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Is there a prohibition against long hair for an Orthodox Jewish man? If there is, at what length? Past ears? Shoulder? At what point is it considered long hair?

Harel13
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DHSF
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    There is no formal prohibition. – mevaqesh Aug 10 '16 at 00:37
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    Nezirim grew their hair quite long. Indeed no one mentions that as a problem, or indicates they had any Halakhic issues with Mitzvot like Tefillin. – Double AA Aug 10 '16 at 00:50
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    @DoubleAA I don't know if we can learn from nezirim, though; there are times when it is required to drink wine/grape juice, too, and yet they do not (presumably nazirut takes priority?). – Monica Cellio Aug 10 '16 at 00:55
  • @MonicaCellio Inability to do a positive Mitzva is different from actively violating a prohibition. And either way the point about Tefillin stands, as no one ever discusses a special dispensation whereby Nazir hair is different from any other hair regarding Tefillin. (and related http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/8139/759) – Double AA Aug 10 '16 at 01:06
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    possible dupe http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/37784/759 – Double AA Aug 10 '16 at 02:16
  • @DoubleAA "Nezirim grew their hair quite long." Although some people who take your position like to make that point, it seems ... not obvious. What makes you say that? – Yishai Aug 10 '16 at 23:44
  • @yishai Not obvious that their hair was long? At best they could cut it once a year. I dont know exactly how common long term nezirim were, but the laws are discussed pretty realistically and in depth. Or am I missing something? – Double AA Aug 10 '16 at 23:54
  • @DoubleAA, סתם נזיר שלושים יום. But generally what gets discussed as issue causing long hair is more than a year's worth of growth, otherwise why bring up Nazir, bring up an אבל. – Yishai Aug 11 '16 at 00:00
  • @Yishai Yes, for Stam, but what about long-term Nezirim like Shimshon who at least occasionally existed? I said at best, because a Nazir Olam can't trim every year even though a Nazir LeOlam can (or the other way around I forget). In any event a year's hair growth accd to R Google is about 6" which is long enough IMO that you'd get looks by 'frum' people and is certainly (IME) longer than the average (USA) male hair length, so even if it doesn't prove for 2 feet, it's still a significant data point. – Double AA Aug 11 '16 at 00:05
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    http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21282&st=&pgnum=24 http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21282&st=&pgnum=29 – Double AA Jun 07 '17 at 20:59
  • @mevaqesh Couldn't beged ishah apply? I was told that it also applies to grooming... – SAH Aug 02 '17 at 02:14
  • @SAH a formal prohibition means a discrete rule with its own governing principles set down by the Torah or Hazal. There is no "long hair for men" prohibition with its own rules. If some style is distinctly feminine, it could be a problem but that wouldn't be defined like a halakhic shiur. It would be defined by asking hairdressers, or just looking around to see if men do it.|| it has nothing to do with longness. It could just as easily be a prohibition of shortness if women wear distinctively short hair. Saying there is a long hair prohibition; in such a case, is like saying: yes [cont.] – mevaqesh Aug 02 '17 at 04:54
  • According to Judaism it is forbidden to eat pumpkin...If one made a shvua not to eat it! That is silly. Anything could be forbidden given some circumstance, but it won't be meaningful to speak of the thing itself being prohibited, and the nature of the prohibition. Hence the description, indeed answer, (except one can't prove the negative) that there is no formal prohibition. – mevaqesh Aug 02 '17 at 04:58
  • @DoubleAA Not necessarily a great argument, but one could suggest that since a nazir is forbidden to remove the hair, it is more likely to be considered part of his body and therefore not a chatzitza, as opposed to if someone has very long hair he hasn't got around to cutting but intends to when he gets a chance... – Loewian Aug 16 '17 at 19:21
  • @Loewian That's the Raavan in the Shakh YD 198 sk 25, but if he's not planning on getting a haircut anytime soon it's not even clear that'd apply. Plus we don't really rule like that Raavan. – Double AA Aug 16 '17 at 19:24

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This is an argument amongst the achronim.

See Yoreh Deah siman 178. The Shulchan Aruch writes not to grow one's hair like the non Jews do and not to shave the sides while leaving the hair on top.

