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In my first yeshiva (which was a Chabad yeshiva), students would place loose hairs that had fallen from their beards into sforim. In my second yeshiva (which was a Litvak yeshiva), my rebbe made a point of blowing them out of books if the book was open and he saw one there. Where did this custom of placing hairs into sforim come from? How widespread is it? How widespread is opposition to it?

Shimon bM
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  • How widespread is opposition to it? Probably about as common as opposition to hair in one's soup. Most people find this repulsive, and therefore recognize the imperative of accommodating those who find this repulsive. – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 01:43
  • How widespread is it? How do you expect us to demonstrate this? || Seems like Jews not Judaism, anyway. – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 01:44
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    Possible dupe: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/53645/8775. – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 01:56
  • once i bought a mishnah berurah set used and i found a lot of beard hair inside some of the volumes. the set was from the 1950s so who knows how old it is... – ezra Dec 02 '16 at 01:58
  • there is such a custom brought in the Likutei Maharich,but other assur it because of kibud haseforim – sam Dec 02 '16 at 02:08
  • yes, interesting question I seen this custom, very strange – kouty Dec 02 '16 at 02:45
  • I would think the issue of ואהבת לרעך כמוך would likely be an equal or greater concern. @sam – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 02:59
  • @mevaqesh - I'm not sure what you're asking. How would you demonstrate this? With a source, ideally - like anything else. Same goes for your first comment: how do you know that "most people find this repulsive"? – Shimon bM Dec 02 '16 at 03:19
  • @ShimonbM A source that states what? Statistics for beard disposal into books? – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 03:31
  • @mevaqesh - Obviously not. I think you know what I mean. If I asked how prevalent singing Shalom Aleykhem was, you wouldn't look to a demographic study but would mention the variety of different texts that suggest this custom, representing the interests of a variety of different communities across the Jewish world. On the flip side, when you said that "most people find this repulsive", did you check stats for that? – Shimon bM Dec 02 '16 at 04:02
  • @ShimonbM No it was based on direct experience and extrapolation. I wast rigorous with my data, since the exact value was irrelevant anyway. If one leaves his beard in a book, regardless of whether most people find it repulsive, it is very very likely, that someone will find it repulsive and hence this is inappropriate. – mevaqesh Dec 02 '16 at 04:07
  • @EzraHoerster so who knows how old it is - How old WHAT is? The set or the beard hairs? The hairs are at least 66 years old, now. – DanF Dec 02 '16 at 15:15
  • @DanF - yes 66 years at most – ezra Dec 04 '16 at 08:33

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