The religious Zionist camp of Jews of Middle Eastern origin who prefer hats or

The religious Zionist camp of Jews of Middle Eastern origin, who prefer hats or kerchiefs to the wigs of the haredim (mainly of European antecedents), chipped into the debate. Angry zealots began making lists of shops which continued to sell the outlawed Indian hair wigs, threatening to launch a boycott.In New York, synthetic wigs flew off the shelves at Yaffa’s Quality Wigs in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn which is home to many ultra-Orthodox Jews. Teachers in the ultra- Orthodox Beit Ya’akov school system were told that if they would be fired if they went to school wearing a wig. That’s not the Jewish way.”In the United States, the Orthodox wig market is thought to be worth about $60m a year. In Israel, the market among the haredim, as the ultra- Orthodox are known, is about half a million strong, though they spend a lot less per head.

In Britain there are thought to be as many as 10,000 Orthodox wig-wearers.All of these have been thrown into a panic. Wig shops have been besieged by frantic customers phoning to check where their wigs came from Many then refused to accept the retailers’ reassurances. “Can you believe a wig seller?” has become the new Orthodox mantra. “Our phones have been ringing off the hook,” said one retailer in Canada.In Israel, outraged wig owners demanded that the sellers of wigs made from Indian hair be tried in a religious court. The international wig industry was thrown into crisis; it sells to the theatrical, medical and black communities too but Orthodox Jews represent a significant proportion of its business, especially at the pricier end of the range.In New York it is not uncommon for ultra-Orthodox women to spend $3,000 on a wig “The law is about modesty,” explains Rabbi Dunner.

“It does not say that women have to present themselves as unattractive in public – only that the hair is covered as a sign that a wife’s beauty is exclusively for her husband But it must not make her feel uncomfortable or belittled. “Under rabbinic law, in cases of uncertainty you give it the benefit of the doubt. But when it is a Torah ban, the rule is when in doubt, do without’.”On Wednesday last week, Rabbi Elyashiv issued a ruling that all wigs from India were non-kosher Back in London Rabbi Ahron Dovid Dunner went a step further. Since wig makers often presented Indian hair under the label “Made in Europe”, all wigs made from human hair should be rejected until their provenance could be fully established.Across the world uproar has ensued. Men came home from synagogue to ask their wives: “Where is your wig from?” A panic flashed around the world from Israel to New York, India, Toronto and London. Jews who wore wigs made from hair cut in his honour were in violation of the Torah (biblical) ban on benefiting from idol worship. In other words, such wigs were decidedly not kosher.”The question then,” says Pini Dunner, “was whether all hair from India came from such ceremonies.” What the authorities in Israel decided was that there was no way of knowing.