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Payot - Origin

Payot - Origin: Encyclopedia II - Payot - Origin

As part of the 613 commandments, an injunction in Leviticus (19:27) commands Jews "You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall you destroy the edges of your beard" JPS translation or simply "Do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head. Do not shave off the edges of your beard." Kaplan translation In the Hebrew of the Hebrew Bible: לֹא תַקִּפוּ, פְּאַת רֹאשְׁכֶם; וְלֹא תַשְׁחִית, אֵת פְּאַתSee also:

Payot, Payot - Origin, Payot - Use

Payot, Payot - Origin, Payot - Use, Upsherin, 613 mitzvot

Payot: Encyclopedia II - Payot - Origin

Payot - Origin

In the Hebrew of the Hebrew Bible: לֹא תַקִּפוּ, פְּאַת רֹאשְׁכֶם; וְלֹא תַשְׁחִית, אֵת פְּאַת זְקָנֶךָ

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan comments on this verse that:

"Cut off": Some [rabbinical authorities] say that it is forbidden even to cut it off very close with a scissors (Tur, Yoreh Deah 181), while others maintain that the prohibition is primarily against shaving it off with a razor (Yad, Avodath Kokhavim 12:6). On the basis of this commandment, it is a Chassidic and Yemenite custom to let the side hair grow as long peyoth. This is based on Kabbalistic teachings (Shaar HaMitzvoth; Beth Lechem Yehudah on Yoreh Deah 181). [1] "[Do not] Shave off..." with a razor (Makkoth 20a). However, some say that one should not even remove the beard with scissors or a depilatory, and from this is derived the prevalent custom of allowing the beard to grow. [2]

This was elaborated in the Talmud, which defined the payot as hair from around and above the ears to the level of the nose. This law was interpreted to apply only to males. The reasoning for it may have been to maintain distinctiveness within the Jewish community.