Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach would often lament that in our generation, everything has become black and white, assur or muttar. The subtleties and nuances have been lost. Rabbi Yerachmiel Fried, who wrote sefarim of Rav Shlomo Zalman’s psakim, once had a conversation with him in which he stated, “The rosh yeshivah said that such-and-such is assur.”
“I didn’t say it is assur,” Rav Shlomo Zalman corrected. “I said it is a davar mechuar”—ugly, not forbidden. He possessed a spectrum of vocabulary to describe things that one should or should not do.
On one occasion, they spoke about the eiruv in Yerushalayim, Rabbi Fried describing those who do not carry as “lechatchila lo metaltelim.” Rav Shlomo Zalman stopped him. “You cannot say lechatchila about something that the Mishnah Berurah permits. They are machmirim on themselves, that you can say.” Only then could he continue with the shailah.
Another time, they were discussing whether to include a certain shailah regarding a leniency in a sefer about Yom Tov Sheini. “It’s okay, I don’t have such a pachad to put it in,” Rav Shlomo Zalman said. “It’s not like Shabbos. It’s only Yom Tov Sheini, it is derabbanan.” Months later, another shailah related to a leniency came up. This time, Rav Shlomo Zalman said “I have pachad to put this in the sefer.”
“I thought the rosh yeshivah does not have a pachad to say a kulah for Yom Tov Sheini,” Rabbi Fried said. Once again, Rav Shlomo Zalman corrected him. “I said there is not pachad like Shabbos, but pachad yeish!” Every subtlety was so important to him, and everything he said or wrote was precise.
Courtesy of Agudas Yisroel of America
