21
This is a can of such powder (cream) that Jews would use on the Lower East Side around 100 years ago. If you look closely you will see that it says Mutar based off the teshuva of the Noda B'Yehuda, YD 81.
Yiddish text on top says: א שייוו אהן א רייזאר נור מיט א פוידער איז מותר.
21
Shadal himself admits to this in a letter to Shlomo Yehuda Rapaport published in Igrot Shadal Volume II p.246:
ואני גם כי אינני מאוהביו כבר קיבלתי פירושו (נגד ההלכה) בפסוק לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם שאינו אלא על מת וקִבלתיו לעצמי למעשה אע"פ שאין אני מורה כן לאחרים כי אין לי עסק בהוראה
As for me, though I am not one of [Ibn Ezra's] friends, I have already ...
15
It is permitted to use depilatory cream (but not on Shabbat).
R Jack Abramowitz writes
The Torah only prohibits using a razor to cut the corners of the
beard. There are five such corners and many positions when it comes to
the details, so a pious person should not use a razor on any part of
his beard, nor even on his mustache or on his neck. There ...
10
Rav Herschel Schachter told me that the reason they do it is because they are afraid that a hair will be left out of the mikveh when they do tevila. To avoid this problem they shave their heads. I have also heard that they suspect that there will be tangles, which are חציצה for the tevila, so they shave their heads. Neither of these reasons would really ...
8
The Sefer Hachinuch in mitzva 174 writes:
משרשי המצוה. קצת מן הטעם שאמרנו למעלה (מצוה קעג) במים כדי שיראה האדם כאלו היום נברא והיום מתחיל שערו לצמח ויחדש מעשיו לטוב,
A partial explanation of the root of this mitzva is that as a person emerges from his state of uncleanliness of a metzora, he should view himself as if he is reborn and only today his hair ...
7
These are vey good questions and I do not have all the answers, but one thing I wish to clarify as this misconception is quite widespread: this custom was not invented by Hassidim. In fact, this custom predates chassidus and possibly dates back to the days of the rishonim. See for example Shut tashbatz part 3, 299, where he mentions a custom of קציצת הפיאות ...
7
In the course of my translating Shadal’s perush on Vayikra, I have given a good deal of thought to this difficult issue. Here are some of my conclusions:
Before criticizing Shadal, it is important to scrutinize the actual words of his letter to Rapoport. Nowhere does he say that he shaves with a razor; nowhere does he admit to violating the normative ...
6
The Rama himself actually forbids haircuts starting on the 17th of Tammuz (ShA OC 551:4). In his Darkei Moshe, he cites Minhagim Tirna on Tammuz (written ~1400 CE) which mentions this custom.
6
A written (albeit 2nd hand) source for R. Moshe is in the Sefer Meged Giv'os Olam of his longtime student R. Michel Shurkin. He discusses the view of R. Moshe at length in chelek one starting on page 94, and is in turn quoted by R. Ovadiah in Yabia Omer (vol. 9 YD ch. 10 #18) R. Moshe remarked (as quoted there) that he didn't include this in Igros Moshe ...
6
Pischei Tshuva in Yoreh Deah 181 #5 brings opinions that it is allowed, warning however, not to scrape the application off with a knife.
אבל במשיחה הנעשה כעין טיח טיט והחריפות שבו שורף השער מותר דזה הוי השחתה בלי גלוח. אך אם אחר המשיחה נשאר טיח זה על פניהם אין נגררו בסכין אלא ביד ע"ש וע' בזה בתשובת שמש צדקה חלק י"ד סי' ס"א בד"ה לבד זה:
5
I don't think your friend is correct that standard razors are forbidden because they destroy the hair follicle. Proof is that plucking (pulling) hair manually is allowed despite pulling out the follicle (see here and here).
What is forbidden is to shave "the corners of the head and of the beard" (based on Vayikra 19:27: You shall not round off the side-...
4
If I recall, R. Moshe Feinstein is cited in Megged Giv'os Olam as holding that any hair that does not grow in until the onset of puberty may be shaved.
I heard this from Rabbi Heineman as well.
4
The same logic used with an electric shaver would apply here. If it's not "razor-sharp", it's fine.
There are a few different definitions; Rabbi Heinemann of the Star-K, shlit'a, in the name of R' Moshe Feinstein suggests taking a whisker from someone's beard, and seeing whether the cutter can cut it the same way a razor would.
Hagaon R' Moshe Feinstein ...
4
Wikipedia's article on הקפת הראש והשחתת הזקן
says:
מחמת האיסור על המסתפר, אסור להסתפר גם על ידי גוי. מאידך, לרוב הדעות
מותר ליהודי לגלח את פיאותיו של גוי, או של אשה, מאחר שהמסתפר אינו חייב
במצווה
ואין זה דומה לילד קטן, שאסור לגלח את פיאותיו למרות שאיננו חייב
[במצוות, מאחר שהקטן עתיד לגדול ולהגיע לכלל חיוב במצווה.[51
Because the issur ...
4
You ascertained:
How did our Sages come up with the halacha (or rather idea) that using scissors (or appliances that do not cut the root like most electric shavers) does not constitute 'destroying the corner of the beard'?
And you said the source was:
Leviticus 19:27 states, "You shall not round off the side-growth on your head, or destroy the side-growth ...
