I never heard of women shaving off their hair... Its quite poignant to read her story. Ex-Hasidic woman marks five years since she last shaved her head 'I knew that the Vaad Hatznius was going to catch on to my secret at some point, and now it had.' Frimet Goldberger tells about her personal struggle against the practice of forced head shaving. By The Forward | Nov. 7, 2013 I remember the first time I felt the cold, prickly air on my newly shaved head. I remember looking in the mirror. I remember staring at the pile of auburn hair in the vanity sink of the cozy basement apartment I now shared with my husband of less than a day. I remember my mother gathering the hair into a garbage bag and disposing of it, unaffectedly. I remember placing the new wig on my bare head and fussing over the few stray hairs the shaytl makher, or wig stylist, forgot to spray into place. The morning after my wedding, three months after my 18th birthday, my mother shaved my head, and I felt absolutely nothing. Was I supposed to feel sad at this loss? Was I supposed to feel violated? I did not. Married women shave their heads because Hashem and the rebbe command them to do so. According to the Talmud, a womans uncovered hair is equivalent to physical nudity. Hasidic rabbis have taken this a step further, requiring women to shave their heads to ensure that not a single hair is seen. For Satmar women like me, it is a grave sin not to shave. You would not be buried in the Satmar beys-hakhayim, and if that werent serious enough, you would also put your children, live and unborn, at imminent risk of terrible diseases. continued http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/1.556877
