RO O TS
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NNA N
Halachah Obligates Women
To Look Like Telly Savalas?
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Q: What ever happened to Birobidzhan, the
Soviet Union's Jewish autonomous region?
. About the size of Belgium, Birobidzhan
A • was carved out of the Soviet far east in
1928, designated as an autonomous Jewish state.
Yiddish was the official language of Birobidzhan,
which was home to a Jewish state theater and a
library with an extensive collection of Jewish lit-
erature.
At first, Birobidzhan was lauded as a show-
place of communism, and Jewish movement to
the area — which began in April 1928 — was ex-
tensive. But by 1933 half its residents had left.
The region was riddled with problems: a brutal
climate, few roads, land that couldn't be culti-
vated.
Another major destructive force was Josef Stal-
in. In the 1930s and '40s, Lenin's successor led
purges against Jewish intellectuals and artists.
By the early 1950s, Birobidzhan's Yiddish the-
ater and publications had come to an end, and
many of its leaders were murdered.
The Soviet Union established Birobidzhan for
a number of reasons: as abuffer on the Chinese
border, to provide an alternative to Zionism, and
because the Soviets were interested in renew-
ing relations with the West as an effort to prove
they were not anti-Semitic.
At its height, Birobidzhan had 30,000 Jewish
residents. Today, a small number live there. Since
the fall of the Soviet Union, they have been try-
ing to increase the Jewish nature of the region.
Among their most recent projects was creating
their own postage stamp.
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Q: Do Orthodox women shave their heads?
• N o .
The Talmud requires married
•
women to cover their hair as a sign of modesty
and of maturity that comes with being a wife.
Most married Orthodox women cover their
hair with a wig, scarf or cap. Underneath, how-
ever, they may wear their own hair as long as
they please.
Until the Holocaust, many Orthodox women
did indeed shave their heads. This was not re-
quired by Jewish law, but a fact of hygiene. A
shaved head kept covered most of the time was
easy to keep clean and not prone to lice It was
common not only for women but men and boys
— gentile and Jew — to shave their heads.
Today, some men and women, mostly in
Chasidic communities, continue to crop their
hair. But they do so as a tradition, because
their ancestors did it, and not because Ha-
lachah obligates anyone to look like the late
"Kojak" star Telly Savalas.
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Q: Why do days on the Jewish calendar begin
in the evening?
. Describing the creation of the world, Gen-
A • esis 1:4 states, "And there was evening
and there was morning, one day."
The rabbis understood this to mean that all
days begin in the evening and end some 24 hours
later at sundown.
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Q: Why do some people call the movement
`Reformed' Judaism?
bryant
The word "reformed" means a change in be-
havior. A reformed alcoholic is one who no longer
drinks.
The Reform movement of Judaism began in
Germany in the 19th century.
Send questions to "Tell Me Why" c I o The Jel wish News, 27676 Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI 48034
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