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Payot

Payot, also spelled peyot or pe'ot and meaning "corners" in Hebrew, are the sidelocks of uncut hair at the temples worn by observant Jewish males as a fulfillment of the Torah's prohibition against rounding the corners of the head.^[1]^[2] This practice derives from Leviticus 19:27, which states, "You shall not round off the edge of your scalp, nor mar the edge of your beard," interpreted by rabbinic tradition to require leaving hair in the area from the forehead's edge to behind the ear, extending downward to at least the cheekbone or jaw joint.^[3]^[4]^[5] The custom is observed across Orthodox Jewish communities, though the length and styling of payot vary significantly; while some maintain minimal sideburns to comply with the halakhic minimum, Hasidic and certain Haredi groups often allow them to grow long and curl them as a distinctive marker of piety and group identity.^[2]^[6] Boys typically receive their first haircut around age three in the upsherinish ceremony, leaving the payot intact thereafter to symbolize entry into Torah study and adherence to this commandment.^[7] This tradition, rooted in Talmudic exegesis, predates Hasidism and reflects a broader Jewish emphasis on distinguishing physical observance from surrounding cultures, with no evidence of it being merely a modern or sectarian innovation.^[8]^[9] Variations exist among ethnic Jewish groups, such as Yemenite Jews who style payot in tight curls or Indian Cochin Jews who historically wore them prominently, underscoring the practice's adaptability while preserving its core biblical mandate.^[10]^[11] In contemporary settings, payot serve as visible identifiers of religious commitment, sometimes tucked or styled practically, yet they remain a non-negotiable element of male grooming prohibitions that extend to using scissors or clippers in forbidden areas to avoid violating the Torah's intent.^[7]^[6]

Scriptural and Historical Foundations

Biblical Commandment

The biblical commandment foundational to payot originates in Leviticus 19:27, which prohibits: "You shall not round the corners of your head, nor mar the corners of your beard." This directive explicitly forbids shaving or cutting the hair at the temples— the "corners" or edges of the head—and the extremities of the beard, practices that would leave the scalp partially bald except for a central tuft.^[12] The prohibition addresses ritualistic hair removal common among ancient Near Eastern idolaters, including Canaanites, who shaved the sides of the head around the ears and the upper beard as elements of pagan worship or divination rites.^[13] Such customs, documented in comparative ancient texts and archaeological inferences, served to invoke deities or mark cultic devotion, contrasting sharply with the Israelite mandate for unaltered bodily edges to signify exclusive allegiance to Yahweh.^[14] By preserving these hair growths, the law enforces a visible physical boundary against assimilation into surrounding polytheistic norms. This verse reflects a core biblical principle of distinction through corporeal integrity: the human form, as created, must not be disfigured in mimicry of foreign rituals, thereby causally linking personal grooming to spiritual fidelity and communal separation.^[15] Evidence from Mesopotamian and Egyptian records corroborates similar tonsuring in idolatrous contexts, underscoring the commandment's intent to reject such mutilations as antithetical to covenantal purity.^[16]

Historical Evolution

The basic practice of retaining sidelocks to avoid rounding the corners of the head, as prescribed in Leviticus 19:27, was maintained during the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE–70 CE) as a marker distinguishing Jews from surrounding cultures that shaved the sides in association with idolatry. Scholarly analysis indicates that communities like the Yemenite Jews preserve a form of peyot that continues ancient customs, suggesting continuity in minimal observance rather than stylized elongation during antiquity.^[17] Following the Temple's destruction in 70 CE, diaspora conditions amplified the role of such practices in preserving identity amid assimilation pressures from Hellenistic and Roman influences.^[2] In the medieval period, Jewish scholars known as Rishonim, including Maimonides (1138–1204), codified precise definitions of the prohibited area—from the temples forward to a point even with the earlobes—in works like the Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 12:1–6), establishing baseline requirements for compliance.^[18] This elaboration occurred against a backdrop of external threats, such as the Rhineland massacres during the First Crusade in 1096 and subsequent expulsions, including from England in 1290 and France in 1306, which prompted heightened emphasis on visible piety to reinforce communal cohesion.^[19] Responsa literature from this era, addressing grooming queries, reflects adaptations to ensure the mitzvah's fulfillment without excess, prioritizing distinction over aesthetic uniformity.^[9] From the 16th to 18th centuries, Eastern European Jewish communities, particularly in Poland and Lithuania, increasingly adopted longer payot as expressions of religious devotion, influenced by the dissemination of Lurianic Kabbalah from Safed, which stressed meticulous commandment observance to invoke spiritual repair.^[20] This pre-Hasidic development served practical purposes in demarcating piety amid expanding Christian majorities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where visible markers aided internal solidarity without relying solely on mystical rationales.^[21]

