Siman - Shabbos Daf 57

• Women wearing headstraps

The opening Mishnah of the sixth perek lists a number of items that a woman may not wear in a reshus harabim lest she removes them, or they fall off, and she comes to carry them. Included in the list is a statement that women may not go out with חוטי צמר חוטי פשתן ורצועות שבראשה – wool strands, linen strands or straps that are on her head. The Mishna adds that she may not immerse in a mikvah while wearing them until she loosens them.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak explained that the Mishnah mentioned the law of immersion at the end of this list to explain the reason why women are not permitted to wear these specific strands. Since she is required to loosen them to immerse even on a weekday so that they will not be a chatzitzah between her and the water, the Rabbonim forbade a woman to wear them on Shabbos lest she is required to go to the mikvah, unties them and then comes to carry them in a reshus harabim.

• Katla

The Mishnah stated that a woman may not go out on Shabbos wearing a katla, an ornate bib that women would wear to protect their clothes from getting dirty while eating. Women would pull its drawstrings tightly to choke themselves so that they would appear plump, which was considered more attractive. It was forbidden to wear them on Shabbos in a reshus harabim, because they must be loosened prior to immersion and a woman may come to inadvertently carry them.

• Totefes and Sarvitin

3. The Mishnah stated that a woman may not go out on Shabbos with a totefes or sarvitin if they are not sewn into the hat, since a woman might come to take them off to show it to a friend and carry them in reshus harabim.

·Rav Yosef said a totefes was a חומרתא דקטיפתא (charm packet), worn to ward off an ayin horah.

·Abaye objected to Rav Yosef’s explanation because then a totefes should be treated as an effective kameyah (amulet) and be permitted. Instead he interprets a totefes as a frontlet. Rabbi Abahu explained that a totefes was an ornamental plate that wraps around the forehead from ear to ear, and sarvitin were head bangles that were wrapped around the head and hung over the temples on either side, reaching until the cheeks.

·Rav Huna says poorer women would make them out of fabric while wealthier women would make them out of silver and gold.