Wig burning rumpus

[Tiassa]

I ... uh ... I thought for a moment to stick this in another thread, but I suppose the answer to the question, "But what does it have to do with religion?" seems rather apparent.

Perhaps there's some deeper mystery.

At any rate, the Beeb reports:

Orthodox Jews in New York and Israel have been burning wigs made of Indian human hair after rabbis ruled they may contravene religious law.

Hundreds gathered in the Brooklyn suburb of Williamsburg on Sunday to ignite a bonfire of more than 300 wigs.

Orthodox women often wear wigs because custom requires that they cover their own hair in public once married.

Indian wigs were declared non-kosher after Israeli rabbis discovered the hair was often cut at Hindu ceremonies.

Orthodox law forbids use of any items used in what they consider to be idol worship. (BBC)

Apparently this is a big deal. The ban comes from Israeli Rabbi Shalom Yosef, and there are reports that wigs were burned at Bnei Brak.

Meanwhile, in New York, Yaffa's Quality Wigs left a message on the telephone reassuring customers that their wigs were 100% kosher.

Seems rather a strange controversy to me, but then again I don't live in a neighborhood where women have to cover their heads, married or otherwise. Perhaps then $1000 for a wig wouldn't seem so ... well ... er ... yeah.
____________________

• BBC News Online. "Rabbis spark wig burning rumpus." May 17, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3714527.stm

 

[path]

The faithful never cease to amaze. How do they arrive at this in the first place? Married women should not show their hair because it is somehow sinful so you can let someone else's hair do the sinning for you and remain blameless. :bugeye: What better hair to allow to do the evil deed than the hair of idol worshippers

 

[Jenyar]

It's not about sin, it's about respect. You'll recall that Paul also said once that women should cover their heads in respect for their husband, which translates into respect for God.

It's no more strange than Elizabethan women who had to cover their ankles for modesty, or than why people wear clothes in the first place. Just because it's foreign doesn't make it ridiculous. What is ridiculous is how people measure integrity by outward appearances.

 

[path]

It's the idea that a supreme being who supposedly created human beings in his own image should be effected by or even have a concept of embarressment at seeing his creation. It is again projecting petty human traits onto a supreme being who is supposed to be above and beyond the pettyness of humans.

 

[Jenyar]

How you treat people shows what you think about God. If it didn't, we wouldn't be having all these discussions about what Muslims did or what Christians did. Supreme being that He is, God did not place himself above how people are treated. That's why He can say He loves us, why Christ's death could be a real sacrifice for us,

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2)​

Real pettiness is neglecting humility and respect for people because you don't believe in God. That shows not only total disregard for what you don't know, but for what you know as well.

 

[Tiassa]

So it's all about respect through submission?

 

[path]

I do know christianity I have 12 years of catholic schooling to show for it and even a few awards for getting the highest characters in religious subjects Stupidity is stupidity and I don't have to respect it, if you can just look at this incident in a strictly human behavioral context then it is hard to not see it as ridculous. I respect individuals for who they are not for what their religious beliefs are, this comes from myself not from any god.

 

[Jenyar]

Tiassa,

Respect, yes - submission to his authority and acknowledgement of his status. It's the kind of submission a child would be expected to show his father, not as a slave towards his master. It used to border on the slave-kind, because few realized what submission meant in practice, and I think outward shows of respect was a means of compensating for that lack of expression - much like you used to find in oriental cultures.

Taking off a hat to greet someone isn't much more than an acknowledgement of social civility, it's just a gesture. But in such a culture, not taking off your hat makes a much bigger statement.

I know we like to think that we know better today, but we might have dropped such displays of courtesy at the expense of showing others who we are. Table manners among business partners are probably among the last vestiges of such customs.

I'd like to hear what you think?

path,

I do know christianity I have 12 years of catholic schooling to show for it and even a few awards for getting the highest characters in religious subjects Stupidity is stupidity and I don't have to respect it, if you can just look at this incident in a strictly human behavioral context then it is hard to not see it as riiculous. I respect individuals for who they are not for what their religious beliefs are, this comes from myself not from any god.

If length of service was any indication of understanding then you, tiassa and medicine*woman have the same authority, and I would arguably have more.

Westerners thought the Japanese honour system was stupid, yet it commanded more respect from the common peasant than most US soldiers do at the moment. Your respect for people might not come from God in your eyes, but it says a lot nontheless. You acknowledge that people deserve respect, even though you won't recognize they have intrinsic value that God attributes to them and demands you acknowledge. If in your heart you really believe people are just glorified primordial goo, it's hard to show how they could logically expect you to show them courtesy beyond what you can muster at any given moment.

 

[Bells]

How you treat people shows what you think about God.

Well I can see that many people are screwed.

Real pettiness is neglecting humility and respect for people because you don't believe in God. That shows not only total disregard for what you don't know, but for what you know as well.

I would have assumed that such 'real pettiness' would also apply if you did believe in God and still lacked complete humility and respect for others. In fact, I'd be willing to say that to believe in God and therefore be in the realm of 'you should know better' (as preached by many believers) and still treat people in such a manner that would fall under your banner of 'real pettiness' could be construed as being worse. But that's just my opinion.

On the topic at hand. I find it a bit strange, but it's their belief and their custom. What I find sad is that instead of burning the wigs, they could have donated them to cancer institutes to give to cancer patients who've lost all their hair and can't afford to buy a wig.

 

[Jenyar]

I would have assumed that such 'real pettiness' would also apply if you did believe in God and still lacked complete humility and respect for others. In fact, I'd be willing to say that to believe in God and therefore be in the realm of 'you should know better' (as preached by many believers) and still treat people in such a manner that would fall under your banner of 'real pettiness' could be construed as being worse. But that's just my opinion.

