Coats of Light – Ki Teitzei
וַהֲבֵאתָהּ אֶל תּוֹךְ בֵּיתֶךָ וְגִלְּחָה אֶת רֹאשָׁהּ וְעָשְׂתָה אֶת צִפָּרְנֶיהָ (דברים כא, יב).
The Mefarshim say that the series of parshiyot that are read during the month of Elul, in addition to being taken literally, have a "hidden" message that pertains to Elul and doing tshuva. The Or HaChayim asks why the first passuk in our parsha begins in the singular כִּי תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה, then switches to the plural עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ, and then switches back to the singular וּנְתָנוֹ ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ וְשָׁבִיתָ שִׁבְיוֹ. If, as Rashi says, it is referring to מִלְחֶמֶת הָרְשׁוּת, then the switching between singular and plural in the passuk makes no sense. When you (singular) wage war on your enemies (plural) and Hashem gives him (singular) into your hands …The enemy should be both singular or both plural, not once plural and once singular!
The Or HaChayim says that the war in question is not against a human enemy, but against enemy #1, our yetzer harah. Why plural (enemies)? Because the yetzer harah has seven different names (Sukka 52a), רַע, עָרֵל, טָמֵא, שׂוֹנֵא, מִכְשׁוֹל, אֶבֶן, צְפוֹנִי.
The first sugya in the parsha deals with אֵשֶׁת יְפַת תֹּאַר. During a war, you see an attractive woman (from the enemy camp) and you desire her and want to marry her. The Torah lists a series of stages you need to go through before you may marry her. You must shave her head, make her grow/cut her nails (it is a machloket in Yevamot 48a, R' Eliezer says cut her nails short, R' Akiva says grow her nails long), switch her pretty dress and let her weep/mourn her parents for a month. If after all this, you are still attracted to her, you may (convert and) marry her. If not, you are commanded to let her go free and not subjugate her further.
In this shiur I would like to explore the subject of צִפָּרְנַיִם, finger/toe nails. It is a very interesting topic, albeit very difficult to understand as it deals with realms that are beyond our understanding, of טֻמְאָה וְטָהֳרָה and forces that are not visible to the naked eye. Many mistakenly regard this subject as fraught with "superstition", when in fact it is categorically discussed both in the Gemara and also in the halacha (Mishna Brura and others). I will try to focus mostly on the "mainstream" sources and less on the Kabbalah sources, which I will also bring when necessary, to fill in gaps.
Disclaimer: Women who are very into manicures/pedicures and building/decorating etc. their nails, may not like this shiur! The material presented here is not my own, but mainstream sources from Chazal, Rishonim and Acharonim.
To understand the topic of nails, we need to go back to the creation of Adam and Chava. It is commonly thought that before the sin, Adam and Chava were not clothed, however, this was not the case. Their body covering was not soft skin that we humans now have, but a substance called צִפֹּרֶן. Physically, this outer layer was made of a harder, shiny substance, what is commonly known today as - nails. This hard outer layer surrounded their entire body and in addition to providing extra physical protection from the physical world, also provided spiritual protection, מֶרְכָּבוֹת, מַחֲנוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים, from dark spiritual forces that exist in the world. This outer, protective covering was called כֻּתְנוֹת אוֹר. From above they were covered by עַנְנֵי כָּבוֹד of HKB"H's Shechina (פִּרְקֵי דֶּרְבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר, בְּרֵאשִׁית יד; זֹהַר, וַיַּקְהֵל רע"ב). The gematriya of צִפֹּרֶן is אָדָם הַשָּׁלֵם and אוֹר נֹגַהּ עֲלֵיהֶם (ישעיהו ט, א).
There is a machloket whether Adam and Chava were created with fingers and toes or not. According to R' Yitzchak ben Yehuda Halevi, one of the בַּעֲלֵי הֲתוֹסְפוֹת in his sefer פַּעְנֵחַ רָזָא, Adam and Chava did not have five distinct fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, the five fingers (and toes) were fused into one solid unit. Only when Noach was born, were his fingers and toes separated, one from the other. This is what Lemech says (Breishit 5, 29) וַיִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמוֹ נֹחַ לֵאמֹר זֶה יְנַחֲמֵנוּ מִמַּעֲשֵׂנוּ וּמֵעִצְּבוֹן יָדֵינוּ. R' Brechiya Barech Shapiro (b. 1608) in his sefer זֶרַע בָּרֵךְ says that HKB"H originally created humans with five separate fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, but after Adam and Chava sinned, the fingers and toes were fused together, until Noach, when they were again separated.
