Human culture has long ascribed to human hair varied and wondrous powers. In different cultures, in both East and West, priests and ascetics searching for greater holiness would shave their hair or grow it for its supernatural powers (as did the biblical Samson). In patriarchal cultures, one of the ways to rule over women’s bodies and control their power is by ruling over and controlling their hair. Most Western cultures, at one point or other, have demanded of women that they cover their hair and thus diminish – to some extent – their presence.
Hazal, who identified women’s hair as a sexual organ (most famously in BT Berakhot 24a: “se’ar be’isha ervah”1 ) demanded that women cover it. The rabbis enumerated hair covering as one of the stringencies that Jewish women took upon themselves and ruled that a woman who uncovers her hair in public can be divorced and forfeits the monetary compensation of her ketubah (BT Ketubot 7:1).
One of the most difficult and often-told talmudic stories in this regard is that of Kimhit (BT Yoma 47a), the mother of no fewer than seven High Priests. I heard this story many times while growing up and again later – on the eve of my wedding – at my mandatory meeting with a rebbetzin at the offices of the Rabbinate in Jerusalem. This short and powerful tale, which appears in both Talmuds and in other sources, begins with the rabbis’ astonishment and wonder at Kimhit’s having merited so distinguished and sacred a group of sons. 2 “They asked her, ‘what have you done to merit this?’ And she answered, ‘never in my life have the rafters of my home seen the braids of my hair.’”
As a child, I was very bothered by the technical elements of this tale. How did Kimhit shower? Did she ever comb her hair? As I grew older, I wondered if by this hermetic hair covering she merited having seven sons who were High Priests, how much more could she have obtained if she had made herself totally invisible!
There are other, lesser known stories in rabbinic literature regarding women’s hair that provide a more critical, deeper, and nuanced approach. Alongside their halakhic discussions, Hazal, we know, developed a rich and varied world of midrash and aggadah, through which the rabbis made possible a critical perspective on the normative way of life depicted and demanded in their halakhic discourse. I believe that hair covering is one such area addressed in midrash and aggadah. In particular I would like to draw attention to two midrashim that presumably seek to fill in lacunae in the biblical text, yet seem to reflect a complex and critical view of the broadly stated requirement that women cover their hair.
The Wives of Shimi ben Gera and On ben Pelet and Their Hair
In Bemidbar 16 we read of the rebellion of Korah the Levite against the exclusive leadership of Moshe and Aharon. At the end of the story, On ben Pelet of the tribe of Reuven is mentioned as one of the rebels, but he vanishes from the rest of the narrative, which concludes with Korah and his followers being swallowed up by the earth. The Talmud (BT Sanhedrin 109b–110a) solves the mysterious disappearance of On with a story, in which On’s wife saves him from involvement in the rebellious conspiracy and thus from a violent death.
Rav said: On ben Pelet was saved by a woman. She (his wife) said to him (to On): What will you gain from this? Whether Moshe or the other one is the master, you are the disciple. (He said): What can I do? I was in their counsel and took an oath with them! She (On’s wife) said to him (her husband): I know that the entire assembly is holy, as it is written, for all the assembly is holy (Num. 16:3). She said: Sit here and I will save you. She gave him wine and intoxicated him, and laid him down within. She sat by the tent-opening and undid her hair. Whoever came and saw her, turned back. And in the meanwhile, they (Korah and his followers) were swallowed up.
The Midrash does not expand on the reactions of the men searching for On as they come upon his wife. The terse language – “whoever came and saw her, turned back” – sharpens the unmistakable conclusion that a woman’s uncovered hair is an impassable boundary for men.
