#hair #sotah #nazir #Naso #parshatnaso #bamidbar #parshah #hairaspower #hairascreativity #redheads #parshapoetry #absalom
Long ago, many of you might remember a song from the musical Hair, called "Hair." It extolled the beauty and virtue of hair.
The Torah is filled with references to hair. From the red and hairy Eisav to Absalom being hung by his hair from a tree, King David, the red headed king to two significant examples including hair in Parshat Naso, there is a lot to learn from the text about how hair defines us, glorifies us, yet also be a source of modesty.
In Parshat Naso, the Sotah, the suspected adulteress, has her hair uncovered and mussed so that she "appears despicable." From here the rabbis discern that women should cover their hair. The Nazir, an oath taker, vows to abstain from wine, approach the dead or cut his hair. Perhaps his hair represents vanity, which he wishes to leave behind during his time as a Nazir. Perhaps, like the Sotah, his hair becomes unruly and unattractive, thus creating a barrier between him and the community.
This poem explores hair, what it is to us and to others.
HAIR
Your hair,
the crowning glory
a definer,
indicator.
Your calling card to the world.
What is it about hair?
Dead cells multiplying
sprouting outward from our pores
like blades of grass.
Fine or coarse
curling luxuriously,
or straight as thin threads
Stretching outwards
catching the light
blowing in the wind.
Hair
Cut, waved and bouncing
Hair
brushed and plaited
Oiled or pomaded
Hair
sleeked and shined
Piled high on a head
or cascading down a back
Golden as wheat
chestnut
blue black catching the light,
shimmering orange
Gray as polished steel.
Hair
Reaching or receding
or slowly disappearing.
Run your hands through it
Shake it,
tame it.
Let it fly!
Source of beauty
flagging
our health, our team,
our gang, our class,
our age.
Hair,
sign of our strength
of virility.
A shining sheath of vanity;
our mane
which attracts
or repels;
invites glances,
catcalls or caresses
It grows and multiplies;
a swirling beehive,
bouncing as we walk,
or shorn close,
sculpted,
messages displayed
or
covered by cloths
large or small.
Hair hidden
Leaving the viewer to question,
to imagine.
Hair is the
quotation marks surrounding
our faces.
Hair punctuates our lives.
Hair
An extension of ourselves,
reaches outward to the world;
an invitation to others
to view, to touch.
It caps us,
completes us.
Our definition.
Our crown.
Our personal statement.
Our health.
Our downfall.
Our trap.
Hair
shows the power of others
to control our lives.
Hair
shows our own power,
our creativity.
Look in the mirror.
What does it say?
After he has made the woman*the woman Lit. “the (womanly) participant whose involvement defines the depicted situation,” namely the ritual proceeding. Labeling her as “woman” in this passage means that she is construed mainly as a party to the proceeding, rather than as her husband’s wife. See the Dictionary under ’ish. stand before יהוה, the priest shall bare the woman’s head*bare the woman’s head Or “dishevel the woman’s hair”; cf. Lev. 10.6. and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest’s hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell.
Numbers 5:18 (Translation from Sefaria)
Throughout the term of their vow as nazirite, no razor shall touch their head; it shall remain consecrated until the completion of their term as nazirite of יהוה, the hair of their head being left to grow untrimmed.
Numbers 6:5 (Translation from Sefaria)
For more on the term Nezer: https://ohr.edu/6964