(יח) וְהֶעֱמִ֨יד הַכֹּהֵ֥ן אֶֽת־הָאִשָּׁה֮ לִפְנֵ֣י ה' וּפָרַע֙ אֶת־רֹ֣אשׁ הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וְנָתַ֣ן עַל־כַּפֶּ֗יהָ אֵ֚ת מִנְחַ֣ת הַזִּכָּר֔וֹן מִנְחַ֥ת קְנָאֹ֖ת הִ֑וא וּבְיַ֤ד הַכֹּהֵן֙ יִהְי֔וּ מֵ֥י הַמָּרִ֖ים הַמְאָֽרֲרִֽים׃
(18) After he has made the woman stand before the LORD, the priest shall bare the woman’s head 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.
Her head uncovered is a matter of Torah law! For it is written, “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 bare-headed.
Admonishment - Since we do this to her [the sota] to cause her disgrace – measure for measure as she did to beautify herself for her lover – we can infer that [an uncovered head] is prohibited. Alternatively, since it is written, “And he uncovers,” we can infer that at that point in time it was not uncovered. We learn from this that it is not the way of the daughters of Israel to go out with head uncovered, and this is the primary explanation.
If she didn’t have a kalta [minimum head-covering] on her head, this is prohibited from the Torah, for it is said, “And he uncovers the woman’s head” – an admonishment to the daughters of Israel not to go with head uncovered.
(ו) וְאֵלּוּ יוֹצְאוֹת שֶׁלֹּא בִכְתֻבָּה, הָעוֹבֶרֶת עַל דַּת מֹשֶׁה וִיהוּדִית. וְאֵיזוֹ הִיא דַּת מֹשֶׁה, מַאֲכִילָתוֹ שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְעֻשָּׂר, וּמְשַׁמַּשְׁתּוֹ נִדָּה, וְלֹא קוֹצָה לָהּ חַלָּה, וְנוֹדֶרֶת וְאֵינָהּ מְקַיֶּמֶת. וְאֵיזוֹהִי דַת יְהוּדִית, יוֹצְאָה וְרֹאשָׁהּ פָּרוּעַ, וְטוֹוָה בַשּׁוּק, וּמְדַבֶּרֶת עִם כָּל אָדָם...
(6) These leave [their marriage] without their ketubah: A wife who transgresses the law of Moses or Jewish law. And what is the law of Moses? Feeding her husband with untithed food, having intercourse with him while in the period of her menstruation, not separating dough offering, or making vows and not fulfilling them. And what is Jewish practice? Going out with her head uncovered, spinning wool in the marketplace or conversing with every man.
ואיזוהי דת יהודית יוצאה וראשה פרוע: ראשה פרוע דאורייתא היא דכתיב (במדבר ה, יח) ופרע את ראש האשה ותנא דבי רבי ישמעאל אזהרה לבנות ישראל שלא יצאו בפרוע ראש דאורייתא קלתה שפיר דמי דת יהודית אפילו קלתה נמי אסור
“Which is dat Yehudit? She goes out and her head is uncovered”: Her head uncovered is a matter of Torah law! For it is written, “and he uncovers the head of the woman,” and [it is] taught from the beit midrash of Rabbi Yishmael: This is an admonishment [azhara] to the daughters of Israel that they not go out bare-headed. According to Torah law, a kalta [minimum head-covering] is considered proper; according to dat Yehudit, even a kalta is also prohibited.
(יב) וְאֵי זוֹ הִיא דָּת יְהוּדִית הוּא מִנְהַג הַצְּנִיעוּת שֶׁנָּהֲגוּ בְּנוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל.
What is dat Yehudit? The modest behavior that the daughters of Israel practiced.
(יא) וְאֵלּוּ הֵן הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁאִם עָשְׂתָה אַחַת מֵהֶן עָבְרָה עַל דַּת משֶׁה. יוֹצְאָה בַּשּׁוּק וּשְׂעַר רֹאשָׁהּ גָּלוּי... וְאֵלּוּ הֵן הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁאִם עָשְׂתָה אַחַת מֵהֶן עָבְרָה עַל דָּת יְהוּדִית. יוֹצְאָה לַשּׁוּק אוֹ לְמָבוֹי מְפֻלָּשׁ וְרֹאשָׁהּ פָּרוּעַ וְאֵין עָלֶיהָ רְדִיד כְּכָל הַנָּשִׁים.