Halachic Interpretations

Core Requirements

The core halachic obligation regarding payot stems from the Torah's prohibition in Leviticus 19:27 against rounding the corners (pe'ot) of the head or marring the edges of the beard, interpreted by the Talmud as forbidding the destruction of hair growth in the temple region to distinguish from pagan practices.^[7]^[2] This applies exclusively to Jewish males from the age of bar mitzvah (13 years), requiring them to preserve hair in the pe'ah area—spanning from the temples adjacent to the ears down to the jaw joint—without shaving or excessive trimming that would eliminate the sidelocks.^[7]^[22] The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 181) codifies this consensus by prohibiting razor shaving entirely in this zone and permitting scissor trimming only to a minimal extent, ensuring the hair remains intact to avoid any causal breach of the commandment.^[7]^[22] To meet the empirical minimum for compliance, poskim determine the sidelocks must extend at least 0.5 cm (equivalent to a #2 clipper guard), sufficient for the hair to fold over and touch its root when pulled, thereby providing verifiable adherence without risking invalidation.^[7]^[23] This standard reflects rabbinic emphasis on leaving observable length in unbroken Orthodox observance, prioritizing fidelity to the textual prohibition over aesthetic uniformity.^[24]^[2]

Rabbinic Debates

Rashi's commentary on Leviticus 19:27 describes the prohibited act as evening the temples (tzad'ot) to align with the hairline behind the ear and cheek, thereby rounding the head, which underscores that the pe'ah—the hair to be preserved—refers to the temple region extending forward from the ear's posterior boundary.^[25] This interpretation emphasizes anatomical continuity to avoid the verse's literal encirclement, rooted in the verse's intent to distinguish Israelite grooming from pagan practices. In Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 12:1), Rambam codifies the pe'ot as the hair commencing at the temple's edge in front of the ear, prohibiting its removal by razor as a direct negative commandment, with 12:6 specifying that leaving at least five hairs exempts one from liability even if razored elsewhere in the area. Rambam's threshold derives from Talmudic analysis of minimal fulfillment, prioritizing empirical avoidance of total eradication over aesthetic length. Divergences arise from causal interpretations of the verse's "corners" (pe'ot rosh), with some poskim, following Rashi's emphasis on posterior alignment, debating whether the core pe'ah lies partially behind the ear's cartilage to prevent any perceived rounding via over-trimming anterior hair. Others align strictly with Rambam's frontal focus, arguing that the Talmud (e.g., Makkot 20a discussions on shaving prohibitions) targets the visible sideburn zone anterior to the ear for its ritual distinctiveness. Tosafot, expanding on Rashi in Talmudic sugyot, probe these boundaries by reconciling textual literalism with practical observance, rejecting leniencies that risk violating the essence amid varying hair growth patterns. No single resolution prevails, as halachic works like the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 181) defer to custom while upholding the razor ban. Stringency in pe'ah length emerged as a safeguard against inadvertent violation, particularly in 18th-century Eastern European (Litvish and proto-Hasidic) communities responding to Haskalah pressures for secular conformity. Poskim such as the Noda B'Yehuda (Yoreh De'ah 126, circa 1770s) advocated "overgrowth" beyond minimal requirements to empirically ensure the mitzvah's integrity, countering enlightenment-era assimilation that favored cropped modern styles. This approach, verifiable in responsa prioritizing causal fidelity to Leviticus over convenience, contrasts with Sephardic leniency allowing shorter sideburns, highlighting halacha's epistemic deference to context-specific caution without mandating uniformity. Modern decisors, like the Aruch HaShulchan (Yoreh De'ah 181:5, 1900s), reaffirm textual primacy, permitting trimming to finger-holdable length if not razored, yet note persistent debate underscores the commandment's interpretive depth.

