WOMEN IN ISLAM VERSUS WOMEN IN THE JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN TRADITION: THE MYTH & THE REALITY (PART 1)

By Sherif Abdel Azim, Ph.D.

Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

THE VEIL?

Finally let us shed some light on what is considered in the West as the greatest symbol of women’s oppression and servitude, the veil or the head cover. Is it true that there is no such thing as the veil in the Judaeo-Christian tradition? Let us set the record straight. According to Rabbi Dr.Menachem M.Brayer (Professor of Biblical Literature at Yeshiva University) in his book, The Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature, it was the custom of Jewish women to go out in public with a head covering which, sometimes, even covered the whole face leaving one eye free. He quotes some famous ancient Rabbis saying, “It is not like the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered” and “cursed be the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen….a woman who exposes her hair for self-adornment brings poverty”. Rabbinic law forbids the recitation of blessings and prayers in the presence of a bareheaded married woman since uncovering the woman’s hair is considered “nudity”. Dr.Brayer also mentions that, During the Tannaitic period the Jewish woman’s failure to cover her head was considered an affront to her modesty. When her head was uncovered she might be fined four hundred zuzim for this offence. Dr.Brayer also explains that veil of Jewish women was not always considered a sign of modesty. Sometimes, the veil symbolized a state of distinction and luxury rather than modesty. The veil personified the dignity and superiority of noble women. It also represented a woman’s inaccessibility as a sanctified possession of her husband. The veil signified a woman’s self-respect and social status. Women of lower classes would often wear the veil to give the impression of a higher standing. The fact that the veil was the sign of nobility was the reason why prostitutes were not permitted to cover their hair in the old Jewish society. However, prostitutes often wore a special headscarf in order to look respectable. Jewish women in Europe continued to wear veils until the nineteenth century when their lives became more intermingled with the surrounding secular culture. The external pressures of the European life in the nineteenth century forced many of them to go out bare-headed. Some Jewish women found it more convenient to replace their traditional veil with a wig as another form of hair covering. Today most pious Jewish women do not cover their hair except in synagogue. Some of them, such as the Hasidic sects, still use the wig.

                                                                              To be continued……

Released by: Mulla Mujaheedali Sheriff

mulla@almahdi.org.uk