Our ten fingers and toes correspond to the עֶשֶׂר סְפִירוֹת. We have five fingers on each hand corresponding to the five senses – smell, sight, sound, taste and touch. The numbers five and ten are integral to the Lechem Hapanim and in Meir Panim I discuss why the Lechem Hapanim is five tefachim wide and ten tefachim long (before it is folded) and the connection to the concept of שִׂמְחָה which originates in the 5th level in Heaven called מָעוֹן. Five is also a number that reflects perfection, as it says הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי וכו' (שיר השירים א, טו). The word הִנָּךְ embodies all the numbers "five" in lashon hakodesh - ה in gematriya is 5, נ in gematriya is 50 and ך in gematriya is 500.
After Adam and Chava sinned the passuk says וַיֵּדְעוּ כִּי עֵירֻמִּם הֵם (בראשית ג, ז), HKB"H stripped away their כֻּתְנוֹת אוֹר and left only fragments of them behind כֻּתְנוֹת עוֹר, at the tips of the fingers and toes – our fingernails and toenails. Why at the tips?
The כֻּתְנוֹת אוֹר were an all-encompassing protection from evil influences in this world. HKB"H did not want to leave humans with zero protection against these influences, so He left "remnants" behind, כֻּתְנוֹת עוֹר, at the extremities of our bodies, where the dark forces of טֻמְאָה try to gain entry.
Humans are comprised of a physical body and a spiritual Neshama. The only way the Neshama can continue to exist in our physical bodies is if the Neshama is regularly "recharged", akin (lehavdil) to recharging our cell phones. Every night when we sleep, our Neshama departs our body and ascends to Heaven for "recharging" and before we awake, our Neshama returns and reinhabits our physical body. Chazal in the Gemara (Brachot 57b) say that sleeping, with the Neshama absent from our bodies, is equivalent to a 60th of death. This is why in Shacharit we say a special bracha הַמַּחֲזִיר נְשָׁמוֹת לִפְגָרִים מֵתִים to thank HKB"H for returning our Neshama.
During the time our Neshama is out of our physical body, the forces of טֻמְאָה try to enter our body at the extremities, the tips of our fingers and toes. What stops them are our finger nails and toe nails, remnants of the כֻּתְנוֹת אוֹר Adam and Chava had before the sin.
Chazal say that the part of our nail that is directly attached to the flesh (underneath the body of the nail), at the tips of our fingers and toes is extremely holy and spiritually elevated.
This is why, when doing Havdalah on Motzei Shabbat, upon reciting the bracha בּוֹרֵא מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ, we raise our fingers to the candle and look at our fingernails. By lighting candles on erev Shabbat, we are repairing the sin of Chava who extinguished נֵרוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, when she gave Adam to eat from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. By raising our fingers to the Havdala candle, our finger nails absorb some of the residual spiritual light from Shabbat and carry it over into the week. Our fingernails are shiny (compared to the rest of our skin) and reflect some of that spiritual light from the כֻּתְנוֹת אוֹר.
The word צִפּוֹר, a bird, is derived from the word צִפֹּרֶן, because one of the things that typifies a bird is that it has a beak, made from a similar substance to nails. Since the bird has a "spiritually elevated" covering over its mouth, the only thing that comes out of a bird's mouth are praises for HKB"H (anyone who wakes up at dawn, or sits on the veranda under a tree at sunset, will tell you). If only humans had such a covering over their mouths ….
One of the eleven ingredients of the Ketoret in the Beit HaMikdash is צִפֹּרֶן and as we know, the purpose of the Ketoret was to protect against evil influences דִּקְטֹרֶת ...... דְּבָטִיל וְכַפִּית לְכַמָּה סִטְרִין בִּישִׂין (זֹהַר, חֵלֶק ב, ריט א).
