07-14-2015, 02:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-15-2022, 08:52 AM by Director Michael.)
(2) In regard to growing a beard:
There is no prohibition against a Gentile man either fully shaving his beard, or growing it fully or partially, with or without trimming it or shaping it. It is left up to the preference of the individual Gentile.
Wearing a beard doesn't have the same level of merit for a Gentile man as there is for a married Gentile woman covering her hair, since her hair covering serves a practical purpose as an obvious sign for other men to know she's married (which helps guard against transgression). It's also an observance of an ancient righteous tradition for thousands of years which is mentioned in Torah sources, as a pious observance of modesty for a woman when she becomes married.
There are some positive concepts in wearing a beard that apply for Gentile men:
- it looks "more religious," so it can have a positive influence on others and on the man himself, to enhance pious behavior and attitudes in general
- the man is accepting, and not destroying, the form in which G-d creates men, and this serves to highlight the physical distinctions between the male and female genders
- it is part of the physical representation of the spiritual "Divine image" in which G-d created Adam.
There is no prohibition against a Gentile man either fully shaving his beard, or growing it fully or partially, with or without trimming it or shaping it. It is left up to the preference of the individual Gentile.
Wearing a beard doesn't have the same level of merit for a Gentile man as there is for a married Gentile woman covering her hair, since her hair covering serves a practical purpose as an obvious sign for other men to know she's married (which helps guard against transgression). It's also an observance of an ancient righteous tradition for thousands of years which is mentioned in Torah sources, as a pious observance of modesty for a woman when she becomes married.
There are some positive concepts in wearing a beard that apply for Gentile men:
- it looks "more religious," so it can have a positive influence on others and on the man himself, to enhance pious behavior and attitudes in general
- the man is accepting, and not destroying, the form in which G-d creates men, and this serves to highlight the physical distinctions between the male and female genders
- it is part of the physical representation of the spiritual "Divine image" in which G-d created Adam.