Hair Covering, and How Widely Practice Varies

The most visible practice is the covering of a married woman hair, and the halakhic derivation runs through a passage in the Mishnah about a woman suspected of adultery whose head is uncovered by the priest, from which the rabbis inferred that a married woman head was normally covered. The obligation is discussed in the Talmud, codified in the medieval works, and applied differently in every century since.

Practice today spans a wide range and the differences are visible at a glance. In Haredi communities the covering is thorough and constant, and the question of whether a wig satisfies the requirement is answered differently by different groups: some regard a wig as fully acceptable and it is the normal covering, while some Hasidic authorities have opposed wigs on the ground that they do not look like a covering at all, and in a few communities the hair is cut short or shaved beneath it. Many Modern Orthodox women cover in the synagogue and at communal occasions and not otherwise, or wear a partial covering. Most non-Orthodox movements treat tzniut as an ethic of restraint without a dress code attached.

A substantial body of writing by Orthodox women in recent decades has argued about how the value should be taught, and in particular whether presenting it mainly as a set of rules for girls distorts a principle the classical sources address to everybody. The atlas records the range of practice and the argument, and does not prescribe.