Shach there #1 brings the Ateres Zahav who says this is actually all one prohibition. Don't grow hair like them which is shaven on the sides etc. The Shach goes on to quote the Bach who says there are two separate prohibitions and the prohibition to grow hair refers to growing it for beauty like the girls do, which (for men) is disgusting and haughty. The Prisha writes the same.

user6591
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  • Follow-up on the 2nd par. Could one infer from Yoreh De'ah that a man should not wear a ponytail regardless of the hair length? – DanF Aug 10 '16 at 14:31
  • What do you mean? – user6591 Aug 10 '16 at 14:36
  • In your answer, you mention 2 aspects: 1) Not to grow one's hair long as Gentiles do and 2) grow it for beauty as girls do. My question is if a ponytail for a man would fall into either of these categories. – DanF Aug 10 '16 at 14:40
  • From a theoretical point of view, we can perhaps point to the Magen Avraham in hilchos krias shema siman 75 who says girls didn't leave their hair loose as a matter of humility, tznius. (Yes I am translating the word tznius the way it is meant all over shas and poskim, not in the modern colloquial sense.) so at least theoretically a pony would not be the same degree of haughtiness. But that's just my 2c. Unless the Bach/Prisha were referring to a girl whose hair was in a pony, and they still called it haughty for a man to do. – user6591 Aug 10 '16 at 14:47
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    "growing it for beauty" This doesn't seem to be about any large length per se, but rather any length done intentionally (not just out of laziness). So any purposeful hair style length choice is a problem. (Ex. people who "like" to get a #3 trim instead of a #2.) – Double AA Aug 11 '16 at 16:04
  • @Double if we ignore the words "like girls" do than you are correct. If you can prove historically that girls had short hair than you will also be correct. If you think " like girls do" is the motivation than that is bad chop job reading. – user6591 Aug 11 '16 at 16:11
  • @user6591 I didn't check the Hebrew just now. Lo Tilbash concerns can be actions (looking in mirrors) or results (putting on a dress). Perhaps this is the former kind? – Double AA Aug 11 '16 at 16:14
  • @Double that is true. But this shach cannot be read like that the way he juxtaposed the opinions of action without ever getting into intent. If either of us checks the prisha or bach inside and they meant as you wrote here that would change things. – user6591 Aug 11 '16 at 16:19
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R. Heshie Billet records the following story in Mentor of Generations: Reflections on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

At YU this Boston boy was one of the organizers of a big protest. Flyers went up all over campus. The flyers included some comments about Israel. The Rov was strongly opposed to mixing Israel with Vietnam. At the beginning of shiur one say, he had that boy summoned into his classroom on the fourth floor of Furst Hall. The boy came in wearing jeans and sandals, sporting long hair and a scraggly beard. The Rov told him that he had until the end of shiur to change the flyers by deleting Israel from them. The boy dutifully complied. Toward the end of the day’s shiur he returned to show the Rov the new flyer. Satisfied, the Rov complimented the young man and told him that he had acted like a real ben Torah [literally, “child of the Torah”; a learned person]. The class erupted in laughter.

Later the Rov mentioned to me that he was quite upset with the students in the shiur for laughing. “I know why they laughed,” he said. “But who says that short hair and a clean-shaven face are what the Torah wanted?”

Alex
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As other people have mentioned in the comments:

Nazirites had to have long hair as part of their vow. It's hard to conceive that the Biblical Category of Nazirites, given directly from the Torah by God, and associated with higher holiness, would be violating a prohibition. Also the Rabbis in the gemara never mention anything problematic with the Nazirites having long hair.

Also there have been Jewish groups that have been discovered to have the minhag of having long hair. One such group is the Habbani tribe of Yemenite Jews:

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In short: Even if there were Orthodox groups or communities that explicitly or implicitly discouraged men from growing long hair, they don't have much of a Biblical (or Halakhic) foundation to stand on. And anyone who says it's not proper for "Jews" to have long hair are insulting the Jewish communities who have a minhag of long hair.

Aaron
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  • But what if it's not your minhag? – ezra Sep 03 '18 at 16:50
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    @Ezra so then you don't have to have long hair? Doesn't mean you can't have it. As a Sephardic Jew I don't have a minhag to grow peyot but I don't think anyone would stop me because it's "not my minhag." – Aaron Sep 03 '18 at 20:42
  • @Aaron I assume you mean what's nowadays referred to as peyot, rather than actual halachic peyot. –  Sep 04 '18 at 11:27
  • Could this reference in Ezekiel 44:20 concerning Kohenim and Leviim have any bearing on customs of Jewish hair in general? 20And [the hair of] their heads they are not to shave but also not to let it grow wild; they must be careful to trim the hair of their heads. כוְרֹאשָׁם֙ לֹ֣א יְגַלֵּ֔חוּ וּפֶ֖רַע לֹ֣א יְשַׁלֵּ֑חוּ כָּס֥וֹם יִכְסְמ֖וּ אֶת־רָֽאשֵׁיהֶֽם: And [the hair of] their heads they are not to shave: to remove all the hair.
    but also not to let it grow wild: They may not let their hair grow very long.     – Aryeh Shmuel May 08 '20 at 14:55