Overview
- Tzivin, an attorney from Kfar Chabad, has launched a campaign asking the Chabad rabbinical court to recognize sheitels as essential and to set reasonable price limits.
- Campaigners say prices have jumped from a few thousand shekels two decades ago to community averages near 30,000 shekels and some listings as high as 40,000 shekels.
- Wigmakers reject claims of price gouging and say higher costs reflect a sharp rise in raw human hair prices, which a veteran maker estimated at about $6,000–$7,000 per kilogram today.
- Manufacturers also point to more labor-intensive, handcrafted production and months of fittings and after-sales service, and they say roughly 40% of customers are non-religious including women with medical hair loss.
- The petition has drawn international interest from groups in France and advocates such as FairWigs, and no formal rabbinical ruling or industry price controls have been reported so far.