This got me thinking.
I generally find them to be cute on little kids. Angelic.
True, this is really a matter of personal taste, but I find them charming.
Anyway, an intersting discussion got underway there discussing the source of curly sidelocks.
Interestingly, Eatern Europeans and Yemenite Jews have this tradition independently, which would lend credence to the idea that this is ancient Jewish practice.
The gemara in Gittin is one place I found curly peyos mentioned"
ת"ר מעשה ברבי יהושע בן חנניה שהלך לכרך גדול שברומי אמרו לו תינוק אחד יש בבית האסורים יפה עינים וטוב רואי וקווצותיו סדורות לו תלתלים הלך ועמד על פתח בית האסורים אמר מי נתן למשיסה יעקב וישראל לבוזזים ענה אותו תינוק ואמר הלא ה' זו חטאנו לו ולא אבו בדרכיו הלוך ולא שמעו בתורתו אמר מובטחני בו שמורה הוראה בישראל העבודה שאיני זז מכאן עד שאפדנו בכל ממון שפוסקין עליו אמרו לא זז משם עד שפדאו בממון הרבה ולא היו ימים מועטין עד שהורה הוראה בישראל ומנו רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע
An inspiring story with some begging questions. But the inference there might well be that such peyos do induce a prettier look.
So my feelings might actually have some similarity to the Tana'im. Wow!
There are other kabbalistic sources for this, but I'm not going into this. Rather, I'd like to know whether anyone knows of any other source to source this tradition.
Any commentary on the Gemara above would be welcome as well.
5 comments:
I'm not sure we can assume something is ancient when, at least in the case of Europe, we can see that it showed up kind of late. There are many depictions of European Jews throughout the centuries, created by Jews and non-Jews alike, and of all strata of Jewish society. In addition, there are written descriptions of what Jews looked like. I can't say when curled peyos first appear exactly, but I can say that they certainly do not appear in Europe earlier than 3 or 400 years. In addition, the Jews of Eastern Europe came from migrations from Western and Central Europe. True, in my post I showed even a German (and a maskil to boot) with them, but it surely was a more common practice in Eastern Europe, so it's difficult to point to them alongside Yemen as an example of a community maintaining its ancient minhagim undisturbed. Like you said, they look nice. In fact, my own grandfather recollected how as a child he had stick straight hair and was unable to get them to curl successfully, much to his chagrin. :)
As for Gittin 58, on my blog I thought you might be posting it tongue-in-cheek, but now I see that you weren't. Further, I also saw that R' Micha Berger on the Avoda list took your citation of the Gemara quite seriously. I wonder though why you assume it means peyos? Is that how any of the meforshim explain that Gemara?
I'm deferring to you here, since you're the expert.
I does seem like a newer custom in Europe.
The Yemenite Semanim might come from the Gemara. I wasn't bringing the Gemara as proof, rather as support, since it is a possibility.
I have heard this pshat used in the past, (as pshat) although it might simply come from societal expectations. Its hard to be objective.
BTW, the image above is significant since its a Chassidic (Satmar) boy of Yemenite origin. :)
B"H
Teimanim (Yemenites) call them "simanim."
Yeah, I forget to add Simanim to the title.
Post a Comment