On Shaving

Last week, I wrote a letter to the editor at the Link. As background, Rabbi Haim Jachter has been writing a series of articles about how all electric shavers, including lift-and-cut, are permitted.

Here is an article from 2021 where he lays out the argument — that those who forbid lift-and-cuts were misled by a video put out by the marketing department, rather than engineers. He also wrote a book about haircutting. Most recently, he had two articles responding to critiques of his position.

Naturally, this sparked a full page ad by those who would forbid shavers — not just lift-and-cut, but every single one. What irked me about these ads, as well as people I’ve argued with online about this, is that they paint a false picture, by which every (legitimate) rabbi worthy of having an opinion says that shaving is assur.

Here is the most recent advertisement, which does not mention Rabbi Jachter’s book / article, and also doesn’t mention anyone who permits. Thus:

Now, Rav Kanievsky certainly opposed shaving. But using these quotes makes the claim that no Gadol permitted. That misleads the public. Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, and in modern days, Rav Moshe Heinemann, Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Mordechai Willig, all permit (some or all) shavers.

This provoked me to write the following letter to the editor:

In Praise of Rabbi Jachter

Eruvin 13b addresses why Beit Hillel merited to have the halacha accord with their position. One reason is that Beit Hillel would teach both their own statements and those of Beit Shammai, even putting Beit Shammai’s words first. In his articles about why he believes all shavers, including lift-and-cut shavers, are permitted (“Responses to Critiques of Our Permitting All Electric Shavers, I” June 15, 2023; “Responses to Critiques of Our Permitting All Electric Shavers, II” June 22, 2023), Rabbi Jachter cites a range of rabbinic authorities with differing positions, explaining their reasoning, as well as why he differs. I therefore personally lend greater credence to him when he cites and agrees with various permitting authorities, such as Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik and Rav Moshe Feinstein—and in our generation, Rav Hershel Shachter and Rav Mordechai Willig.

For some reason, in the realm of both sheitels and shaving, there’s an approach by which those who would forbid present a picture lacking in nuance—one which seems to deny or obscure the existence of rabbanim who permit. Even had I not engaged myself in the relevant sugyot to see the nuance, and plausible responses to several forbidding arguments; even if I didn’t follow my own teachers and the gedolim of my community who have well earned my trust in their grasp of the halachics; even had I not seen it asserted (introduction to Igrot Moshe, volume 8, https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=922&st=&pgnum=34) that Rav Moshe Feinstein uniquely refused a haskama on a certain anti-shaving sefer; I would be distrustful of advertisements or pashkevilim adopting such a Beit Shammai approach, hiding the existence of a Beit Hillel position I know exists. I’d be afraid that even in a lengthy treatise on the subject matter, I might be getting a one-sided view of the issue.

The hyperlink brings us to the following:

This was my way of being oblique.

I’ve received some praise, in person, of the letter, but not all that I’m entirely happy about. Some liked that I was defending the position of allowing shaving, standing against the too-frum. Others thought that it was a well-argued position. I don’t deny those who forbid their legitimacy — they certainly have a path to the prohibitive position, in how they interpret the relevant gemaras and other sources, and how they understand the related reality.

(By the way, this post isn’t the place to get into the halachics of it. But prohibiting because of Targum Yonatan regarding the practical removing of hair by any means is typically done after acknowledging the otherwise technically acceptable aspect of using misparayim ke’ein ta’ar. Now, we don’t have to pasken from Targum Yonatan, especially when the position runs counter to what appears in the gemara. One would indeed think, if the Tannaim and Amoraim held by this reading, that it should have appeared in the halachic discussions.

Meanwhile, Targum Yonatan on Torah is likely not written by the Tanna, Yonatan ben Uziel, who only wrote on Nach. Rather, it is falsely ascribed to him, and probably post-dates the Islamic conquest, given that it names Fatima and Aisha, Mohammed’s wives, as Yishmael’s wives. It also has a lot of other content that runs counter to halacha. And even if it does run afoul of lo yilbash gever simlat isha, this also applied to the removal of body hair, which in turn is subject to changing cultural reality. See this excellent article in Hakira that deals with lo yilbash and pubic hair removal in Islamic countries: Male Body Hair Depilation in Jewish Law.)