|
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 |