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New Delhi Times:
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hindu religious authorities have ruled this week that it is forbidden for Hindu women to sell their hair to Orthodox wig makers. "We have asked our women to put their hair on holy altars as a sacrifice to our gods. Instead, they ship it to Boro Park. Is this the way to show honor to our gods, by shipping hair to New York?" The Hindu Association for Indians who are Religious (H-A-I-R) had all their major authorities as signatories on a new proclamation forbidding these shipments.
Young women, however, feel more ambivalent than the local authorities: "What’s a good idolater to do?" said Irfana Patel, a nineteen year old resident of New Delhi whose long hair is soon to be shorn. "I know my options. My parents want me to cut it at the local Temple and have it burn for our family shrine. My fiancé learned about the cost of highlighted wigs in Meah Shearim. He wants me to sell it to put the down payment on a new apartment." These issues are clearly complex.
Down a long alley in this large Indian city is a salon where run-away teenage girls and older widows have flocked for years to have their hair cut in a confidential and private setting. The salon owners, who spoke only on the condition on anonymity, said that they have had contact with ultra-Orthodox Jews for the past ten years. "They are our best customers. Indian hair is thick and easily dyed. When they came here to visit, we introduced them to chapaties. They brought us gefilte fish. My husband loves chrain. He makes dal out of it now. We are sad that business might change for us." The economic fall-out of this decision has yet to be fully assessed, but small Hindu businesses everywhere are suffering.
The human hair industry has grown exponentially since Orthodox women discovered that snoods were used in idol worship in Thailand. The Thais would "tie" the snood around small birds that were sacrificed on mountain tops. Straw and wool hats have also been worn by idol worshiper for centuries, but modern Orthodox Jews have never been particularly concerned about it. A spokesman for the Orthodox Union said that there are bigger issues to worry about, like whether or not Campbell’s vegetable soup will retain its heksher. "We don’t really care if modern Orthodox women are wearing hats once used by idolaters as long as they aren’t davening in women’s prayer groups."
India is not the only source of human hair. In New York Times best-seller, Hair Today: Gone Tomorrow: The Hindu Hair Scandal, historians say that sheitel machers originally went to the Far East, to places like Singapore and China as their hair source. Investigative reporters have now shown that the Kai Feng community was started to export human hair, perhaps inspiring the enduring love of Jews for Chinese food. "The hair was cheap but hard to work with," says one anonymous sheitel maker. "More expensive hair comes from Russia. I personally did not use Russian hair until all the refusniks were out of the former Soviet Union. Not everyone was so principled."
European hair has become very popular and expensive. But Europe is a big place. For example, many ultra-Orthodox women today would rather have hair from Belgium than Lichtenstein. German and Austrian hair still carries taboos, and some women refuse to use French hair until France becomes more supportive of the war in Iraq. Relations with Tony Blair have been particularly good so English hair – although its off the continent – has become especially prized. So many countries have been involved in the production of human hair sheitels, that the U.N. is considering an international resolution. The United Nations will permit the sale of all European hair on condition that business exchanges involve the Euro and that Israel dismantle its security Fence.
Despite all the politics, religious Hindus feel that their right to worship idols has been severely compromised by this new scandal. "Orthodox Jews don’t want us, and we don’t want them either. We have our own humras in New Delhi. Wait until they find out where all their tefillin is made!"