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Reason7)The difference between a married woman and an unmarried girl: The Torah allows a girl to appear in public with her hair uncovered although it adds considerably to her chen (beauty) and demonstrates her natural good looks whilst the Torah considers it pritzut (licentiousness) for a married woman to do so. As mentioned previously, even the Umot HaOlam (the righteous non-Jews) understood this and expected their wives to cover their hair in public - see Sanhedrin 58b. A married woman is an eshet ish and this warrants that part of her beauty be withheld from the public eye. Although she should dress pleasantly and graciously in a manner with reflects her simcha (joy) and nobility, she should not display her full natural chen for everyone to see.
On the other hand, an unmarried girl need not mask part of her natural chen and may allow her hair to reflect her natural good looks (although not in way that draws attention to herself). An unmarried girl is not an eshet ish and there is therefore no need for her to cover her hair to withhold part of her chen from the public eye. Also, her good appearance can aid in finding her future partner in life. There is therefore a positive reason for her hair not to be covered and hidden - see Ketubot 53b and Mekorot 28:3-7.
Even the strictest of halachic opinions agrees that a woman's hands and face do not require a covering. What might those body parts alone have in common?
The face is unique. And science has yet to discover two people with identical fingerprints. It isn't easy to identify people by their arms or legs, but our hands and our faces are in a class by themselves, impossible to confuse with those of any other human being.
The conclusion is inescapable. What Jewish law permits a woman to display are precisely those parts of her that convey her essence - her intellect, her emotions, her individuality. She is forbidden to show that which would present her as anything less.
On to the next topic, for how long have Jewish women been wearing hair coverings?
There is clear evidence that in the first century they covered their heads not only for prayer but whenever they were outside of their own home. It is said that some Jewish women kept themselves covered at all times. In public, they not only covered their heads, but the lower part of their faces as well. For the women this was a matter of morals, and a religious duty, not merely a matter of style or convenience. Joachim Jeremias describes the Jewish custom.
Eastern women take no part in public life. This was true of Judaism in the time of Jesus, in all cases where Jewish families faithfully observed the Law. When the Jewish woman of Jerusalem left her house, her face was hidden by an arrangement of two head veils, a head-band on the forehead with bands to the chin, and a hairnet with ribbons and knots, so that her features could not be recognized. It was said that once, for example, a chief priest in Jerusalem did not recognize his own mother when he had to carry out against her the prescribed process for a woman suspected of adultery. Any woman who went out without this headdress, i.e., without her face being hidden, committed such an offence against good taste that her husband had the right—and indeed the duty—to put her away from him, and was under no obligation to pay the sum of money to which, on divorce, the wife had a right by virtue of the marriage contract. There were even women so strict that they did not once uncover their head in the house, women like Qimhit, who, it was said, saw seven sons admitted to the high priesthood, which was regarded as divine reward for her extreme propriety: 'May it [this and that] befall me if the beams of my house have ever seen the hair of my head.' Only in her wedding procession was a bride seen with uncovered head, and then only if she were a virgin, not a widow.
Philo of Alexandria (who lived from 20 B.C to A.D. 50) in his treatise The Special Laws gives an interesting comment about the significance of the Jewish woman's haircovering. Regarding the procedure followed by priests who examined women accused of adultery (cf. Numbers 5:18) he writes, "And the priest shall take the barley and offer it to the woman, and shall take away from her the head-dress on her head, that she may be judged with her head bare, and deprived of the symbol of modesty, which all those women are accustomed to wear who are completely blameless."
The Basic Rules for tzniut:
1) In Modern Orthodox practice it is generally accepted for sleeves to reach the elbows and shirts to cover the collarbone, skirts to cover the knees with or without tights, and not wear pants in the presence of men.
To ensure elbows and knees are covered skirts are worn so they reach a few inches below the knee and so are covered when sitting too.
2Halacha (Jewish law) requires married women to cover their hair. The most common hair coverings in the Haredi community are the snood, the tichel (scarf), ....and the sheitel (wig); some Haredi women will cover their hair with hats or berets. Virtually all married Modern Orthodox women wear a head or hair covering in synagogue. The most common head/hair covering for Modern Orthodox women is a hat or beret; younger married Modern Orthodox women will wear baseball caps and bandanas when dressed casually. Modern Orthodox women whose clothes are somewhat "hippyish" wear bright and colorful scarves tied in a number of ways.
(1) Written by Jonathan Marx, October 31, 2004, San Francisco, CA
(2)Modest, as defined by www.dictionary.com
(3) "The Concept of Tznius and Its Rewards", as taught by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z''l, www.sichosinenglish.org
(4) "A Modest Proposal" by Sarah Cohen, ttp://members.aol.com/LazerA/AmEchad/modestproposal.html
(5) "WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET: THE LAWS OF MODESTY", Adapted from, Our Bodies, Our Souls, A Jewish Perspective on Feminine Spirituality by Tsiporah Heller, written by Mrs. Leah Kohn, http://torah.org/learning/women/class14.html
(6) IBID
(7) "A Modest Question about Sheitles, from Ask the Rabbi, http://ohr.edu/ask/ask076.htm 16 Sept. 1995; Issue #76
8)www.wikipedia.comNo one has commented on this article.
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