The "nistar" method of gemtariya of צִפֹּרֶן is - (עִבְדוּ אֶת) ה' בְּשִׂמְחָה, which ties up with the discussion of the number "five" in sefer Meir Panim above.
Nails are a kind of "window" to the rest of our body. Many internal medical conditions can be diagnosed from examining the nails – liver disease, diabetes, cancer, anemia, kidney disease, heart disease, lung disease, arthritis, poisoning, etc.
Unlike the part of the nail that is attached directly to the flesh, extrusions of the nail that protrude beyond the flesh of the finger (when our nails grow long) are receptacles for טֻמְאָה. This is why we are required to do נְטִילַת יָדַיִם upon waking, to cleanse our hands from the forces of טֻמְאַת הַמֵּת.
This requires pouring water three times alternately over each hand. We start by filling the cup held in the right hand. The full cup is then transferred to the left hand which first pours water over the right hand. We then transfer the cup back to the right hand which pours water over the left hand, and this is repeated twice more, making a total of three pourings on each hand (זהר, חלק ב, קנ"ד ע"ב). Similarly, when we exit a cemetery, we are also required to do נְטִילַת יָדַיִם with three pourings on each hand.
Before we perform certain mitzvot, like eating bread, davening in shul (or at home), etc. or exiting the bathroom, we are also required to do נְטִילַת יָדַיִם, to cleanse any other טֻמְאָה that has become attached to our hands during the waking hours. This is not טֻמְאַת הַמֵּת but a lesser form of טֻמְאָה and therefore only requires two pourings, not three.
The source of washing hands (and feet) is the Kiyor in the Mishkan, where the Kohanim had to wash their hands and feet before beginning their avodah.
The Zohar says that the טֻמְאָה that exists on the extrusions of our fingernails is extremely harmful. The description in the Zohar (תרומה, פרק ו, תתנד) of the hundreds of thousands of different types of evil forces is horrific and paralyzing and is not recommended reading. We find it very difficult to conceptualize the principles of טֻמְאָה וְטָהֳרָה because they are not visible to the naked eye, so we dismiss them as irrelevant. On the contrary, I think our generation, more than any other in history, is better equipped to understand that such forces do exist, even though we cannot see them. All around us there are trillions of bits and bytes of information (sounds, images, texts, etc.) floating through the air in radio waves, microwaves, with Wifi, cellphones. We cannot see them floating around us, but we do not deny their existence.
For this reason, one should not touch parts of their body before washing their hands in the morning, as this טֻמְאָה causes great harm.
One should try minimize the exposure of our nails to טֻמְאָה by keeping them short and allowing only enough extrusion so that it does not cause pain (trimming the nails too short can cut into the flesh and cause pain).
The fragments of nails (solid or filed) that are trimmed continue to embody טֻמְאָה even after they are detached from the body. This טֻמְאָה persists and can cause great harm. The Gemara (נידה, יז, א) says that if a pregnant woman steps on a nail fragment (any nail fragment, her own or someone else's) there is a danger that she will miscarry. The Gemara says that nail fragments should not be discarded but should either be buried or burnt. Someone who burns the nail fragments is called a Chassid and someone who buries them is called a Tzaddik. Someone who discards them is called a Rasha! The Zohar says that not only a pregnant woman is in danger from these fragments, but all of us incur damage when we come in contact with them.
We should take great care when trimming our nails not to carelessly discard them. The best and simplest way to dispose of them is to trim your nails over a tissue (it is dangerous to allow the nail fragments to fall on your clothes). Then wrap the nail fragments up in the tissue and flush it down the toilet. This is equivalent to burying. Although this is not considered the highest level (Chassid), but one level lower (Tzaddik) it is impractical and improbable to expect people to burn their nails each time they trim them.
This is not "superstition" or an "old wives' tale", it is directly from the Gemara and is stipulated as halacha by the Mishna Brura (משנה ברורה על אורח חיים, רס, סעיף א).
