"Letter to the editor - More About Shaving:
To the editor, In the Parshas Chukas edition of your paper, there was an ad
quoting many Gedolim who held that it is forbidden to us an electric razor.
For the sake of balance, I would like to relate the following: About 18
years ago, I personally asked Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l if one may use an
electric razor. He replied: "Mutar, mutar, mutar" emphatically.
Afterwrds, he continued: "No one can asser something that the Shulchan
Oruch permits. The American yeshiva bochurim (who want to forbid this)
think that they are frummer than the whole world. But they aren't even a
tenth as frum as the European yeshiva bochurim (who all shaved). The
Chofetz Chaim held it was mutar, and Rav Isser Zalman held it was mutar."
Those Talmidim who were present when I asked the she'eilo (I asked it after
Shacharis in Yeshivas Tiferes Yerushalayim) said they had not seen Rav
Moshe so agitated in a long time. True, there are Gedolim who forbid the
use of electric razors. But there are also Gedolim who permit it. Chazal
were always careful to bring all opinions, even those not accepted
lehalocho. All the more so here, where thousands of good Jews, including
many bnei Torah, rely on those who permit use, we must ensure that the
opinion of those who permit use will be mentioned.
Menachem Goldberger Yerushalayim"
Binyomin Altman