Variations Across Communities

Hasidic Styles

In Hasidic communities, payot are typically grown long, often extending below the shoulders, and styled into tight curls that hang visibly in front of or alongside the ears, serving as a prominent marker of devotion and distinction from non-observant Jews. This emphasis on elongated and curled sidelocks emerged prominently after the founding of Hasidism by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov in the 1730s in Podolia (modern-day Ukraine), where adherents sought to embody spiritual vitality through outward expressions of piety that contrasted with the asceticism of prior Jewish mysticism.^[26]^[27] The curls are formed manually, using fingers, pencils, or similar tools to train the hair, avoiding heat-based methods like curling irons to align with traditional grooming norms.^[28] Variations in payot styling exist across Hasidic dynasties, reflecting group-specific customs tied to their rebbes' interpretations of separation from secular influences. For instance, Satmar Hasidim favor thicker, more robust sidelocks with pronounced curls, underscoring a stringent approach to insularity developed under Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum in the 20th century amid post-Holocaust reconstruction in the United States. In contrast, Chabad-Lubavitch members often maintain looser or less tightly coiled payot, consistent with their outreach-oriented philosophy that balances traditional markers with broader engagement, as articulated in teachings from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Other groups, such as Belz, wrap untrimmed payot around the ears multiple times to preserve length without dangling visibility, a practice documented in communal photographs from mid-20th-century Israel.^[29]^[30] Photographic records from 19th-century Eastern Europe, including daguerreotypes of Hasidic gatherings in Galicia and Hungary, illustrate the evolution of these styles as a deliberate counter to Haskalah-era assimilation, where maskilim (enlightenment proponents) adopted cropped hair to emulate gentile fashions starting in the 1770s. Hasidic resistance preserved payot as a tangible rejection of modernization, with textual accounts from dynastic courts emphasizing their role in fostering communal cohesion amid pogroms and emancipation pressures between 1848 and 1881.^[31]

Lithuanian and Yeshivish Styles

In Lithuanian (Litvish) and Yeshivish communities, payot consist of short, uncurled strands of hair from the temples, typically trimmed close to the minimal length prescribed by halachic interpretations of Leviticus 19:27 to avoid rounding the corners of the head. These sidelocks are frequently positioned discreetly behind the ears, emphasizing functionality over visibility.^[3]^[9] This style prevails among adherents of the yeshiva-centered tradition originating in 19th-century Lithuania, where the focus on analytical Torah study in institutions like the Volozhin Yeshiva, founded in 1803, cultivated a preference for understated observance. The brevity and lack of styling in Litvish and Yeshivish payot contrast sharply with the longer, often elaborately curled variants in Hasidic groups, reflecting a broader cultural orientation toward intellectual pursuits rather than mystical or expressive displays. Halachic authorities in these circles, such as those associated with the Brisker dynasty, permit such minimalism provided the peyot area—from the forehead to behind the ear—retains uncut hair sufficient to fulfill the prohibition.^[9] Community practices, observable in photographs from Lakewood yeshivas and Litvish enclaves, consistently show straight, inconspicuous sidelocks, underscoring a commitment to substantive religious compliance without aesthetic enhancement.^[32] Among baalei teshuva integrating into these communities, payot may occasionally extend slightly longer than the traditional short form but remain uncurled and untucked in formal settings, preserving the anti-ornamental ethos. This adaptation maintains the straight configuration as a marker of alignment with yeshiva values, distinct from the groomed curls of other Orthodox subgroups.^[3] Debates in rabbinic literature affirm that tucking behind the ears does not invalidate the mitzvah, as the hair's position does not alter its halachic status once grown.^[33]

