Why I Stopped Covering My Hair After Almost 20 Years
It was the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. My husband and I were planning on having a fun night out at Foxboro before traveling to see family for the holiday. I wondered: should I wait till after Thanksgiving and not deal with my family’s reaction? But no, I was ready now.
So with that, I left the house without my hair being covered for the first time since I walked home from my wedding, nineteen and a half years ago. The sensation of the icy November evening air going through my hair was delicious.
Back in college, I had noticed that while Jews from all streams of Judaism went to dinner at the Kosher Dining Hall, it was primarily the Orthodox students who refrained from going to parties afterwards. While I had no intention of becoming Orthodox back then, the integrity of those students’ behavior led me to include Orthodoxy in my soul-search while studying abroad in Israel, looking at it along with Reform and Conservative Judaism.
2 comments on “Why I Stopped Covering My Hair After Almost 20 Years”
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Painful to read of your numerous betrayals. However, your key point that “my original decision to cover my hair rested on the presumed integrity of the rabbis that said this was something I must do” is the keystone to all of Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Judaism stands ONLY on the authority of rabbis, despite the occasional scoundrel. When Jews decide to ignore the rabbis and interpret the Torah according to their own whim or comfort, that’s the end of Orthodox Judaism. By declaring this philosophy, you are declaring yourself not to be Orthodox. Orthoprax in many ways, but not Orthodox.
That all being said there’s no Real need to Be Orthodox, now is there? There are many different kinds of Jews.