Women growing pubic hair

Women growing pubic hair:

It used to be in Temple times that Jewish girls did not grow pubic hair, neither under the arm pit or pubic area. This was an advantage of beauty held by Jewish girls over the daughters of the other nations as the verse states “Vayeitzei Lach Sheim Bagoyim Beyafyeich.”[1] Some [2]explain this to mean that they did not grow any hair at all, while others[3] interpret it to mean that they grew very short hairs. After the destruction of the Temple the girls advantage of beauty was removed and they began to grow hair.[4] Nonetheless, since ideally, they are not meant to have hair in these areas, therefore there is no reason to abstain from shaving it even according to Kabala.[5] Practically, it is customary amongst women of Sefaradi origin to be particular to shave their pubic hair prior to immersion in a Mikveh.

___________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Sanhedrin 21a

[2] 2nd explanation in Ran ibid; Torah Leshma [of Ben Ish Chaiy] 215

[3] 1st explanation in Ran ibid; Mahrshal

[4] Rashi ibid

[5] See Torah Leshma ibid

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles

Leave A Comment?

You must be logged in to post a comment.