Hindu Hair and Jewish Halakha

This pair of essays reflects upon the unexpected encounter of Hindu and Jewish perspectives in the wake of the prohibition of wigs with human hair from India for use by Jewish women by prominent Haredi ("ultra-orthodox") legal authorities in May 2004. The rulings sparked distress among Haredi communities in New York, London, and Jerusalem; some women took to the streets to burn their wigs, attracting international media attention. Yet questions about the status of the wigs also occasioned intensive halakhic discussions of Hindu rituals among Orthodox Jews, centered on tonsuring practices of pilgrims to the Venkatesvara temple near the city of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. These essays explore some of the insights that arise when one examines the controversy from historical perspectives, and in relation to theoretical questions about comparison and the study of religions. The first essay focuses on the tensions surrounding hair and its interpretation within Vaisnavite textual traditions and ritual practices, while the second essay situates the controversy within the history of Jewish discourses about ritual, "idolatry," and the "Other."