Tag Archives: 39 Curses of Eden

Understanding Hair Covering for Women in Jewish Law

“Death of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram” by Gustave Doré

This week’s parasha, Korach, has a hidden theme: hair. In fact, the name of the villain himself, Korach (קרח), is spelled exactly the same way as kere’ach, “bald”. As we shall see below, Korach’s rebellion began when he saw himself bald-headed following his initiation ritual as a Levite. Hair comes up again in the famous story of one of Korach’s co-conspirators, a man named On ben Pelet. On is strangely mentioned right at the beginning of the parasha (Numbers 16:1), and never again. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 109b-110a) explains that he was saved thanks to his wife: She told her husband that he had nothing to gain from joining the rebellion; now he was subservient to Moses, and if the rebellion would be successful he would just become subservient to Korach!

On understood, but worried that he had already agreed to join the group. So, his clever wife got him drunk and sleepy, and On passed out in bed. Meanwhile, she went out to the entrance of their tent and “exposed her hair”. When Korach’s collaborators approached, the Talmud says they turned away due to the immodest sight of the woman. By the time On recovered from his drunken stupor, the whole episode was over, and he was spared. This story implies that Jewish women cover their hair, and for a woman to expose her hair publicly is immodest. Yet, nowhere in the Torah is there an explicit command for a Jew to cover their hair at all times (male or female). Hair-covering is not listed among the 613 mitzvot! If it isn’t a Torah mitzvah, where did it come from? Continue reading →

Curses on the Primordial Serpent

What were the ten curses that God decreed upon the Nachash, the Primordial Serpent in the Garden of Eden? How do they relate to the curses on Adam and Eve, and what does it all have to do with the Sabbath and the coming Messianic Age?

This video is an excerpt from a full-length class on Feminism and Judaism, available here.

For more on the connection between the Serpent and Mashiach, see here.

Feminism & the Curses of Eve (Video)

What were the 39 curses decreed upon Adam, Eve, and the Serpent following the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden? What do the “curses of Eve” have to do with the status of women throughout history, and the feminist movement in modern times? And might certain aspects of feminism be part of a larger global transition prophesied long ago in the Tanakh and other ancient Jewish sources?

For a written summary and more information, see ‘Reversing the Curses of Eden’ in Garments of Light, Volume Two. (See also ‘Do Men Have More Mitzvot Than Women?’ in the same book.)

For a brief bio of Sarah Schenirer, see here.

For the class on ‘Soulmates in Judaism’, see here.