According to the Abudraham ('סדר נטילת ציפרניים'), one should trim nails on alternate fingers, not one next to the other. Beginning with the thumb, skipping to the middle finger and then skipping to the little finger, then backtracking to the index finger and ending with the ring finger. Not everyone holds of this opinion, for example, the Ari z"l does not agree. Others say that the purpose of such an order is not because of any Kabbalistic significance, but simply to show that every trivial physical act we do, even trimming our nails, should have a pattern, to show that nothing is random in the world, everything in creation has a defined purpose.
The Mefarshim (Shlah Hakadosh, Sefer Chassiddim, etc.) say that the best time to trim nails is on erev Shabbat.
Growing long nails is an "anti-Torah" concept. In our parsha of the אֵשֶׁת יְפַת תֹּאַר, (according to the opinion of R' Akiva, that it means growing nails long), Rashi says that this is done so that the woman will appear despicable to him. The Ramban quotes Rashi, but also brings the other opinion of R' Eliezer, that the nails were cut short, for the same purpose כי מנהג הנשים לגדל אותם ולצבעם במיני הפוך והצבעונים (רמב"ן, דברים כא, יב) – to make her look ugly to him, that she did not decorate her nails like other women do.
From this it is clear that the multimillion "nail industry" does not have its origins in the Torah, and is the way of the goyim. It is not my intention chas vechalila to harm anyone's parnasa, anyone who makes a living from decorating and rebuilding nails, etc. I am just pointing out the Torah view on the subject and the potential dangers inherent in carelessly dealing with our nails. I think there is still ample room to beautify and decorate nails, without making them long. The problem is not decorating/painting them, but growing them long or building them up to make them appear long. IMHO there is ample room for Tzaddikot to make themselves beautiful, without getting into questionable territory. Women who work in this profession, more than private individuals, should take extreme precautions with nail fragments as they may cause catastrophic harm.
Sefer Baruch Yomeiru says the whole theme of the preliminary stages of the אֵשֶׁת יְפַת תֹּאַר revolve around אֲבֵלוּת. A person's body stops growing bigger when we reach our late teens/early twenties. The only part of our body that keeps growing bigger/longer until we die, is our hair and our nails, we have to continually trim them. HKB"H created us this way as a constant reminder that this world is transient and fleeting, just like our trimmed nails - one minute they are there, the next minute they are gone.
Ki Teitzei and the first subject in it, אֵשֶׁת יְפַת תֹּאַר, are all connected to our battle with the yetzer harah. The issue of nails is a part of that, it is a reminder of the origin, the first time the yetzer harah gained controlled over us, in Gan Eden. It is a reminder of the link between the yetzer harah and the number five. The yetzer harah controls the fifth level in Heaven מָעוֹן where שִׂמְחָה originates. The yetzer harah harms us by denying us שִׂמְחָה or by tempting us with inappropriate forms of שִׂמְחָה. To remedy that we need to use our five fingers, our five senses, to serve HKB"H with the correct form of שִׂמְחָה. Just like our faces are a window on our soul, our nails are a window on our bodies and everything that is going on in them, both physically and spiritually.
We need to apply this principle specifically now, in the month of Elul. Most consider Elul to be a somber month, a month of serious introspection. It is undoubtedly that, however, most overlook an equally vital and perhaps even more important facet of Elul. Elul is a month of tremendous שִׂמְחָה. It is a month when HKB"H Himself comes to visit us in our own daled amot. Just last week I personally had a similar experience, when one of the great gedolei hador literally came to visit us in our home and participate in our Lechem Hapanim workshop, what a שִׂמְחָה that was! When HKB"H visits us, על אחת כמה וכמה!! We need to up the שִׂמְחָה to the same level of Chodesh Adar (the "nistar" gematriya of אֱלוּל is אֲדָר). It is the same umbilical connection between פּוּרִים and יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, that raises us to the highest spiritual level through the medium of שִׂמְחָה and serving HKB"H בְּשִׂמְחָה. We all need to make a special effort to be בְּשִׂמְחָה in this month of Elul, despite all that is going on around us and thus arrive at Rosh Hashana ready to coronate HKB"H as מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים, in "coats of light", proclaiming ה' מָלָךְ גֵּאוּת לָבֵשׁ like Adam and Chava when they were created.
