Home › Forums › Controversial Topics › Star-K Article about Electric Shavers › Reply To: Star-K Article about Electric Shavers
To respond to the point raised by DaasYochid:
Perhaps it is those who publicize the heter of the Igros Moshe (and not those who are concerned that the opposing opinions are omitted) are the ones who are disrespecting him.
See Meged Givos Olam (vol. 1, p. 96) where Rav Shurkin writes that he heard that the reason why Rav Moshe zt’l did not want to write this teshuvah permitting shaving machines in Igros Moshe is because while (according to the Igros Moshe) it is technically permitted to shave, the tzurah of a Yid is with a beard. Rav Belsky zt’l stated the same.
If Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l did not publish his opinion regarding this matter for this reason (because the proper appearance of a Jew is with a beard, and publication of such a heter would encourage people to shave), then why do people who respect Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l publicize what Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l deliberately did not want publicized?
Moreover, if Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l is of the opinion that “the tzurah of a Yid is with a beard” (to the extent that he would not write a teshuvah stating that shaving is technically permitted, out of concern that it would embolden people to remove their beards), why don’t these forums (which purport to represent Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l’s position) advocate that listeners grow their beards, in accordance with Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l’s viewpoint?
This attestation why Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l did not publish his heter regarding shaving machines is also recorded in the popular publication Daf Yomi Digest, a daily resource for thousands of Daf Yomi learners worldwide, compiled by the Ruben Shas Kollel and published by Chicago Center for Torah & Chesed, under the leadership of HaRav Yehoshua Eichenstein shlita and HaRav Pinchas Eichenstein shlita, Rosh Kollel.
In their issue on Nazir daf 40, the following is documented as clarification of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l’s position:
“It is well known that Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, did permit the use of certain electric shavers. Someone once approached him and asked why he didn’t write a teshuvah outlining the parameters of which shavers are permitted and which are not. ‘After all, your teshuvos cover every subject under the sun!’ Rav Moshe explained, ‘Although I permit this practice halachically, I don’t want to write a teshuvah formally permitting this since the proper way is for a Jew to have a beard. Although this is not halachically prohibited, a Jew ought to grow a beard!’”