These are the things that if she did one of them she violated dat Moshe: She went out in the marketplace and her head was bare [galu’i]…These are the things that if she did one of them she violated dat Yehudit: She went out to the marketplace or to an open alleyway and her head was undone [paru’a] and there was no shawl over it like the other women [wear].
The prohibition is not from the uncovered hair itself, but rather from the custom of the daughters of Israel who were accustomed to cover their heads, because they thought at their time that this was modesty for a woman, and a woman who uncovered her hair was considered a breaker of the boundary of modesty, and for this reason the Torah warned all daughters of Israel not to do the opposite of the custom of the daughters of Israel in this. If so, now that all daughters of Israel agree that there is no modesty in covering the head…the prohibition has been fundamentally uprooted and has become permissible.
אָמַר ר׳ יִצְחָק: טֶפַח בָּאִשָּׁה עֶרְוָה. לְמַאי?... בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְלִקְרִיאַת שְׁמַע... אָמַר רַב שֵׁשֶׁת: שֵׂעָר בָּאִשָּׁה עֶרְוָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״שַׂעֲרֵךְ כְּעֵדֶר הָעִזִּים״.
Rav Yitzchak said: An [exposed] hand-breath in a woman is [considered as akin to] nakedness [erva]. For what [halachic context]?…[Even] with his wife and for reciting Shema. Rav Sheshet said: Hair in a woman is [considered as akin to] nakedness [erva].
Even the married women became accustomed to go with heads uncovered. Even though it is prohibited, it is not erva regarding Keri’at Shema and words of Torah.
כשם שלא חסתה על כבוד המקום כך אין חסין על כבודה.
Just as she did not have mercy on the honor of God, so too we don’t have mercy on her honor.
(א) הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁנִּתְאַרְמְלָה אוֹ שֶׁנִּתְגָּרְשָׁה, הִיא אוֹמֶרֶת בְּתוּלָה נְשָׂאתַנִי, וְהוּא אוֹמֵר, לֹא כִי אֶלָּא אַלְמָנָה נְשָׂאתִיךְ, אִם יֵשׁ עֵדִים שֶׁיָּצָאת בְּהִנּוּמָא וְרֹאשָׁהּ פָּרוּעַ, כְּתֻבָּתָהּ מָאתָיִם.
The woman who has been widowed or divorced: She says ‘[I was] a virgin [when] you married me.’ And he says, ‘No, but [you were] a widow [when] I married you.’ If there are witnesses that she went out in a wedding veil and her hair was loose, her ketuba is 200 [zuz].
(ג) יש אומרים שאסור להוציא הזכרה מפיו בראש מגולה וי"א שיש למחות שלא ליכנס בב"ה בגלוי הראש:
There are those who say that it is prohibited let a mention of God’s name leave one’s lips with his head bare and there are those who say that one should insist that no [one] should enter synagogue bare-headed.
תנו רבנן: שבעה בנים היו לה לקמחית וכולן שמשו בכהונה גדולה. אמרו לה חכמים: מה עשית שזכית לכך? – אמרה להם: מימי לא ראו קורות ביתי קלעי שערי. – אמרו לה: הרבה עשו כן, ולא הועילו.
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.’
אבל פניה ידיה ורגליה... ושערה מחוץ לצמתה שאינו מתכסה אין חוששין להם
Her face and hands and feet… and her hair outside of her hair-binding, which isn’t covered—we aren’t concerned about them [during the recitation of Shema]
שו”ת מהר”ם אלשקר סימן לה
וההיא דשער באשה ערוה לא מיירי אלא בשער שדרך האשה לכסותו…בפרק חזקת הבתים דאמרינן התם עושה אשה כל תכשיטיה ומשיירת דבר מועט. מאי היא? רב אמר בת צדעא …וזה המנהג בעצמו הוא מנהג הנשים היום שהאשה קולעת כל שערה ומשיירת שער הצדעים יורד על פניה והוא הנקרא בלשון חכמים בת צידעא כמו שנתבאר … הקילו רבותינו ז”ל כדי שלא תתגנה האשה על בעלה.