3
Excerpt from a Star K article about shavers:
Hagaon R' Moshe Feinstein זצ"ל was of the opinion that the גמרא 's
statement - איזהו גילוח שיש בו השחתה הוי אומר זה is teaching us that
only the תער , the straight-edged razor, is the Torah's forbidden form
of השחתה and גילוח . Any other method of השחתה and גילוח would be
permitted. Based on this ...
3
This should answer your question:
The custom of refraining from haircuts during the sheloshim is
generally applied even to shaving, but there is some room to
distinguish between them, because shaving (which is done daily) does
not involve the festive nature of a haircut.
In addition, it is possible that reasons of losing one’s parnasah will
...
3
Nit'e Gavriel, Pesach volume 3, chapter 49, has quite a bit to say about this with respect to the semimourning period during s'firas haomer. I'll list some of his points:
2. Included in the prohibition on haircutting is cutting the beard, body hair, and hair inside.
3. One can cut a moustache that interferes with eating, or never-married girls' hair ...
3
Yes, on the 31st or 33rd or 45th or 47th or 48th of the omer, according to various opinions cited in Nit'e Gavriel, Pesach volume 3, chapter 49, paragraphs 22–29.
3
sorry for my english: from the Torah you see that married women did not shave there hairs.Starting with the captive women, the wife of one ben peleg, the sota ceremony etc etc...Opposite you will see that shaving the hairs means humiliating ( sota, captive women etc..) not talking about the women that help the nazi during the war. I heard that the origin of ...
3
Based on my experience, the general stance on Lev. 19:27 ("you shall not round the corners of your heads") in Conservative communities is that it's not observed, and left to the individual to decide what he thinks of the mitzvah and how he wants to observe it. However, all Conservative Jews I've ever met haven't had peyot; it's just not a thing ...
3
This is already mentioned by the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch in 170:2 as being permitted with the caveat of not using something sharp as a scraper.
וְאוֹתָן שֶׁמְּסִירִין שְׂעַר הַזָּקָן עַל יְדֵי מִשְׁחָה מִסִּיד עִם אַוִירעם, יֵשׁ לָהֶם לִזָּהֵר, שֶׁלֹּא לִגְרֹר אֶת הַמִּשְׁחָה בְּסַכִּין, שֶׁמָּא יַחְתֹּךְ שֵׂעָר, רַק יִגְרְרוּ בְּקֵיסָם וְכַדּוֹמֶה (נוֹדָע ...
3
The Shulchan Aruch Y"D 180 states that the issur is only if its over the death of a loved one. However the Bais Yosef and the Bach have a disagreement if there is an issur (just no malkus) if it is done over other grievances or not. The Minchas Chinuch (mitzva 487) proposes that if it's done for Torah then it's ok.
Furthermore, the Minchas Chinuch in ...
2
Shaving only the mustache but keeping the beard may make a person appear to be Amish, which might be chukat akum (Vayikra 18:3, Rambam (Sefer HaMitzvot Lav no. 30), Sefer HaChinuch (n. 262)). All the moreso because the Amish do so for religious reasons.
2
The Tur in Orach Chaim 531 quotes Rabbeinu Tam who opines that one who shaved before the moed may shave on chol hamoed as well. The Tur strongly disagrees and seemingly all subsequent authorities were stringent. In more recent years this idea of Rabeinu Tam has been suggested again, but the fact that Rabbeinu Tam already said it and was rejected and ignored ...
2
As mentioned by Curiouser, many פוסקים, including R’ Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, felt that the foil of a shaver differentiates it from a razor.
Likewise, R’ Pesach Zvi Frank allowed electric shavers.
R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (הליכות שלמה דף יא.) felt that people who use them rely on R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who famously permitted them, too (See תשובות והנהגות ...
2
All sources from Shulchan Aruch - Yoreh De'ah - 181
Regarding the shaver in the Payos area:
ג: אֵינוֹ חַיָּב אֶלָּא בְּתַעַר. וְיֵשׁ אוֹסְרִים בְּמִסְפָּרַיִם (ב) כְּעֵין תַּעַר, וְיֵשׁ לָחוּשׁ לְדִבְרֵיהֶם.
באר היטב (ב) כעין. שגוזז במספרים סמוך לבשר כעין תער. ש''ך:
As Matt pointed out, it's a matter of dispute. The Shulchan Aruch brings 2 opinions:
...
2
I asked this question to Rabbi Belsky one time and he said It's fine. He said clipping with a nail clipper is like cutting with a scissor, not like shaving with a razor.
I then mentioned that my concern stemmed from the Ramma who brings a gezeira from the Trumas Hadeshen that when using a scissor, the blade resting on one's face cannot be moved to do the ...
2
The question actually involves whether the laser is considered a "blade" that cuts the hair or a "fire" that burns the hair off. However, the gemoro in nazir talks about the hashchasa (destruction) of the beard as being forbidden which would mean that the use of the laser is similar to the cutting of the hair by a razor. Note that even a razor is not "...
2
The rule applies to hair anywhere on the body (Nit'e Gavriel, Pesach volume 3, chapter 49, paragraph 2, page 279; see that chapter for exceptions, but pubic hair is explicitly not excepted).
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