When I received this “beard” assignment three associations immediately came to mind, one personal, two kind of literary.
I have been sporting a beard for a long time; I even had a beard before I was married, and here’s why. My friend Rabbi Feivie Wahl told me that a friend of his had written a sefer explaining why it is forbidden to shave and asked him to sell it for him in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Feivie felt that this was a ridiculous, if not an awkward request, as he was clean-shaven. Yet his friend persisted.
Feivie explained his dilemma to me, and in the process convinced me that I should not shave (but I never bought the sefer).
As for “beard” in more literary terms. I once wrote a line that (at least) I appreciated, and if you will be so kind, I would like to engage in self-plagiarism: “By issuing a simple apology, we expect our relationships to return instantly to their formerly harmonious state – often to the astonishment of our partners, who can nurse a grudge until it grows a beard.”
Lastly, I was always amazed by the lyrics of the Israeli folk song, “Yesh lanu tayish, l’tayish yesh zakan – We have a goat, our goat has a beard…” Why in the world are so many people dancing about a bearded goat? Of course, if I would only know the second stanza, perhaps that would contain the answer…
