Wrapping before marriage in Judaism
This might be a little controversial...
But I am a fan of wrapping your hair before marriage.
Let me explain.
Women's hair holds significance. It's a source of beauty and pride, not just to ourselves, but to the world. From a young age, women are exposed to commercials and people who do their hair. We are taught that the way your hair looks matters, from getting a job to getting a date to being socially acceptable. Our hair is like an alarm system, and we get the distress signal when we're having a bad hair day.
In Judaism, many women cover their hair after they get married. There are many reasons for doing this, one of them is to move your beauty from the outside world to the private world of marriage. This isn't to hide a woman's beauty away, but to make her beauty and her body sacred for her, her spouse, and her marriage. It's a form of respect, and as someone who covers her hair full-time, I can tell you it's brought significant value to my marriage.
But there is a very emotional and significant moment in covering your hair: the moment you put the tichel on and remove your hair from the world.
This is a sudden change; sometimes it's at the wedding itself. Couple this with the emotional whirlwind of the wedding, and you can get quite the emotional trainwreck!
But what if we started covering our hair before this big date? Not all the time, but in small moments: a quick trip to the gas station, going to the grocery store, at home while cooking, at an event with your friends....
Small moments to prepare you for the big moment.
Now I know you may be thinking this is like wearing your wedding ring before you get married, and you are 100% correct.
But a ring on a finger is less obvious than a head scarf, and covering a source of our beauty holds a different weight than wearing a ring.
Is my opinion controversial? Yes, but here's another way of looking at it: if you are training for a job, but couldn't touch the equipment at all until you are certified, are you really set up for success?
Much love,
Sorrell
Discourse (0)