Rephael Cattan

  We are continuing in siman 5, discussing the halachos of covering hair. Today, we will discuss shaitels.   We have learned that there is a concept of certain women covering their hair, but we have not discussed what that covering should be. We know that the covering must cover the hair in a way […]

  We are continuing in siman 5, discussing the halachos regarding covering hair. It is clear in the Shulchan Aruch that a woman who has never been married does not need to cover her hair, as we have learned (shiur 1552). We learned from the Magen Avraham that although her hair does not need to

  We are continuing in siman 5. We have been speaking about the chiyuv for married women to cover their hair. We know that a woman who is not married is not chayav to cover her hair. Today, we will discuss a woman who is no longer married, whether divorced or widowed.   We know

  We are continuing in siman 5, and left off with a question about the halachic requirements regarding uncovering parts of the body at home.    We learned that the Shulchan Aruch writes clearly that one must be tznius at home, based on the Gemara of Rav Yosi. This obligation applies to men and women

 We are continuing in siman 5. We learned the halacha brought in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim siman 2, about being careful about the halachos of tznius.  In the Mishnah Berurah there, the Mishnah Berurah writes that one must act with the appropriate tznius and humility, aware that they are standing in Hashem’s presence. This is

  We have finished siman 5, discussing the chiyuv of a woman to cover her hair. We learned that there is a machlokes how we pasken regarding covering hair at home and other private areas. The question is raised whether this machlokes is extended to other parts of the body. We know hair is unique

We have been discussing the halachos of hair, and we will recap and summarize what we have learned. There are two related but different halachos regarding hair. One regards a woman’s general chiyuv to cover her hair, and the second regards the issurim of ervah for kriyas shema, learning, and other devarim shebikedusha. These are

 We are continuing in siman 5, discussing the halachos of covering hair. We have discussed the opinion of Tosfos regarding the places and situations in which a married woman must cover her hair. Today, we will discuss the opinion of the Rambam.  The Rambam can be found in Hilchos Ishus, 24:11-12. In halacha 11,  the

We are continuing in siman 5, discussing hair. The Rema in Orach Chaim (siman 72) quotes the Rashba, who writes that even though there is an issur to recite shema (i.e., devarim shebikedusha) in the presence of the uncovered hair of a married woman, however, that just like the hair of someone who is not

 We are continuing in siman 5. We learned that the issur of histaklus requires a woman to cover any ervah, even if it is less than a tefach. The shiur of a tefach only applies specifically to reciting devarim shebikedusha, in that one can recite devarim shebikedusha if less than a tefach is uncovered and

We are continuing in siman 4. We learned about the issur histaklus, that it is assur for a man to look at a woman for enjoyment. Today, we will continue that discussion In siman 75:7, the Mishnah Berurah quotes the Pri Megadim who writes that reiyah, happening to see a woman without intent to gaze,

 We are beginning siman 4. The Chayei Adam still has not given us a shiur of the amount of hair which is problematic for devarim shebikedusha, and, in general, how much hair must be covered when a woman is obligated to cover her hair. We will return to these questions after we learn siman 4. 

 Today, we will clarify the issur of lifnei iver in general, and how it applies to our discussion about tznius.  The Torah says lifnei iver lo sitein michshol (Vayikra 19:14). Chazal understand that the pasuk cannot be understood literally, as the Torah should have written sasim, to place, rather than the word sitein, to give,

 We are continuing in siman 5, learning about the chiyuv a woman has to cover certain parts of her body. Yesterday, we learned about the chiyuv deoraysa to cover hair, and left off with the question of whether we can  extend this chiyuv to other parts of the body.  The sefer Levusha Shel Torah quotes

 We are beginning siman 5, and return to siman 4 later. The Chayei Adam writes that a woman’s hair is considered ervah, and one cannot recite devarim shebikedusha in the presence of uncovered hair. However, the Chayei Adam clarifies it only applies to the hair of a married woman, for whom it is assur to

We are beginning siman 3. We have learned that there are two types of ervah, the primary ervah, and ervah which Chazal prohibited because they were concerned it would come to hirhur and distraction. As it pertains to davening and learning, Chazal did not forbid learning and davening in the presence of non-primary ervah because

 We are beginning siman 3. The Chayei Adam writes that the issue of ervah being uncovered is a problem even if the person davening or learning is not looking directly at the ervah. It is also a problem even if it is covered with a thin garment through which the skin is still visible, behind