The second midrash also appears in a context of revolt and 18 rebellion against authority. In Samuel II we read of the flight of David and his men from Absalom and his band of rebels, who aimed to seize the monarchy and depose David. David asks the priests Zadok and Evyatar to return the Ark to Jerusalem and serve there, along with their sons Ahima’atz and Jonathan as his spies. In the course of David’s flight, as he and his party pass a place referred to as “Bahurim,” one of Saul’s kinsman named Shimi ben Gera appears, curses them, stones them, and rains dirt on them. In the meantime, while being trailed by a spy of Absalom, Ahima’atz and Jonathan try to sneak a message to David. They hide out in a well in the courtyard of a “Man of Bahurim.”
But a boy saw them and informed Absalom. They left at once and came to the house of a Man of Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard. They got down into it, and the wife took a cloth, spread it over the mouth of the well and scattered groats on top of it so that nothing would be noticed. When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked where Ahima’atz and Jonathan were, she told them that they had crossed over the brook of water. They searched, but found nothing and they returned to Jerusalem (Samuel II 17:18–20).
Midrash Yalkut Shimoni on Megillat Esther (Remez 1053), comments on this last scene and offers an expansive description of how the two were able to hide from Absalom’s men. It identifies the woman who hides them in her well as the wife of none other than Shimi, earlier noted as a “man of Bahurim,” and transposes Ahima’atz and Jonathan onto their illustrious fathers, Zadok and Evyatar, whom it refers to as “righteous men.” This transposition is, to be sure, a common midrashic technique that turns the biblical test into a never-ending tale, and reflects Hazal’s freedom and the sense of the sages that the Bible is theirs to continue.
“…attributing too much sexuality to hair can ultimately weaken and even undo men’s power over women…”
According to this text of the midrash:
When Zadok and Evyatar fled, and Absalom sought to kill them, they found Shimi’s door open. They entered, and descended into the well. Shimi’s wife immediately covered it, spread groats over it, undid her hair and sat on the covering as if attending to her needs.
The servants of Absalom came, and found her thus sitting, with her hair wild. They said: “could it be that the righteous are in the well and that one (i.e., the woman, Shimi’s wife) sits atop them?” and then and there ran off.
The Holy Blessed One said: because they (David’s spies – Zadok and Evyatar) escaped by her hand, she will bring forth two righteous ones who will save Israel by their hand, namely Mordekhai and Esther (also like Saul and his kin from the tribe of Benjamin).
According to the Midrash, Absalom’s men found the woman sitting on the well, with her hair undone and uncovered. It was inconceivable to them that the fleeing men, whom they considered “righteous,” would be anywhere near the woman Absalom’s men referred to disparagingly as “that one.” They thus dismiss Shimi’s wife as licentious because of the state of her hair, and David’s spies are saved.
The Midrashists’ Vision of Women Acting in Freedom
The authors of these midrashim, who, at some level, equated uncovered hair with complete impropriety, also presented the midrashic women as heroic redeemers. These two women have firm ideas about the way things ought to be, even if they are unable to express these views publicly and influence the collective. The wife of Shimi wants to help David preserve his crown, and On’s wife believes that all are of equal standing before God and thus the rebellion of Korah was unwarranted. The midrashic authors pointedly express the fact that women have a moral message regarding leadership. Moreover, the midrashic women were able to promote the values and conceptions that Hazal sought to highlight through methods that would have been unavailable to their male counterparts – by violating the norms and taboos intended to repress and weaken them. Specifically, the women’s acts of uncovering their hair were so unexpected and astounding that they were able to undermine the self-confidence of their pursuers. The men in the midrashim were so used to servile women under their command, who obeyed repressive norms, that they found themselves defenseless before these rebellious women.
Do we have here a rabbinic/midrashic call for women to oppose the norms of kissui rosh? Do we find here a recognition of women’s rights to define and articulate their own sexuality? We cannot easily ascribe these goals to the midrashic authors. However, perhaps we can learn from the subtext of these midrashim that attributing too much sexuality to hair can ultimately weaken and even undo men’s power over women and that, further, it would be difficult to suggest any direct correlation between kissui rosh and a woman’s ethical stance or moral behavior.