(Jews in Detroit, 1900's)
They may quite possibly be the most horrible look on a man. Especially on old men. The men pictured here are for illustration purposes only, no actual Sefirah beards are shown.
Truthfully I have nothing but great respect for those who refrain from shaving on Sefirah. I don't know if I, a מפונק of sorts, would be able to overcome that נסיון.
I have seen men who otherwise don't seem to be pinnacles of Yiras Shomayim go 5 weeks without shaving when they could easily get a full-fledged היתר because they "work in Manhattan and need to ride the train".
Hang in there guys, only 11 days until ל"ג בעומר
check out this post from http://www.alanlaz.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMonday, May 01, 2006
Oberservation in Shul
Going into this post, I am quite confident that my thoughts will get blasted by the oilam, and that's fine. My observation irked me, so I'm blogging about it. If you disagree, great, but I'm still free to opine.
As many people know, as a general rule, it has become the established custom (except for the Rav Soloveichik/R' Aaron Lichtenstein followers) that those who do not need to shave for work/school, refrain from doing so during whichever Sefirah period held by that individual. A noted exception to this rule happens once every couple of years, when Rosh Chodesh Iyyar falls out on Erev Shabbos. The added joy of the impending Shabbos combined with the already present joy of Rosh Chodesh, notes the Mishna Berura, is enough to permit shaving on Erev Shabbos. Yes, I am aware that this leniency is not really discussed elsewhere, and there is the opinion of R' Yehuda haChasid who forbade shaving on any Rosh Chodesh. Either way, this leniency has been accepted and endorsed by many Rabonnim and Yeshivas.
I was dismayed in shul this past Friday night when I saw how many people had not shaved for Shabbos. True, many people are lazy, forget, or hold of R' Yehuda haChasid. If these people were any of the above, then I completely understand. However, I feel as though that at least some of these people refrained from shaving as a way to show their frumkeit. "Sure, it's muttar/allowed to shave, but the frum thing to do would be to not", they must've been thinking. I'm sure their chavrusa wouldn't of thought less of them for shaving.
The problem is that people associate these outward expressions as signs of growth in Yiddiskeit, when often, there may be little to no association. I can understand wearing the black and white, or wearing a black hat; this is the established dress code for this crowd, and wearing them shows association with this hashkafa. However, by this minhag, there is no established "black hat" type of established way to do things. By choosing not to shave for religious reasons, these individuals, I believe, want to be viewed as frummer. I think, though, that at the end of the day their chumra on this minhag is at the expense of looking respectable on Shabbos.
We believe you're frum, we really do. Next go round, shave, it's the cool thing to do.
posted by AlanLaz at 3:44 PM | 4 comments
wow! it looks like ht found a real shidduch..you can shut down the website and just chat amongst yourselves!!!!
ReplyDeletenow, now N. let's try and be civil here, OK? no reason to show all your animosity towards me at once.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vbm-torah.org/shavuot/20shavin.htm
ReplyDeleteoy vy! animosity toward you? heaven forfend.....lets parce it up. you are ok. the message that comes from you on this forum is a different story. the message that this blog advocates very often is one of animosity and i'm guilty if I rail against that....nothing personal.....i never called you a fatso or anything...right?
ReplyDeleteN
ReplyDeleteit's all in the eyes of the reader.
This year I saw someone who is not shomer shabbos refrain from shaving until Lag B'omer
ReplyDelete