Beards #2
With the development of western culture and the clash between it and aspects of the ancient world many men are posed with the question of can we shave. To answer this we need to look at Lev 19:27:
לֹא תַקִּפוּ פְּאַת רֹאשְׁכֶם; וְלֹא תַשְׁחִית אֵת פְּאַת זְקָנֶךָ
"You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard."
A very similar verse is also found in Lev 21:5:
לֹא יקרחה (יִקְרְחוּ) קָרְחָה בְּרֹאשָׁם, וּפְאַת זְקָנָם לֹא יְגַלֵּחוּ; וּבִבְשָׂרָם לֹא יִשְׂרְטוּ שָׂרָטֶת
"Priests must not create a bald spot on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body."
Both verses have a presumably similar subject, but in truth they are different. A close look will demonstrate that though both verses have a similar prohibition, they actually use a different verb which changes everything. The first verse uses the verb גלח Galach- to shave, while the second uses the verb שחת Shachat- to destroy. The question is why? It could be that the difference in verbs has to do with something that the text does not state clearly but only hints to. My claim on this subject is that the difference in verbs ascribes different rules to different groups. The meaning of this is that an Israelite may not destroy his beard by pulling it out or cutting the skin to prevent growth, while a Kohen may not even shave. In both cases the individual is prohibited from destroying something that has to do with their status. An Israelite is a holy man as part of the holy people of Israel, and keeping his body in an unblemished state is part of honoring God. The idea that one may look pathetic or not attend to ones looks is an ideal that is derived from ascetic thought in Christianity, and has no founding in the Tanakh.
It is important at this stage to mention that Judaism forbids shaving one's beard with a blade (which was the common way to shave at the time), but allows using other methods. This prohibition is also limited to completely shaving the beard off, but cleaning, trimming and stylizing the basic five sided beard (sideburns, cheek bones and chin) is allowed.
In many cases people have tried to link 19:27 to mourning practices and worship of the dead, but I have to disagree with this. The general context is the ways of the dwellers of Canaan. There are several ways to read these verses, and each method creates a different link between the parts. I personally think that we need to separate the verses, and by that each verse stands as its own subject. If we do this we would separating the mourning practices in verse 28 from verse 27. We can even go so far to say that only the first half of verse 28 is about the dead, and the second half is a general prohibition on tattoos. The subject of tattoos has been proven by Linguist J.Huehnergard as being a form of marking slaves, and had nothing to do with mourning over the dead. Huehnergard even stated that there is no evidence of a mourning practice before the Roman era (2013 The Biblical Prohibition against Tattooing).
Now we are left with the question of how does all of this connect to Lev 21:5?
Shaving was a sign of mourning in the near east and included sometimes shaving the head as well (Olam Hatanakh, Leviticus p.138). However, the Kohen was prohibited from Shaving his Beard in Mourning, while Isrelites were allowed to do so. The prohibition on an Israelite was to pull out the beard as one of the common mourning practices. This indicates that there is no connection between the two verses, and each verse is dealing with a different aspect of life for a Kohen and an Israelite. After seeing this I think it is safe to say that we have to separate destroying the beard which is a desecration of the body. We see that it is not shaving that is forbidden on the Israelite, but pulling out the beard. A Kohen on the other hand is forbidden from even shaving. This is probably due to the fact that they are holy to God, as it says in Lev 21:6 "They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present YHWH’s gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy". A beard was held to be a symbol of honor and respect in the near east, shaving it was a sign of loss of statues, disgrace or mourning.
As a side note, one can argue that tattoos were clumped together with the beard due to both of them being a desecration of the body and a lowering of one's social statues (as explained later).
Jeremiah 41:5
Now that we have presented this possible explanation, there is another verse that has to be dealt with. In the book oh Jeremiah 41:5 we have the following words:
וַיָּבֹאוּ אֲנָשִׁים מִשְּׁכֶם מִשִּׁלוֹ וּמִשֹּׁמְרוֹן, שְׁמֹנִים אִישׁ, מְגֻלְּחֵי זָקָן וּקְרֻעֵי בְגָדִים, וּמִתְגֹּדְדִים; וּמִנְחָה וּלְבוֹנָה בְּיָדָם, לְהָבִיא בֵּית יְהוָה
"Eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning."
A lot has been speculated about the mourning practices mentioned here, and because rabbinic Judaism forbids shaving with a blade, many have tried to explain this verse in a way that will not contradict the rabbinic tradition. After what we have seen here it is clear that shaving the beard is not prohibited on regular people, and in some cases it would be right thing to do. They shaved their beards a sign of mourning over the temple, something which was common practice in the near east. Hence it is clear that the mourners were not in violation of Torah, and their will to come to the temple and worship does not stand in opposition to them shaving their beards. The truth is that what they did shows their devotion to Torah and their pain over the destruction.
