehead, like the idolaters and their priests do also today. And this is what they, may their memory be blessed, said in Tractate Makkot 20b, “Which is [the prohibition of] the corner of the head? That is the one that evens his temples to the back of…

Sefer HaChinukh 251:1-2

The Gemara asks: What is the reason of the Rabbis; how do they derive from this halakha that a leper must shave with a razor? As it is taught in a baraita that the verse states with regard to the shaving of a leper: “He shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard” (Leviticus 14:9). Since the verse states: “All his hair,” what is the meaning when the verse states: “His beard”? It is because it is stated with regard to priests: “Neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards” (Leviticus 21:5)…

Nazir 40b:4-41a:8

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man or a woman will articulate to take the vow of a nazirite, to abstain for the Lord” (Numbers 6:2).
“When a man or a woman will articulate…” – that is what is written: “His calves are pillars of marble, set on sockets of fine gold; his appearance is like Lebanon, choice like cedars” (Song of Songs 5:15). “His calves [shokav],” this is the world that the Holy One blessed be He desired to create, just as it says: “And his desire [tshukato] is for me” (Song of Songs 7:11)…

Bamidbar Rabbah 10:1

§ The mishna teaches: And one who mars the edge of his beard is flogged. The Sages taught: The edge of his beard is the extremity of his beard. And what is the extremity of his beard? It is the stalk of his beard, i.e., the five edges of the beard enumerated in the mishna where hair collects in one spot, like grain on stalks.

“When you will beget children, and children’s children, and you will have been long in the land, and you will act corruptly and craft an idol, the image of anything, and you will perform evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, to anger Him” (Deuteronomy 4:25).
“When you will beget children” – halakha: Is it permitted for a person of Israel to round the corners of his head? So taught the Sages: These are the matters that are prohibited due to the ways of the Amorite: One who cuts [his hair] in the komi style and one who grows a forelock…

Devarim Rabbah 2:18

What we wrote at the beginning of this Order (Sefer HaChinukh 330) is from the roots of the commandment.

Sefer HaChinukh 340:2

It is permitted to shave one's mustache - i.e., the hair on the upper lip, and, similarly, the hair which hangs from the lower lip. Even though the removal [of this hair] is permitted, it is customary for the Jews not to destroy it entirely. Rather, its ends may be removed so that it will not interfere with eating or drinking.

Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 12:8

A kabbalistic approach: the reason that destruction of this hair is prohibited is that the letters of the Holy Name, tetragram, are concealed within the structure of the body; the respective letters י-ה-ו are featured as part of the מילה, the organ which is circumcised, the mouth, and the tongue. This is why (according to the view of Rabbi Yochanan in Nazir 59) anyone who shaves his pubic hair with a razor is guilty of the same transgression as someone who shaves the hair of the “upper” beard, i.e. the facial beard…

Rabbeinu Bahya, Vayikra 19:27:4

Rebbi Abbahu said, anything which sits in the hair is called “wig.” The younger Rebbi Yannai had cotton wool in his ear which fell out. He wanted to return it on the Sabbath. His companions rebuked him; was it because of jewelry? Was Rebbi Yannai of the opinion that oil is the healing agent, whereas the Sages were of the opinion that the cotton wool was the healing agent? But did not (Rav) [Rebbi] Jehudah say in the name of Rav Zeˋira, a person with earache puts oil on his head and whispers on condition that he use neither hand nor vessel? Was Rebbi Yannai of the opinion that practice follows…

Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6:5:3

Relatedראו גם

Gentile Practices of the Body and Clothing

Sheetsדפי מקורות

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