rerepayot

Answer

Answered by Aaron Abadi

The Torah says that men cannot "round off the corners of the hair on their heads." This is specifically prohibited only with a razor directly against the skin. The Rabbis extended that to comply with some other opinions to include two other scenarios. 1) Not to use a razor against the skin on the entire sideburn area, down to almost the bottom of the ear. 2) Not to use a scissor-type shaver (like all our electric shavers) that gives a close shave similar to a razor. But this Chumra (extra prohibition) would be overkill if it was to include all the area of the sideburn down to the bottom of the ear. A man can use a scissors or a shaver to cut most of the sideburns, as long as a few rows of hair remain at the top, sticking out from the rest of the hair on his head. Additionally, cutting the sideburns down to a very short length is Ok, too. The Kohen (regular Jewish Priest), the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest), and the King, were required to cut all the hair on their head down to a length that each hair did not reach the root of the next hair. That's pretty short, don't you think? AA