Majdanek by Eve Levy

Today we visited the Majdanek concentration camp. No words can begin to describe the strong feelings I felt in this place. My own grandmother, Bubby Guta Fleising, may she live and be well, slaved in that very camp.
Upon entering the camp there was a place where the Nazi's did a 'selection', deciding who was fit to work and who was doomed to be killed straight away.
And right there, where they did the selections the Jews were taken into a barrack, to have their hair shaven off, and to be showered and disinfected. Some went straight to the gas chambers which was in a connecting room in the barrack, and some were sent to slave labor .
In the small room where they sheared the hair, I chocked back my tears. As a woman, I could not imagine how devastating it must have been to have everything taken from me. Everything! Family, belongings...to have nothing in the world! And then on top of that to even lose your beauty and individuality. I realize that in the large scope of things losing ones hair seems to be the least important thing to worry about. You can function fine without it. You might be cold in the winter but other then that, it's not a vital part of a person. But yet it is such an important part of a woman. Let's admit it. It's a part of who we women are and we have a strong relationship with our hair.
A memory crept into my mind of my dear mother, may she be well. When I was a teenager my mom was battling cancer. One of the side effects of her treatments was that she lost all of her hair. She was usually very positive and upbeat throughout those difficult times, at least in front of us, her kids. One day I walked into her room and she was standing in front of the mirror crying. She said to me "I even lost my eyebrows and eye lashes". She was so devastated. We cried together that day. I will never forget that raw pain as I watched my mother lose something so dear to her.
I am a Orthodox married Jewish women and I embraced taking on the beautiful custom of covering my hair since my wedding day. I feel very passionate about this holy mitzvah. My great grandmothers also fulfilled this mitzvah with all their hearts and I feel connected to them and to the holy women that have come before me through it.
In Judaism hair is very connected to spirituality. 
We have deep kabalistic understandings about hair. In Hebrew, 'se'ar' is the word for hair. The same root word 'sha'ar' is a gate. Our hair is known to be a gateway, a 'sha'ar', to purity and impurity. The soul actually leaves the body through the extremities...hair and fingertips.
As far as my limited understanding in the mystical area, hair (or the area on top of the head) emanates a potent spiritual aura. it is a strong portal to our neshama, our soul.
Where there is more spiritual voltage you need more spiritual protection.
The Gemara in brochos tells us that Hashem (G-d) 'braided' Eve's hair before her wedding to Adam. She was the first and only woman. She didn't have a mother to help her 'get ready'. Hashem lovingly did it for her. This was G-d's gift to Chava, the mother of all life.
This was G-d's gift to her and to all womanhood who come after her.
G-d was showing us women that we are entrusted to create every possibility with the strengths He gave us. 
Hair represents imagination and possibilities and the power to create.
The Nazi's seemed to understand the power of hair. They took it away from the women (and men) in the camps, leaving them without this power of creativity and individuality.
Take a second to acknowledge your relationship with your hair. 
Take a second to think about the millions that were stripped of this gift.

Eve Levy
May 16, 2017