Question

A young man runs a haircutting business using electric clippers. Many of his Jewish customers request a “fade” haircut, which involves trimming the hair at the sides of the head very close to the skin.

Can he rely on the Rambam’s position, against the Rosh, that misparayim ke’ein ta’ar is permitted for peyot harosh? This seems especially relevant since many people in our community shave their heads with electric shavers, which might suggest that the community has accepted the Rambam’s position, despite the Shulchan Arukh being stringent.

Answer

I really do not feel comfortable with relying on that approach.

The core issue here is not simply whether one can find a lenient opinion. The Rambam’s position certainly exists and is part of the halakhic discussion. The question is whether the widespread practice of people shaving their heads can be treated as evidence that the community has accepted that lenient position as practical psak. I do not think that follows.

There are two very different situations in which we might address a problematic practice.

In one situation, we see people doing something questionable, but they are not asking a shaylah, a practical halakhic question. They may be acting out of ignorance, or simply following what they see others doing, and the practice may not really be coming from people who are generally medakdek bi’halakhah, careful and precise in their halakhic observance. In that kind of case, we might be melamed zekhut (try to judge the practice favorably), and say that there is yesh al mah lismokh, some basis upon which to rely. Or we might invoke mutav yihiyu shogegim, the principle that, in some cases, it is better for people to remain unaware of a prohibition than to be told and continue violating it knowingly.

But that is fundamentally different from a second situation, where someone is actually coming to ask a shaylah. In that case, we cannot take the fact that many people are doing something questionable and treat it as evidence of how the community is paskening in practice. A widespread practice that may exist only because of ignorance, habit, or convenience cannot automatically become the basis for a lenient psak.

You cannot say puk chazi, “go out and see what people are doing” (used in Chazal to determine normative practice based on observed behavior), unless the behavior is being done by people who are generally medakdek bi’halakhah, serious about keeping halakhah carefully.

To understand why this matters here, we need to briefly define the halakhic issue.

The Torah states: lo takifu pe’at roshkhem — “You shall not round off the corner of your head” (Vayikra 19:27). Chazal understand this as a prohibition against removing the peyot harosh, the corners or edges of the hairline at the sides of the head.

The central question for our purposes is whether this prohibition applies only when the peyot harosh are removed with an actual razor, or whether it also applies when they are cut extremely close to the skin with scissors or clippers. This kind of cutting is called misparayim ke’ein ta’ar — scissors used in a razor-like manner.

As you noted, this is a machloket Rishonim. The Rambam (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 12:6) rules that one is liable only for removing the peyot harosh with a razor. The Rosh (Makkot 3:2) disagrees and holds that even misparayim ke’ein ta’ar is prohibited. This is also the position of Tosafot (Shevuot 2b, s.v. chayav).

The Shulchan Arukh (Yoreh Deah 181:3) quotes both opinions but rules stringently, writing that one should be careful not to cut the peyot harosh with misparayim ke’ein ta’ar.

That is why I would not treat the common practice of close shaving as proof that the community has accepted the Rambam’s position. At most, one might be melamed zekhut on people who do it. But that is not the same as giving this young man a practical ruling that he may build his haircutting business around that leniency.

In this case, if he follows the lenient direction, there are two concerns.

First, most poskim would understand this as either an issur de’oraita, a Torah prohibition, or at least a safek de’oraita, a case of possible Torah prohibition. And this is not a case of overwhelming sha’at hadechak (pressing necessity) that would justify relying on a very difficult leniency.

Second, the public effect matters. He would now become “the frum barber” who cuts off sideburns with the permission of his rabbi. That does not merely allow him to follow a lenient view privately; it effectively gives communal approval to a practice that is, at best, highly questionable.

For that reason, I would not tell him to rely on the lenient approach and cut the peyot harosh in a way that is misparayim ke’ein ta’ar.

I think his future life might bring other challenges to mitzvah observance and parnassah. It would be good right now to begin drawing the line when possible, rather than bending it or stepping over it when there is not a great need.