Editing Beard (section)

===Judaism===
{{Main|Shaving in Judaism}}

[[Talmud]]ic tradition holds that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard. Because scissors have two blades, some opinions in ''[[halakha]]'' (Jewish law) permit their use to trim the beard, as the cutting action comes from contact of the two blades and not the blade against the skin. For this reason, some ''[[Posek|poskim]]'' (Jewish legal deciders) rule that [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] may use [[Electric shaver|electric razors]] to remain clean-shaven, as such shavers cut by trapping the hair between the blades and the metal grating, [[Halakha|halakhically]] a scissor-like action. However, other ''poskim''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://holmininternational613.com/books/BEARD_JEWISH_LAW-E.pdf|author= Gross, Rabbi Sholom Yehuda|title=The Beard in Jewish Law|access-date= June 23, 2011}}See Zokon Yisrael KiHilchso</ref> maintain that electric shavers constitute a razor-style action and consequently prohibit their use. The [[Torah]] forbids certain shaving practices altogether, in particular [[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] {{bibleverse-nb||Leviticus|19:27|HE}} states: "You must not round off the hair at the sides of your head, or destroy the corners of your beard."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leviticus 19:27 {{!}} Sefaria |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.19.27?lang=bi&lang2=en |access-date=26 April 2017 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>
[[File:Orthodox Man with Beard by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|left|[[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]] in [[Jerusalem]] with a long, unshaved beard and ''[[peyos]]'' (sidelocks)]]

The ''[[Mishnah]]'' interprets this as a prohibition on using a razor on the beard.<ref>Talmud, Makot 20a</ref> This prohibition is further expanded upon in the [[Kabbalistic texts|Kabbalistic literature]].<ref>"The punishment for this [shaving with a razor] is delineated by the holy Zohar and the books of the Mekubalim, and is considered a great and terrible sin, among the most grievous." – ''Shaving With a Razor'', by Rabbi Meir Gavriel Elbaz, http://halachayomit.co.il/EnglishDefault.asp?HalachaID=2355, dated 4 January 2012.</ref> The prohibition carries to modern Judaism to this day, with [[Rabbinic Judaism|rabbinic opinions]] traditionally forbidding the use of a razor to shave between the "five corners of the beard"—although there is no uniform consensus on where these five vertices are located. [[Moses Maimonides]] criticized the shaving of the beard as being the custom of "idolatrous priests".<ref>Maimonides, ''Moreh'' 3:37</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellinson |first=Getsel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpYRAQAAIAAJ&q=rabbinic+opinion+forbidding+the+use+of+a+razor+to+shave |title=Woman and the Mitzvot: The modest way: a guide to the Rabbinic Sources |date=1992 |publisher=Eliner Library, Department for Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora, World Zionist Organization |language=en}}</ref>

The ''[[Zohar]]'', one of the primary sources of [[Kabbalah]] ([[Jewish mysticism]]), attributes Sacred to the beard, specifying that hairs of the beard symbolize channels of subconscious holy energy that flows from above to the human soul. Therefore, most [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jews]], for whom Kabbalah plays an important role in their religious practice, traditionally do not remove or even trim their beards.

Traditional Jews refrain from shaving, trimming the beard, and haircuts during certain times of the year like [[Passover]], [[Sukkot]], the [[Counting of the Omer]], and [[the Three Weeks]]. Cutting the hair is also restricted during the 30-day mourning period after the death of a close relative, known in Hebrew as the ''[[Bereavement in Judaism#Shloshim – Thirty days|Shloshim]]'' (thirty).