Sephardic and Yemenite Styles

Sephardic observance of payot typically adheres to the interpretation of Maimonides (Rambam) in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 12:1, which prohibits the complete removal of sideburns but permits trimming them with scissors or other non-razor methods to avoid the biblical "rounding" of the head's corners.^[5] This ruling, emphasizing minimal elongation beyond basic growth from the temples, results in shorter, less elaborate sideburns among Sephardic communities, such as those originating from Morocco and Iraq, where payot often appear as neatly trimmed facial hair edges rather than extended locks.^[5] In contrast, Yemenite (Teimani) Jews maintain longer, often straight or simply styled sidelocks known as simanim ("signs"), which extend prominently to distinguish Jewish men from Muslim neighbors in historical Yemenite society, where dhimmis faced restrictions and Jews sought visible markers of identity.^[2] This practice, termed simanim to underscore their role as identifiers, aligns with halachic requirements while adapting to the socio-political context of Muslim-majority Yemen, including periods of persecution that reinforced external symbols of separation.^[34] Scholarly examinations link these elongated payot to ancient Jewish customs, preserved through medieval Yemenite traditions amid climatic and cultural pressures, with 20th-century immigration waves to Israel documenting continuity in style among Teimanim.^[17]^[35]

Symbolic and Cultural Significance

Religious Piety and Separation

Payot embody fidelity to the Torah commandment in Leviticus 19:27, which prohibits rounding the "edges of your head" or destroying the "edges of your beard," interpreted by Orthodox Jewish authorities as a directive against cutting the hair at the temples.^[2] This literal physical observance functions as a visible marker of piety, linking bodily discipline directly to spiritual adherence by serving as a perpetual reminder of divine injunctions against idolatrous practices prevalent in ancient Near Eastern cultures.^[13] According to rabbinic commentary, such as that of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, payot symbolically separate rational faculties from baser impulses, reinforcing internal moral order through external conformity.^[4] Beyond personal devotion, payot demarcate observant Jews from non-Jewish societal norms, rooted in the verse's causal aim to reject pagan rituals involving specific hair alterations.^[13] This distinction has historically resisted assimilation, as evident in Eastern European Jewish communities where maintaining payot preserved Torah-centric identity against Enlightenment-era pressures to adopt secular appearances. Empirical data from surveys of American Jews reveal high retention rates in Orthodox subgroups emphasizing visible markers like payot, with overall Orthodox continuity at 67% and reaching 83% among those under 30, particularly in Haredi communities where such practices are normative and correlate with intergenerational transmission of observance.^[37]^[38] These rates exceed those of less visibly distinct Jewish denominations, suggesting that overt symbols bolster identity resilience against cultural dilution.^[37]

Communal Identity and Practices

In Hasidic communities, such as those in Brooklyn's enclaves, payot serve as distinctive visual cues that enable rapid identification of fellow adherents, thereby strengthening social bonds and intra-communal interactions. Ethnographic research on Hasidic groups highlights how such grooming practices contribute to the maintenance of group cohesion by visually distinguishing committed members during everyday encounters.^[39] Payot play a role in mate selection within these insular settings, where prospective matches are often evaluated based on visible markers of piety and communal loyalty, as families seek to ensure continuity of traditions through endogamous pairings. Leadership figures, including rabbis, frequently exhibit prominent payot, aiding in their recognition and authority within the hierarchy of Brooklyn's Hasidic sects like Satmar or Lubavitch.^[40] Grooming of payot integrates into daily rituals, with men often curling or adjusting sidelocks as part of morning preparations for davening, embedding personal discipline within collective prayer observances and countering tendencies toward individualism. In lifecycle events, the upsherin ceremony marks a boy's transition at age three, where hair is first cut to leave payot intact, symbolizing entry into gendered religious norms and communal expectations.^[41] Demographic data from Haredi populations, where payot observance is prevalent, reveal fertility rates of 6-7 children per woman, correlating with the insularity fostered by such traditional markers that sustain high levels of group retention and norm enforcement. Surveys confirm that these communities' adherence to visible customs like payot underpins their rapid growth, with global Haredi numbers reaching approximately 2.1 million and annual increases of 3.5-4%.^[42]^[43]

