(continued)
Thirty-five years ago (or more precisely, since 1975) a group of Rabbis began to scrutinize the details of all laws related to wigs and found that in a sefer titled, Makor Chaim (authored by the Chovot Yair a”h who lived approximately 300 years ago) and in other sefarim as well – there is no dispute concerning this matter and that the Shiltei Giborim prohibits the wig in the public domain. It was discovered that when the Shiltei Giborim gave his ruling he had in mind that the wig be worn in courtyard of the home only. The Rama and a few more poskim understood his heter in this manner as well and they too allowed the wearing of a wig only in the house or in the backyard. We already mentioned that the courtyard during the Talmudic era was surrounded by an opaque fence or bricks and “strange men” were not generally present. In the reshut harabim the wig was worn with a head covering on top that covered the wig completely.
In addition, the Shiltei Giborim allowed a bare wig on the street (if only by default because the woman had no other options available to her), although he himself never writes in his sefer that he permits it. And with this resolution dozens of rabbis in the ensuing generations began arguing stating that in the Gemara there is no proof that a wig is allowed to be worn in the public domain. If the Gemara does not permit a wig to be worn in the public domain how could the Shiltei Giborim contradict all the commentators who preceded him? It is obvious that there are Rabbis who are misconstruing the Shiteli Giborim’s words.
The Chovot Yair draws attention to the following: The Shiltei Giborim considered, as did some of the commentators before him, that already during Talmudic times, women took upon themselves an additional requirement to cover their heads not only in the street but also in the courtyard. This means that the answer to the question of: “Can one wear a wig in the courtyard?” is not self-evident.
Hence, it is necessary to understand whether the wig in the courtyard was allowed or not allowed. In his sefer, Shiltei Giborim he proves that when the women took on this additional restriction of not walking into the courtyard with their heads uncovered, they did not extend this prohibition on wigs. That is to say: if, previously a woman walked in her backyard wearing a wig, she continued to do so after the onset of this ruling.
In the text of the Shiltei Giborim itself there are many ambiguities concerning the public domain. But if we can somehow manage to conclude that he was referring to the courtyard, then everything will become clear. Here’s one example:
The Shiltei Giborim builds his whole case and brings evidence from the Mishnah of Shabat (64:2) that states: “… a woman comes out … in a wig into a courtyard …”
The Gemara seems to allow a woman to come out in a wig only in the courtyard but not onto the street. Chachamim feared that a woman will come to carry her wig in her hand on Shabat in the street in a place where one cannot carry things. How can this be? What kind of person would carry a wig in her hand instead of putting it on her head?
Talmudic commentators provide two answers to this question:
- She wants to show her beautiful wig to a friend and pulls it off from under her head covering.
- Both the head covering and the wig together may fall off the head and then she would immediately put on the head covering on her head and carry the wig in her hand in order to put it together and wear it at a different point in time. In any case, if there was a wig on her head, then there was a head covering on top of it.
This is precisely what the Chovot Yair writes. He states that the Shiltei Giborim must have referred to the courtyard only. That is, he believed that in the reshut harabim a woman wore her head covering on top of the wig in order to cover the wig completely. This is in line with the Gaon of Vilna’s words, that a “Peah Nochrit” was not a long, flowing wig that replaced a head covering – but rather a small hair-piece used to cover ends of the head that were lacking hairs due to a woman shedding her hair or having gray hairs.
It is clear that the Shiltei Giborim is referring to a small hair-piece that can indeed be worn without a head covering in the home or courtyard.
It is strange however, that many Ashkenazim rely on a ruling that was originally issued by a Sefardik posek and years later claim, “It’s the Sefardi ‘custom’ to cover one’s hair with a kerchief; it isn’t our custom. We have whom to rely on.”
The Ashkenazik world relied on this ruling of the Shiltei Giborim to allow the wearing of a wig and most halachic authorities agree that this ruling, was only in the home or courtyard and NOT in the public domain. There is no leading halachic authority in the world of Rishonim or Acharonim who allowed the replacement of a head covering with the modern day sheitel. As we mentioned earlier, any Rabbis who’s wife wore synthetic sheitels in Russia or Europe it was because of the great influence of the gentile world or due to abnormal circumstances. It was never a lechatchilah (from the onset).
