[Magdalen] The Theology of Clerical Beards

[M J _Mike_ Logsdon]

>>>My Israeli friend Yitzhak has been fully bearded most of his adult life,
but he says every couple of years he shaves to "let his face breathe". The
first time he did it, his oldest son Yishai screamed in fear when he saw
his clean-shaven dad, so thereafter while his boys were young, he always
had them watch him take it off.<<<

I recall now I did take it all off (in conjunction with a very short haircut following a Manson Period of considerable duration), and caused quite a stir at work.  I timed it perfectly, and even documented it with a before and after photo.  Before we broke for Christmas, I had a co-worker take a picture of me sitting at my desk staring into the camera.  The morning we came back, I had him take the exact same picture in the exact same spot and exact same pose and exact same clothing.  A little bit later I was standing near the front counter with my back to another co-worker walking toward me, and she stopped and said, very slowly, "Mike... Where's your hair?"  I replied, "It gets better...", and turned around.  She gasped.