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Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Peninei Halakha
- Shabbat and Holidays
- The Three Weeks
- The Laws of Three Weeks
The Sages instituted prohibitions against cutting one’s hair and washing one’s clothes during the week of Tisha Be-Av (Ta’anit 26b). Accordingly, Shulĥan Arukh (551:3) rules that one may not cut one’s hair from the beginning of the week in which Tisha Be-Av falls, and many Sephardim follow this practice. One may not cut even children’s hair if they have reached the age of ĥinukh (education), in order to train them to mourn the destruction of the Temple. The custom, moreover, is not to cut the hair of even children who have yet to reach the age of ĥinukh, in order to express the sorrow we feel during this period (sa 551:14).
Ashkenazim and some Sephardim – including Jews from Morocco and Djerba, and those who follow Arizal’s customs – are stringent and avoid haircuts during the entirety of the Three Weeks (Rema 551:4; Kaf Ha-ĥayim 551:80; Kitzur sa [Toledano] 387:8; Brit Kehuna 2:12; Jews from Tunis and Algiers customarily do not cut their hair starting from the first of Av, based on the ruling of R. Yehuda Ayash).
There is disagreement about whether these communities should be stringent about haircuts for children during the entirety of the Three Weeks or only during the week of Tisha Be-Av. In a time of need, one may be lenient until the week of Tisha Be-Av (mb 551:82).
This prohibition does not apply only to head and facial hair, but applies to body hair as well. One may, however, trim mustache hair that interferes with one’s eating (sa 551:12-13).
A woman may cut her hair if it is beginning to slip out of her head-covering due to its length. A woman may also remove facial or body hair that mars her beauty (mb 551:79, Kaf Ha-ĥayim 551:47).[6]
In honor of a brit mila, the father, the sandak, and the mohel may cut their hair, until the week of Tisha Be-Av (see below, section 19, regarding clothing).
It is proper for a bar mitzva boy to refrain from cutting his hair during the Three Weeks, because he can cut his hair before the seventeenth of Tamuz. However, if the boy’s father usually shaves every day, he may shave in honor of his son’s becoming a bar mitzva, until the week of Tisha Be-Av (see Kaf Ha-ĥayim 551:10, Piskei Teshuvot 551:6).
One may comb one’s hair even during the week of Tisha Be-Av (mb 551:20, Kaf Ha-ĥayim 551:46). The Aĥaronim debate whether one may cut one’s nails during the Nine Days, although one certainly may do so in honor of Shabbat (mb 551:20, Kaf Ha-ĥayim 551:48).
[6] Some are even more lenient, maintaining that the prohibition on haircuts does not apply to women at all, in accordance with the opinion of sa regarding mourning after shiva (yd 390:5). This ruling is found in Panim Me’irot 2:37 and Torat Ha-mo’adim 5:26.
The Month of Adar 4. The Three Mitzvot Concerning the Obliteration of Amalek
Chapter 14: The Month of Adar
Rabbis in Midrash
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
