B”H
An article appeared in the newspaper דתי צפוני on 24.5.04
entitled
"מרן הגר"ח קנייבסקי שרף פאה
עם ברכה". When מרן הגר"ח קנייבסקי, considered
to be one of the greatest geniuses of this generation in the Rabbinic world got
word from הגרי"ש אלישיב that the wigs that they have been encouraging
their women to wear contained human hair that came from India and had also been
sold to shrines wherein עבודה זרה (idol worship) is practiced, he
ordered that a wig that had hairs in it that had been used for idol worship be
brought to him. He immediately set
about pronouncing a blessing בלי שם ומלכות, ברוך
ה' and burning the offending wig next to
his home. In so doing, he joined thousands of Charedim who, upon hearing that
the wigs they had formerly insisted their women wear contained hair from women
from India who were also selling their hair to shrines wherein worship of idols
takes place, burned the wigs after having them analyzed. The wigs were sometimes
burned in large heaps.
Delighted with himself, he returned to
his family and said: "שרפנו עבודה זרה" (“We have incinerated idol
worship!”)
Torah says:
"...ובכרת הרע
מקרבך" (דברים יז:ז)
"...ובערת הרע מישראל" (שם יז:יב)
מקרבך ומישראל, ולא סמוך לביתך.
May we merit to have true Torah leaders
who will be as concerned about the purity of the functioning of the Religious
Services and that there is not one single hair of עבודה זרה in what they do (worship of gold
and power in particular) as they are about the wigs they buy for their wives at
astronomical prices, the money of which should go for צדקה, learning תורה, etc.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat