5) Price of European shaitels goes way up.
6) For the first time in history kashrus certification appears on shaitels.
7) Rabbis rush to compile lists of acceptable shaitels and approved shaitel distributors.
8) There is research that seems to indicate that the hair in India is not literally offered to idols but is merely a symbolic expression of spirituality (humility sacrifice of one’s beauty etc.). Some poskim are reluctant to permit the wigs due to continued confusion about the matter. Other poskim are confident that there is no cause for concern. Still others – well no one is quite sure what they really said or didn’t say despite the many tools of instant communication available nowadays. Rumors fly fanning the flames of panic confusion and religious one-upmanship.
9) The shaitels do not have to be burned. Therefore it would seem they should not have been burned.
10) Prediction: After the smoke clears the halachic status of shaitels will remain virtually unchanged if not entirely unchanged.
11) No one cares. Entrepreneurs seize this golden opportunity and begin marketing shaitels that are free of any chashash real or imagined. This began instantly.
12) Anyone who wears a shaitel that has even an imaginary chashash is a shaygitz.
13) Thanks to savvy marketing only shaitels that are free of any imaginary chashash will henceforth be available. Prices will thus permanently stay raised.
So what do these developments all have in common? Ignorance social conformityreligious consumerism and lack of a strong religious leadership (due both to lack of courage and lack of a sincere following) all leading to panic and a change in so-called halachic standards. Anyone who raises a red flag about this is lambasted for criticizing the frum community (which apparently refers exclusively to those most susceptible to these unfortunate developments) the assumption being that it is wrong to criticize religious people and/or that these developments are actually positive.
Indeed I find it puzzling that those who publicly burned shaitels would surely argue most vociferously that we must blindly follow the gedolim – despite the fact that no respected halachic authority called for shaitels to be burned! Why did these people decide on their own that they should burn shaitels – publicly no less – without regard for the real possibility that this violates bal tashchis and is a chillul Hashem? Pure hypocrisy.
It should also be noted that in all these cases the so-called halachic standards are not being determined by the gedolim everyone is supposedly following so faithfully but by the Jewish street. Unfortunately our religious leaders are for the most part reactive as opposed to proactive in situations like this. Maybe they feel they make fewer waves and rifts in the community this way (which is highly questionable) maybe they feel it isn’t worth the trouble (which is highly questionable) or maybe they are afraid of a potential backlash (which would unfortunately call into question whether they can actually be considered religious leaders being that they are the ones being led).
