[Avodah] Shaking Hands

[Samuel Svarc]

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Daniel Israel <daniel at kolberamah.org> wrote:


> 2. RMF writes that he hears the s'vara of not embarrassing, but he doesn't
> find it convincing.  Presumably that implies that he holds that the lav
> involved is d'rabbanan, otherwise he could simply argue that one lav doesn't
> override the other.  So is anyone aware what the s'varah is to reject the
> notion that not embarrassing wins out (written source preferred, but it
> doesn't have to be RMF).  The best I could come up with is that RMF feels
> that a refusal to shake hands due to the halachic issues intrinsically
> cannot create something that halachically constitutes embarrassment.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here, and I have so argued
in an off-list discussion with a friend a few years back.

KT,
MSS