Of course I agree with you - it's what I've been saying all along. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy no matter where it comes from. Logically, only the religious person is a proven hypocrite, the rest are just doing what they're personally convinced they have to. A Christian should expect to be corrected, others probably won't tolerate correction. So yes, many people are screwed if they don't realize what they're doing, and I'm far from exempt myself.

 

[DoctorNO]

All religion has wierd things associated with it:

* Catholicism - papal infallability, transubstatiation, etc.
* Hinduism - elephant gods, 250 thousand gods
* Islam - praying towards the kaabah, female veils, required beards, halal meats, etc.

With all those freakish superstitious beliefs does the burning of wigs still surprise you?

 

[DoctorNO]

I ... uh ... I thought for a moment to stick this in another thread, but I suppose the answer to the question, "But what does it have to do with religion?" seems rather apparent.

Simple, jews are not permitted to use items dedicated to pagan gods. Since Indian wigs were allegedly cut during Hindu religious ceremonies then they have good religion reason for rejecting these.

 

[Tiassa]

With all those freakish superstitious beliefs does the burning of wigs still surprise you?

No. Actually, it amuses the hell out of me. It's the height of superstition and vanity.

Look, if you're paying $1000 for someone else's hair to hide your own because it's somehow offensive to show your own ... well, fine. They don't need no water; let the m . . . yeah.

A phrase from Kharkovli strikes me: " . . . the rest is the balance of religion."

 

[JustARide]

For me, circumcision will always win the day.

The very idea that an <i>all-powerful galactic being</i> cares about the tip of my penis.... whew. Oh, the painful fits of fucking laughter had over that one. Never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Josh

 

[Tiassa]

Jenyar

I'd like to hear what you think?

Actually, I was reflecting on the irony of head coveirngs, in addition to both spending $1000 for a wig and then also burning the damn thing on the basis of religious faith.

I generally have no issues to pick with your posts. There are certain archaic rituals of respect that I can respect, but they're a far cry from a wig-burning rumpus, even if the article title is somehow unjust. I'm just trying to picture New York Jews holding a spontaneous bonfire and casting wigs into the flames.

There was this couple that had a teleministry in the U.S. for a while. I even remember that they had PTL after Bakker, but I might be wrong. He was tall, silver-haired, and wore a tacky western-saloon look. She was uglier than Tammy Faye. I once listened to her answer a reader letter about makeup. Yes, it was good for Christian women to wear makeup, or some such. After all, Christian women were the most beautiful, and ought to make the most of the gifts the Lord gave them.

Now ... a "wig burning rumpus" at any level, sober or insane, is still funnier than that broadcast.

I noted in my response to Dr. No a line from Adilbai Kharkovli, "the rest is the balance of religion." It's part of a description of Sufism, and that much aside, the description includes the assertion that there is a core that represents God and faith, and that everything beyond that--accreted ideological baggage--was the balance of religion. There's a multivalent distinction between God, faith, and religion being used to vaguely avoid actually describing Sufism. It's really rather a cute rhetorical method in its own right, but that's beside the point.

Dr. No points out some diverse oddities of religion. The "balance of religion," or, rather the remainder of religion after one accounts for "God" and "faith," is generally quite strange. Admittedly, this is somewhere above worshipping oil stains on the back of a road sign, or the reflection of sunlight off a stained-glass lamp. But still, I think of the hijab debate, and that is what finally does it and cracks me up about the wig-burning rumpus.

You know ... when I was in Catholic school, we had a near war take place over the wearing of hats. It just slays me that the whole time, nobody ever invoked Timothy (I believe it is) in explaining to the students why women were allowed to wear hats indoors. That's how divorced the "America that I know" is from head-covering issues, and part of why so many people have trouble with the hijab debate. So ... I promise you, the humor that springs from this is a natural thing.

Additionally, it helps to know that some people do understand the idea of submission outside the sexual connotation.

Strange enough that a wig-burning rumpus is a good day for me.

But ph@ck! Just say it to yourself a few times:

Wig burning rumpus.
Wig burning rumpus.
Wig burning rumpus.

wigburningrumpuswigburningrumpuswigburningrumpus​

I mean, the phrase actually makes me want to smoke pot. It's really freaking strange.

:m:

 

[Medicine*Woman]

There was this couple that had a teleministry in the U.S. for a while. I even remember that they had PTL after Bakker, but I might be wrong. He was tall, silver-haired, and wore a tacky western-saloon look. She was uglier than Tammy Faye. I once listened to her answer a reader letter about makeup. Yes, it was good for Christian women to wear makeup, or some such. After all, Christian women were the most beautiful, and ought to make the most of the gifts the Lord gave them.
*************
M*W: I think I remember who you're talking about. His name was Jim, and her's was Jan. You described Jim perfectly. Jan was well into her 60s, but you could hardly tell it with all the plastic she had implanted. She wore this big heavy platinum blond wig. I mean it was massive compared to what Dolly Parton used to wear! She wore make-up from hell! She way outdid Tammy Faye, but Jan never cried so her make-up didn't run. Once they were on location in Europe televising for monetary donations for their "children's fund," they didn't know they were on camers when a strong wind came up and nearly blew off that huge wig! She had to grab it, but then it was lop-sided on her head when they realized they were on camera! It was too funny! Their set out in California was overkill rococco. The broad was so dumb. She read letters from viewers, but her answers were so childish. Sometimes Jim had to correct her on camera. In her case, burn the damn thing.

There was another televangelist named Rod Parsley from Ohio. He was into the hypnotic organ music and the screaming angry holy roller fire-and-brimstone preacher. The music literally was hypnotic. These are the same people as the snake handlers. The music supposedly calms the snakes. This guy knew how to hypnotize his flock alright. It was scary!