Q&A: Haircut
Haircut
Question
How does the Rabbi rule regarding haircutting of the sidelocks?
It seems that the whole source for leaving the hair long enough to bend its tip back to its root comes from Maimonides in the laws of a nazirite, and regarding the sidelocks he actually permits scissors used like a razor. And according to the Rosh there is no clear definition of scissors that are not like a razor, only that one should not remove everything.
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Answer
I didn’t understand the question regarding the sidelocks.
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Discussion on Answer
I think they use the source from Maimonides in the laws of a nazirite, chapter 5, halakha 11, only to prove that scissors not used like a razor means enough that the tip can be bent back to its root. But the Jewish law here does not follow Maimonides’ view on rounding the head (for according to him even something like a razor is permitted), but rather the view of the Rosh, that it requires something not like a razor. From Maimonides on the nazirite they only prove how much hair length is considered not like a razor, since from the Rosh there is no measure for this.
See, for example, Tzemach Tzedek responsa, Yoreh De’ah, sec. 93, par. 17.
From the Rosh regarding the prohibition of shaving a nazirite, it seems not like Maimonides, tractate Nazir 40.
Under the words “say, like a razor” — “that he removed all the hair.”
So in any case, one can be lenient as long as he did not remove all the hair.
How long does the hair of the sidelocks need to be in order to avoid the prohibition of rounding the corners of the head?