Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKIN
Question:
Someone mentioned that during the three weeks one can shave before Shabbat – Lichvod Shabbat. Is that true?
Answer:
Let me begin by saying that there are different customs as to how long the mourning period prior to Tisha B'Av actually is. Most of the Sephardim begin the initial mourning period with Rosh Chodesh Av and therefore they mourn for nine days.
The Ashkenazim mourn for the entire three-week period between 17 Tamuz – when the walls surrounding the Temple were breached – and Tisha B'Av, when the Temple began to be burnt to the ground. The mourning customs during the period between the 17th of Tamuz and Rosh Chodesh Av are similar to the customs of mourning during the year-long mourning period after a parent's passing, when all "group festivities" are forbidden (the Arukh HaShulhan defines this as food together with music for the sake of enjoyment of the company gathered together). The mourning intensifies with the coming of Rosh Chodesh, which is similar to the 30 days of mourning after a close relative: freshly laundered garments cannot be worn (except for the garments which actually touch the skin and must be laundered regularly), and no meat or wine can be eaten or drunk, with the exception of Shabbat. (Most Yemenites only forbid meat and wine on the day before Tisha B'Av, which is what is specifically forbidden by the Talmud.) Tisha B'Av itself is likened to the Shiva, when we all sit on the ground and do not study Torah (except for passages of tragedy such as the Scroll of Lamentations and the religio-legal passages which deal with mourning and the fasts).
As far as shaving is concerned – Most Sephardim can shave until Tisha B'Av. The Ashkenazic custom is not to shave for the entire three-week period. If an individual requires leniency in this regard due to professional or shalom bayit reasons, and especially if such an individual shaves every day with an electric shaver, there is a leniency (emanating from my revered mentor, Rav Soloveitchik ZTZ'L) which would allow him to shave until the Saturday night before Tisha B'Av (Shavua She'khal Bo Tisha B'Av).
Although there is a leniency (Rav Shlomo Min HaHar, the Rav of Bayit VeGan and others) to shave in honor of Shabbat each week, this is because we are not really certain about the true origins of the customs of semi-mourning during this period. Since the period of the three weeks is bound up with the destruction of the Holy Temple – and our Holy Temple is still destroyed and a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount does not yet exist, I do not believe that it is proper to shave Arvei Shabbatot.
