Can I wear a tichel on a flight?

 

Question:

When on flights, especially long ones, it’s hard for women to wear sheitels. Can a tichel be worn instead?

 

Answer:

According to halacha, a woman must always have all her hair covered, certainly in public places and where others are around. A tichel is sufficient for hair covering if she ensures that no strand of hair is showing. Nonetheless, the Rebbe insisted on covering hair davka with a sheitel, for many reasons, among them as it does a much better job at covering all the hair.

Accordingly, yes it IS permissible to cover the hair with a tichel on the plane, but it’s recommended to use a sheitel. Perhaps, you might wish to use an old sheitel which you aren’t particular about it getting messed up. As for comfort, as Chassidim, it behooves us to follow the Rebbe’s instructions even when uncomfortable for us. Of course, if it’s exceedingly uncomfortable one can always fall back on the general Halacha position that it is OK to wear a tichel, provided it’s fully covering the hair.

 

Sources:

ומצד הדין גם לדעות שמקילים בפריעת ראש בחצר, פשוט שמטוס דינו לפחות כחצר שרבים בוקעים בו דמחוייבת מדינא בכיסוי ראש. ואף גם זאת, בפני אחרים גם בביתה ובחצרה חייבת בכיסוי ראש –  ראה ריטב״א כתובות עב, ב.  ט״זאה״ע קטו, ד. מג״א עה, ד. אג״מ יו״ד ב, עה. אה״ע נח. ועוד.

 

 

#6146