116 Richard Rosenthal
ousness of women. They are permitted frivolous vanities because that is their nature.
The Shulhan Arukh® summarizes the law mentioning that men are forbidden from shaving the armpits and genital areas in a place where only women do this. Isserles is stricter and forbids shaving totally because it is a sign of idolatry. It is also forbidden to rub this hair with the hand in order to remove it, but it is permitted if his clothing rubs and removes it. One who has painful scabs in these areas is permitted to remove the hair. A woman may not wear male adornments such as a turban, or dress in armor, or shave her head like a man. A man may not adorn himself like a woman by wearing colored garments or a golden chain. Isserles again is stricter, remarking that even one of these garments is forbidden even though it is clear that the wearer is a man. He adds that hermaphrodites and others of uncertain sex™ are forbidden to dress as women. A man may not pluck even one white hair out of the dark hair nor may he die his hair. He may not look in a mirror.
We can see clearly how the codes regularize and extend the talmudic texts, explaining them, adding occasional strictures, and in the case of Maimonides revitalizing them. But the language remains essentially the same because the rabbis maintain the continuity of the tradition. It is the explication of the talmudic texts upon which they base their authority and power. To maintain their authority they hold on to the exact language. In the medieval world the four ells of Torah define the place where they stand. But they are not alone. To know only thc rabbinic text is not to know the fullness of the lives of Jews . Anthropologists speak of“the Great Tradition,” in our case the religion of the rabbis, and the“Little Tradition,” the popular religion of every day life. It has been the genius of Jewish tradition that at certain stages minhag, the product largely of popular religion, breaks into the world of halakhah and sets it aside. As we have seen, Maimonides speaks of custom determining what must be done. Once the extra-halakhic usage of people becomes established it is law.“Minhag is Torah” is the rabbinic saying. In matters of everyday law the Talmud already enjoins us“everything is according to the custom of the country.”* We can see an interesting exam
ple here. Shabtai Kohen, commenting on“a woman may not