[Avodah] Tisha B'Av, Greetings - Mazel Tov on Tisha B'Av

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

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R' Yitzchok Levine reposted from the OU:

> The Mishnah Berurah (O.C. 554:41) rules that saying "Tzafra
> Tova" "Good Morning" is prohibited on Tisha B'Av, just as
> greeting one's friend is by saying "Shalom Aleichem"
> (Mechaber 554:20). ... ...
>
> Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l rules that Mazal Tov for a
> recent Simcha may be said on Tisha B’Av since it is
> considered a blessing and not a greeting. ... ...

I honestly don't understand the distinction that causes a "greeting"
to be assur, while allowing a "blessing" to be mutar. I would think
that "good morning" is a blessing. Aren't we praying that the other
person's morning will be a good one?

Perhaps the distinction is in the degree of kavana with which the
"good morning" is given and received. After all, if it were said as a
blessing, and received as one, then wouldn't we respond to the "good
morning" with something like "amen"? Perhaps we can prove "good
morning" to be a mere greeting, by pointing out that the response is
usually a perfunctory repeat of the words "good morning", rather than
anything serious. In this light, I confidently suggest that "How are
you?" is definitely a greeting, because usually no one expects a
response other than "okay" or "fine".

What of the Mechaber's halacha of "Shalom Aleichem"? Surely we would
agree that "Shalom Aleichem" is a blessing, no? After all, the
response to "Shalom Aleichem" is "Aleichem Shalom", and I suspect
(YMMV) that this is usually sincere rather than perfunctory.

This brings us to the very core of this halacha: RSZA is drawing a
line between greeting and blessing, and his halacha about Mazel Tov
makes no sense (to me) unless "Shalom Aleichem" is defined as the
prototypical *greeting*, and *not* a blessing. I can't imagine why
this would be so, unless the Mechaber already felt that "Shalom
Aleichem" was usually said perfunctorially. And that's sad.

Can anyone offer a different analysis of these various phrases?

Finally, it seems to me that "perfunctory" is a good summary of why we
can bring American money into a bathroom, despite the words "In God We
Trust" being on them: Those words have become a mere perfunctory
slogan, and are no longer a real statement of faith. But if we have
downgraded "Shalom Aleichem" from blessing to greeting with that same
logic, then why does it remain assur to say "Shalom Aleichem" in a
bathroom?

Do any other poskim make this distinction (either in Hilchos Tish'a
B'av, or in Hilchos Aveilus, or for that matter in Hilchos What Not To
Do Before Shacharis) between a greeting and a blessing? I'd love to
see it defined more clearly. (There was a point in my life when if I'd
sneeze and someone would say "God bless you", my response was "Amen".
But I stopped that fairly quickly as people tended to find my response
quite jarring. Maybe "God bless you" is also in the category of a
perfunctory greeting that should not be done on Tish'a B'av?)

Akiva Miller