Responsa Maharam Alashkar 35
This statement that “the hair of a woman is erva” only deals with hair that a woman’s practice is to cover…In the [Talmud] chapter Chezkat Ha-batim, we say, “a woman does all her adornments and leaves out a little bit.” What is it [that she leaves out]? Rav says ‘bat tzida’” …This is the very custom of women today, that the woman binds all her hair and leaves out hair at the temples going down beside her face and this is called in the language of our sages ‘bat tzida,‘ as was explained…Our sages were lenient in many matters, so that a woman would not become unappealing to her husband
שו”ת אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק א: נח
… וכיון שכל הראש הוא מקום המכוסה, יש לאסור ממילא מדין ערוה כמו מקומות המכוסות שבגופה. …ולכן כיון שבדין מקומות המכוסים יש חלוק בין טפח לפחות… גם בשערות יש חלוק זה…. ולכן אין לאסור כשרוצה לגלות…אבל הוא רק ערך ב’ אצבעות בגובה שהפנים הוא ערך אורך ב’ טפחים ויהיה בצרוף פחות מטפח ויותר אסורה.
Responsa Iggerot Moshe EH I:58
Since the entire head is [defined as] a typically-covered area [which can give it erva status], one should prohibit [a man’s seeing it during Shema etc.] due to erva like [other] typically-covered body parts…Therefore, since in the law of typically-covered areas there is a distinction between a tefach and less…this distinction also applies to hair…Therefore one should not prohibit if she wants to reveal [hair]…but only two [etzba’ot] fingerbreadths in height, since the face is about two tefachim wide so that altogether it will be less than a [square] tefach. More than that is prohibited.
שו”ת שיח נחום סימן קה
… אולם גם כשצריך כיסוי, אם מקצת מן השיער יוצא מחוץ לכיסוי גם זה בסדר, …ובב”י [=ובבית יוסף] שם מביא את הרשב”א בשם הראב”ד: “פניה וידיה ורגליה… ושערה מחוץ לצמתה שאינה מתכסה אין חוששין להן”… לסיכום: מעיקר הדין צריך לכסות את רוב שיער הראש, אבל מותר להוציא קצת שיער, ולאו דווקא שיעור מסוים אלא כפי הנהוג בחברה של שומרי תורה ומצוות אליה היא משתייכת.
Responsa Si’ach Nachum 105
But also when a covering is required, if a small amount of the hair emerges outside the covering, that’s also fine, …and in Beit Yosef there he cites the Rashba in the name of Ra’avad: ” Her face and hands and feet… and her hair outside of her hair-binding, which isn’t covered—we aren’t concerned about them” ….In summary, according to basic halacha one must cover most of the hair of the head, but it is permissible to leave out a bit of hair, and not specifically a certain amount of hair, but as is customary in the community of those who keep Torah and mitzvot to which she belongs.
יוֹצְאָה אִשָּׁה... וּבְפֵאָה נָכְרִית לֶחָצֵר
A woman [is permitted to] go out [on Shabbat]… with foreign hair to the courtyard
שלטי גיבורים על הריף שבת כט. בדפי הריף
נראה מזה להביא ראיה וסמך לנשים היוצאות בכיסוי שערות שלהן כשהן נשואות אבל במקום קליעת שערן נושאות שערות חברותיהן…ומשמע להדיא שמותרות בנות ישראל להתקשט בהן דשער באשה ערוה דקאמר לא הוי אלא בשער הדבוק לבשרה ממש ונראה גם בשרה עם השיער אבל שיער המכסה שערה אין כאן משום שער באשה ערוה וגם לא משום פרועת ראש…אע”פ [=אף על פי] דקישוט הוא לה כדי שתראה בעלת שער אין בכך כלום
Shiltei Gibborim to the Rif, Shabbat 29a in Rif pagination
It seems one can bring proof and support from this for women who go out with their own hair covered when they are married, but instead of the braid of their hair they wear the hair of other women…It clearly implies that the daughters of Israel are permitted to adorn themselves with these. For the statement ‘a woman’s hair is erva‘ refers only to the hair that is really attached to her scalp, when her scalp is visible with the hair. But with hair that covers her hair, there is no problem of ‘a woman’s hair is erva‘ here and also no [concern] of an uncovered head…even though it is an adornment for her in order to look like [she has a lot of] hair, there is no [halachic objection] to it…
A woman who wears a scarf on her head will tend to take it off in certain cases because of discomfort. As opposed to a woman who dons a wig, even if President Eisenhower himself walks in, she will not remove it.