Q&A: Haircut for a Secular Person on Chol HaMoed
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Haircut for a Secular Person on Chol HaMoed
Question
Rabbi Michael, my secular friend, who does not believe in the revelation at Mount Sinai, wants me to give him a haircut today or tomorrow (before the second holiday). Is it permitted for me, as someone who observes Torah and commandments, to cut his hair?
Answer
It is forbidden, for two reasons:
- Anything that it is forbidden for you to do, it is forbidden for you to do for someone else as well.
- Also, giving someone else a haircut is itself forbidden for you. Prohibited labor is not connected to the question of for whom the labor is being done (as with cooking for someone else on the Sabbath).