Curling Peiyos
“Hair of a Nazir”
(Nazir 42a)
Shaving one’s beard with a razor is forbidden. However, it is permitted to cut it with scissors or apply chemicals that burn it off (Shulchan Aruch, Y.D. 181:10). The Rambam (Avoda Zara, 12:6) rules that the same is true regarding peiyos (sidelocks). The Rosh (Makkos, 3:2,3) argues that peiyos may not be cut close to the skin, even with scissors or chemicals. Some poskim understood according to the Rosh, that one must leave his peiyos long enough to bend them over, such that the end of each hair can touch its root (see Kerem Shlomo, on Shulchan Aruch, ibid).
Tearing out Hair
Rabbi Akiva Eiger (Gloss on Shavuos, 2b, cited in Teshuvos Chasam Sofer Y.D. 139) discusses the common practice of combing peiyos, which often uproots hairs. According to the Rosh, this might be forbidden. We learn in our sugya that a nazir may not comb his hair, since this is considered cutting it. The same should theoretically apply to peiyos.
Let His Hair Grow
The Chasam Sofer initially rejects this comparison by distinguishing between the prohibition against a nazir cutting his hair and that of cutting peiyos. The nazir’s prohibition is based on the verse, “His hair shall grow long” (Bamidbar 6:5). Therefore, shortening hair by any means is forbidden. The prohibition against cutting peiyos applies only to cutting them with a razor, or according to the Rosh even with scissors. There is no proof from here to forbid other ways of removing hair, such as uprooting with a comb.
However, the Chasam Sofer concludes that the comparison is correct. The prohibition against shaving peiyos is based on the verse, “Do not round the corners of your head” (Vayikra 19:27). This means that one must not make the hair above his ears as smooth as his forehead. This seems to include any means of making the head smooth, including tearing out hair with a comb.
Rabbi Nosson Adler’s Practice
Nevertheless, the Chasam Sofer notes that none of the distinguished Torah scholars he knew ever refrained from combing peiyos, including his own revered rebbe, Rabbu Nosson Adler, zt”l. As a proof to be lenient, he notes that the Mishna forbids a nazir to comb his hair, but omits any mention of combing peiyos. This seems to imply that it is permitted.
How Many Hairs?
The Chasam Sofer notes the Rambam’s opinion (ibid) that one must leave at least forty hairs as peiyos. Accordingly, there is no basis for Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s comparison. Even if hairs are torn out while combing, there will be at least forty left. Even if less than forty are left, only a Rabbinic prohibition is transgressed, since according to Torah law two hairs are enough, and it was the Sages who required forty. When combing hair, one does not intend to tear them out. It is only a psik reisha (unintended but inevitable outcome). Rabbinic prohibitions apply only to deliberate actions, not to psik reisha (except for the laws of Shabbos, when psik reisha is forbidden even for Rabbinic laws. See Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, 140).
Some Poskim argue against the Rambam’s ruling that forty hairs are enough. They maintain that shaving peiyos is forbidden, no matter how many hairs remain. The Shulchan Aruch follows their opinion (Y.D. 181:9). Nevertheless, in this case we can be lenient, relying on the opinion that forty hairs are enough, in addition to the opinion stated above that only shaving is forbidden, while other means of removing hair are permitted.
