There is a famous saying: 'Two Jews, three opinions.' This is also true when it comes to beards in Jewish law. The question of cutting the beard in Jewish law is genuinely layered. Biblical commandment, rabbinic interpretation, kabbalistic principle, and communal custom all converge.
What Does the Torah Prohibit?
It starts with Leviticus 19:27: "You shall not round off the corner of your head, and you shall not destroy the edge of your beard." And Leviticus 21:5, addressing the priests: "Neither shall they shave the corner of their beard."
The key Hebrew word is tashchit, to destroy. The Talmud (Makkot 20a) establishes that the Torah-level prohibition is specifically against using a razor to shave the beard clean. The razor removes hair completely, flush with the skin. That's the action the Torah forbids.
The Talmud also identifies five specific areas of the face covered by the prohibition: two on each cheek and one on the chin. These are known as the five peyot (corners or edges) of the beard.
Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah (Avodat Kochavim 12:6-7), explains that "it was the way of idolatrous priests to shave their beards; therefore, the Torah forbade shaving the beard."
So What About Scissors?
Maimonides a.k.a The Rambam, also says cutting with scissors isn't a Torah-level violation, because scissors work by a cutting action between two blades rather than a single-blade shaving motion. Many later authorities follow this reasoning.
The text of Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 181:10 (the primary code of Jewish law) also states:
"אינו חייב על השחתת פאת הזקן אלא בתער, אבל במספרים מותר אפילו כעין תער"
"One is not liable for destroying the corner of the beard except with a razor; but with scissors, it is permitted, even 'like a razor' [ke-ein ta’ar]."
We also see in the that in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Chapter 170) states: "The Torah forbids shaving the corners of the beard, only when done with a razor. The beard has five corners... Therefore, a God-fearing Jew should not use a razor on any part of the beard, even on his upper lip or under the chin."
Other authorities are significantly stricter. The Tzemach Tzedek argued that cutting the beard even with scissors was problematic. The Rebbe Rashab went further, writing that those who permitted scissors "are in error, for this is absolutely prohibited according to the Torah itself." The Chofetz Chaim, citing the Vilna Gaon, held the same.
The Electric Shaver Question
Electric shavers created a genuinely new halachic puzzle. Foil-and-cutter systems don't work like a razor, the blade doesn't touch the skin directly; the foil acts as a barrier. Several prominent 20th-century authorities, including Rav Moshe Feinstein, ruled that certain foil-type shavers were permissible because they operate more like scissors than a razor.
Kabbalistic and Chassidic authorities rejected this entirely. For them, the concern wasn't just the mechanism but the result: a face without a beard. The Arizal's position was that a man shouldn't allow his beard to be cut at all, by any means.
A Spectrum of Practice
In practice, all of this creates a spectrum. On one end, Chassidic Jews and those following Kabbalistic practice don't cut or trim the beard at all. There are those who trim the beard using scissors and based on more lenient rulings some Modern Orthodox Jews use electric shavers to appear clean shaven.
Even within the most lenient positions, there's usually an acknowledgment that something meaningful is being set aside when the beard is cut. The beard is part of the natural dignity of a Jewish man, connected to his covenant and his people.