Head-Covering V: Where כיסוי ראש (ה): איפה

She goes out with her head uncovered.

“And he uncovers the head of the woman” and [he] taught from the beit midrash of Rabbi Yishmael: [It is] an admonishment [azhara] to the daughters of Israel that they not go out with head uncovered!

Rabbi Yochanan said: [If she is wearing] a kalata [a basket or simple cap], there is no issue of an uncovered head. Rabbi Zeira discussed this: Where? If one says in the marketplace, it is dat Yehudit [for her to wear more than a kalata]. Rather, in the courtyard [a kalata is sufficient]. If [you argue] thus, you have not left a daughter to Avraham Avinu settled with her husband! [Because they do not do this.] Abbaye said, or possibly Rav Kahana: From courtyard to courtyard by means of an alleyway [a kalata is sufficient coverage].

But rather in the courtyard: Meaning, even without a kalata [minimal head covering], there is no issue of an uncovered head. For if that is not the case, you have not left a daughter of Avraham Avinu [settled with her husband].

The daughters of Israel should not go [with] heads uncovered in the marketplace…

Where a lot of people are not normally found, as in the courtyard, there is no objection [regarding head-covering].

“And her head is uncovered” – They said it regarding the courtyard, how much more so regarding the alleyway. Rabbi Chiyya in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: One who goes out in her kapaltin [minimal head covering] has no issue of an uncovered head. That is what you say for a courtyard, but for an alleyway, there is an issue of “she goes out and her head is uncovered.”

When she remains in her courtyard, it is proper that she is covered with a scarf. But [for her] head to be totally uncovered is prohibited even if she remains in her courtyard. This is the opinion of Rambam and Rabbeinu [Tur]…And thus is practiced in every domain of Israel, that even in front of members of her household she does not remain with her head uncovered without a scarf and cap on her head – and this is not according to the interpretation of Rashi, Tosafot, and Ran…

In a courtyard that the public do not cross, Rashi and Tosafot explain that there is no prohibition even if [the head is] fully uncovered…It is possible that we rule according to our passage [in the Talmud Bavli] specifically regarding the matter of the ketuba, but regarding prohibition, one could say that even our [the Talmud Bavli’s] passage considers it prohibited. The question “you have not left a daughter of Avraham …” is as explained by Bach.

Our rabbis taught: Kimchit had seven sons, and all of them served as Kohen Gadol [each would substitute for his brothers at times when ritual impurity disqualified them from Temple service (Tosefta Yoma 3:20)]. The sages said to her, ‘What did you do that you merited thus?’ She said to them, ‘In all my days, the beams of my house never saw the braids of my hair.’ They said to her, ‘Many have done so, and did not achieve an effect.’

…For this reason, it is required of a woman that even the walls of her home not see a single hair of the head, how much more so outside [the home].

Our forefathers already accepted upon themselves to prohibit [her head being uncovered] in her courtyard in every locale that we have heard of Jews reaching. …Since they [women] have adopted the custom of the Zohar on this…and it has become a widespread halacha in Israel …even in her room it is [considered] erva if she does not have a scarf on her head, and in the marketplace and public courtyard also a hat…

For the prohibition to go with head uncovered only applies specifically in the marketplace…nevertheless, there are [concerns of] modesty, that no woman should show her hair at all, even at home, as we find in the story of Kimchit.

There is a courtyard that is like an alleyway, and there is an alleyway that is like a courtyard. A courtyard that the public crosses is like an alleyway, and an alleyway that the public does not cross is like a courtyard.

The Tosafot wrote that in a courtyard, even without a kalata, there is no issue of uncovering the head and similarly there is also no issue of dat Yehudit …For a courtyard that the public crosses [treated like an alleyway, with a requirement of minimal head-covering] is one where many of the people of the town who do not live in the courtyard need to cross, as when there are stores there for which they come in and out. But wherever the only people who cross it are the denizens of the courtyard, even if they are many, and other people only come in as necessary when they have dealings with the residents of the courtyard, it is not called a courtyard that the public crosses…

“You have not left a daughter to Avraham Avinu settled with her husband.” For most of them go with head uncovered in their courtyards since there are no [people] seeing them there.

For in a courtyard where the public are not found, but a few cross through, there she does not exit [her marriage without a ketuba] since she is wearing a kalata, as we said. But in a totally private courtyard there is no prohibition even in totally uncovering [her head], and if other people live there, then it is also in the category of a closed alleyway, where it is permitted only with [at least] a kalata.

But it makes sense that also this permission is only for a woman inside her home and not when she visits the homes of others… The custom of Jewish women is to cover their hair in front of strangers, even within the home…This is the custom of most observant women today, and how much more so in the courtyard, and only in the home or in a private yard that is not visible to strangers do they go bare-headed.

Rav said: On ben Pelet – his wife saved him. She said to him: What will you get out of it [the rebellion against Moshe]? If the master [Moshe] is the leader, you are a student. And if the master [Korach] is the leader, you are a student. He said to her, ‘What shall I do? I was in the [original] counsel and I swore together with them. …She said to him, ‘Sit down and I will save you.’ She gave him wine to drink and got him drunk and laid him inside [their tent]. She sat herself at the opening and let her hair loose. Whoever came [to call him] and saw her turned back…