Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 1 (Tora) -- Part: 2 (Negative) -- Prohibition: 171 -- Text
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The Sharia of Moses in the TORA
Part 2 - The 365 Prohibitions of the Tora
171 - TEARING OUT OUR HAIR FOR THE DEAD
Deuteronomy 14:1 -- “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.”
Leviticus 21:5 -- “They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh.”
Mourning for the loss of a relative (or any other person) is permissible only in the forms prescribed by the law. To mutilate the body or tear one’s hair, as a form of mourning is therefore an act of rebellion against the judgment of the Almighty, which has been visited upon the family.*
* Sefer ha-Chinuch, 467