Modern Observance and Debates

Current Practices

In 21st-century Haredi and Hasidic communities, payot maintenance constitutes a routine aspect of male grooming, with widespread observance in population centers such as Israel, where Haredim number over 1.3 million as of 2023, and New York City's Hasidic neighborhoods, which exhibit some of the fastest growth rates among Jewish groups due to high fertility.^[44] ^[45] Men typically allow sidelocks to grow beyond the earlobes before styling them through twirling into ringlets, wrapping around the ears, or tucking behind for practicality in urban environments.^[2] Hygiene and grooming integrate modern tools while adhering to halachic boundaries; electric clippers set to a #2 guard (approximately 1/4 inch or 0.6 cm) are commonly used for trimming, as permitted by post-2000 rabbinic authorities including Rav Belsky to avoid violating the Torah prohibition on rounding the head's corners, provided the cut does not mimic a razor.^[23] ^[5] This approach balances ritual requirements with contemporary sanitation needs, with hair often moistened and manually curled daily rather than relying on chemical products.^[22] Demographic expansions, including influxes from baalei teshuva adopting stricter customs, sustain payot prevalence amid overall Haredi population increases—from roughly 1.5 million globally in 2010 to 2.1 million by 2020—verifiable via fertility-driven growth data and community surveys showing sustained ritual adherence.^[46]

Assimilation Pressures and Criticisms

In response to heightened antisemitism following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli officials advised citizens abroad to downplay visible signs of Jewish or Israeli identity, including religious attire, to mitigate risks amid a reported 400% surge in global incidents.^[47] Similar guidance emerged from security experts in 2025, urging concealment of markers like payot during travel due to targeted assaults on visibly Orthodox Jews.^[48] Secular critics, including some Jewish communal leaders, have labeled such visible practices as archaic, arguing they exacerbate vulnerability in diverse societies by signaling separatism rather than integration.^[49] Historical precedents underscore the inefficacy of assimilation strategies for averting persecution. During the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834), forced conversions produced conversos—Jews outwardly assimilating into Christian society—yet the tribunal pursued thousands for suspected crypto-Judaism, executing over 3,000 and imprisoning many more, demonstrating that nominal conformity failed to eradicate targeting based on ancestry.^[50] In the Holocaust (1933–1945), Nazi racial laws classified Jews by descent regardless of religious observance or assimilation; even highly integrated German Jews, comprising about 1% of the population pre-1933, faced systematic exclusion, with over 160,000 deported and murdered, as perpetrators prioritized biological criteria over cultural blending.^[51] Internally, Reform and Conservative Judaism view payot as non-binding customs tied to outdated interpretations of Leviticus 19:27, prioritizing ethical values over ritual minutiae, with observance rates near zero in these denominations.^[52] Orthodox communities, conversely, maintain payot as a literal fulfillment of the prohibition against rounding temple hair, essential for preserving halakhic fidelity against dilution.^[2] Defenders of payot counter criticisms by citing empirical data on identity retention: a 2020 Pew Research survey found 67% of those raised Orthodox remain so, far exceeding rates in less observant streams, attributing this to visible markers reinforcing communal boundaries amid secular pressures.^[53] This contrasts with assimilation's historical null yield on safety, as evidenced by the Inquisition and Holocaust, where concessions neither quelled animus nor ensured survival, bolstering arguments for steadfast piety as a causal bulwark against cultural erosion.^[54]

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Israelis Warned To Conceal Jewish Identity Abroad Amid Global ...
Aug 7, 2025 · AntisemitismWorld. Israelis Warned To Conceal Jewish Identity Abroad Amid Global Rise In Antisemitism. Yediot Ahronot and security officials ...
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Antisemitism Concerns Push More Jews to Hide Their Faith | AJC
Mar 14, 2025 · That troubling fact is made clear in the just-released State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report from the American Jewish Committee. For the ...Missing: spikes 2023-2025 symbols
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[PDF] THE FAILURE OF JEWISH ASSIMILATION IN POST ...
It was my approach to anti-Semitism and the assimilation of Hungarian. Jews ... sidelocks, in Kassa, throw off their gabardines in Miskolcz and become barons and.
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Antisemitism - Yad Vashem
Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939; Antisemitism. Antisemitism. Hatred of the ... In the past a Jew could theoretically avoid persecution by assimilating ...
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What is the most fundamental difference between Reform Judaism ...
The fundamental difference is the approach to Torah and the implications of that approach. Orthodox Judaism holds that the Torah and the Oral Tradition ...
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Jewish Americans in 2020 | Pew Research Center
May 11, 2021 · Orthodox and Reform Judaism exhibit the highest retention rates of the major streams; 67% of Americans raised as Orthodox Jews by religion ...
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Frequently Asked Questions about the Holocaust for Educators
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored, persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.