Why do Orthodox brides cover their face?
By placing the veil over the bride’s face himself, a Jewish groom makes sure he doesn’t repeat Jacob’s mistake. (A more poetic interpretation of badekin is that by covering the bride’s face, the groom shows that he values her for more than mere external beauty.)
Why did Rebecca put on a veil?
Rebecca and Tamar, the only women in the Bible who wear veils (which is why I tell their stories) do the opposite. They use veils to seduce and to draw the attention of the man they want; also, they put on their veils at the precise moment he arrives.
What was the Gemara?
2. The Gemara. The Gemara, which in Aramaic means “to study and to know” is a collection of scholarly discussions on Jewish law dating from around 200 to 500AD. The discussions pick up on statements in the Mishnah (1) but refer to other works including the Torah.
Why did Rebekah cover herself with a veil when she saw Isaac?
When she first sees Isaac in Gen 24:62–65, she dismounts from her camel and veils herself, a nonverbal act perhaps signaling her status as a soon-to-be betrothed woman as it does for elite women in ancient Assyria. That she dons the betrothal veil herself may also indicate her independence.
How old was Isaac when Rebekah married?
forty
Rebekah’s Age at Her Marriage to Isaac According to one tradition, she was born when Isaac was bound on the altar. Since Isaac was twenty-six years old at the time, and forty when he married Rebekah (Gen. 25:20), she was thus fourteen years old when she married (Seder Olam Rabbah 1).
What is a Sugya?
In the Talmud, a sugya is presented as a series of responsive hypotheses and questions – with the Talmudic text as a record of each step in the process of reasoning and derivation.
Who are Hasidic women?
Hasidic women represent a unique face of American Judaism. As Hasidim—ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to sectarian communities, worshiping and working as followers of specific rebbes—they are set apart from assimilated, mainstream American Jews.
What is the Hasidic view on modesty?
However, the Hasidic women in the Toldos Aharon sect are particularly strict in regards to modesty. They generally only wear dark colors (so as not to attract attention), long stockings, skirts down to their ankles, and shave their heads when they get married.
What is it like to be an Orthodox Jewish woman?
Orthodox Jewish women and men live in tightly defined, and separate, spheres. The photographer Sharon Pulwer was given a rare invitation to enter the private world of Brooklyn’s most Orthodox Jewish women. At an Orthodox Jewish wedding in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the girls dance in the women-only section.
Why do H-asidic women wear wigs?
Indeed, in styled wigs some H asidic women look far more glamorous than their assimilated Jewish counterparts. (Consequently, while all ultra-Orthodox women cover their hair, unique to H asidim is the practice among some women to wear a small scarf on top of the wig, to prevent the wig from itself becoming a possible breach of modesty.)