Wolfson

Although Rav Moshe Heinemann shlita wrote in articles posted in the Star-K website and Kashrus Kurrents publication (also posted in the Star-K website) regarding permissible shavers, he was careful to qualify that he is referring to shavers “acceptable by the Poskim who permit the use of shavers” (i.e., the Igros Moshe). Halacha l’maaseh (practically speaking), however, in a public notice on his personal letterhead dated 19 Menachem Av 5769 (which was widely publicized at the time and was posted in shuls and yeshivos in many communities), Rav Moshe Heinemann wrote that since there is a dispute between the poskim regarding the halachic status of shaving machines and those who prohibit their use consider them Osur Min HaTorah, therefore those who do not want to grow their beards should not use any regular shaver since they produce a clean shave (in contrast with a trimmer). The letter is co-signed by the Roshei Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood (Rav Malkiel Kotler, Rav Yeruchim Olshin, Rav Dovid Tzvi Schustal and Rav Yisroel Tzvi Neuman) who add that use of regular shavers involves a sefeika d’oraysa.

Regarding the Yabia Omer (9,10), Rav Ovadia Yosef modified his position in his latter years. Rav Ovadia Yosef’s own son, the current Sephardic Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchok Yosef (author of the popular halachah sefarim Yalkut Yosef), years after the publication of Yabia Omer volume 9, promulgated a widely disseminated kriah kedoshah (reproduced in the sefer Lo Sakifu, Holon, 5772, p. 217) quoting his father as maintaining that no Jew should use shaving machines and that one should not rely on leaving stubble (achieved by not “pressing” the shaver against the skin) and promising good shidduchim to those who grow their beards.
Many sources rejected the heter of not pressing the machine to the face, including the Chazon Ish (see recently published Chazon Ish-Shaalos U’Teshuvos section 156); Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichos Shlomo on tefillah, p. 11); the Minchas Yitzchok (volume 4 section 113); Rav Nissim Karelitz (Chut Shani – Inyanim page 218); Rav Moshe Sternbuch (Teshuvos V’Hanhagos 5:264). Moreover, Rav Elyashiv also categorically rejected this circumvention and ruled that if even just two hairs are cut close to the skin (which is inevitable even if one does avoid pressing), the shaver may not be used (Ashrei Ha’Ish, Y.D. p. 142).

As for the reason why bochurim in Litvishe Yeshivos shaved their beards, prior comments quoted from the Chofetz Chaim, the Chazon Ish and Rav Chaim Kanievsky who all stated that it is only in recent generations that some have started to shave, having learned this from the non-Jews. Moreover, the Chofetz Chaim and Chazon Ish vehemently protested against the Bnei Torah removing their beards, as previously quoted.

Since today was the l’vaya of Rebbetzin Brudny o’h of the Mirrer Yeshiva, let us utilize today to quote from the Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva in his authoritative biography “Visions of the Rov: Highlights from the Life and Times of Moreinu Hagaon Harav Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz zt’l” (published by the Mirrer Yeshiva), where we find (ch. 1, p. 28) Rav Kalmanowitz’s testimony in this matter. Rav Kalmanowitz is quoted there as saying that the reason the bochurim in Slabodka removed their beards was (not for reasons of yiras Shomayim that should be emulated, but just the opposite:) because “Western influences had infiltrated the Yeshivos of that time, making…beardless faces the norm.” Rav Kalmanowitz therefore refused to shave, and the Roshei Yeshiva and his friends respected him for it.

When the bochurim in Slabodka started shaving, the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein zt’l (author of the Levush Mordechai), wanted them to keep their beards, but the bochurim did not listen to him (as recorded in Shaalos U’Teshuvos Pe’as Sodcha, sec. 101). Furthermore, the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva wrote very sharply in his introduction to Levush Mordechai (on Bava Kamma):
“Every Jew should reflect on this [that a raven forsakes its children since they do not appear like it] and have mercy on his children only when they walk in the paths of Hashem, through which they are similar in their appearance to their parents, keeping Shabbos and growing a beard. However, [he should] not [display mercy] to those who are not at all similar in their appearance to the Jewish people, for they have become distant and have garbed themselves in a different style, desecrating Shabbos and disdaining the sacred…. Their appearance is not similar to the Jewish people, for they have removed the tzelem Elokim [Divine image, a reference to the beard] from themselves.”

Regarding the Telz (Telshe) Yeshiva, it is recorded that
“…when the disease of cutting the beard spread among students of the [Litvishe] Yeshivos, the well-known Gaon, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon [Rov and Rosh Yeshiva of Telz], of blessed memory, adopted the most stringent measures [to stop it]. When he saw that they persisted in their defiance, he mobilized the Geonim of that time — the venerable Rabbi Y. Dovid Friedman [Rov of Pinsk-Karlin], the venerable Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisel [Rov of Lodz, Poland], and the mighty Geonim Rabbi Chaim HaLevi [Soloveitchik, Rov of Brisk], and Rabbi Chaim Ozer [Grodzenski, Rov of Vilna], of blessed memory. He demanded that they place a prohibition on Rabbonim against granting [students who cut their beards] Rabbinic ordination [semichah], on Shochtim against teaching them the skill of ritual slaughtering [shechitah], and on Jewish communities against employing them in any religious position” (Kovetz Yagdil Torah 7:5).
[It is important to note that this entire discussion regarding the practice of the Litvishe bochurim in pre-war Europe has no relevance nor is it comparable to the way most frum people shave today, namely, using an electric shaver, which, in the words of Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita, has been prohibited by “all the Gedolei Hador.”]

The following response by Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt’l to the “argument” that the students of the Litvishe Yeshivos of yesteryear used to shave their beards, was recently publicized:
ואומר רבינו: “כי מה שנהגו פעם בישיבות לגלח, כי לא היה ידוע האיסור” (פרי חיים ממרן הרב שטיינמן שליט”א, שופר ארגון להפצת יהדות, צוות שופר גנזי המלך, כו תמוז תשע”ב).
“The reason it was once common for yeshiva bochurim to shave is because the issur involved was not widely known.”