One of the first things ultra-Orthodox boys are taught once they start shaving is that they cannot just use any electric razor they want, because under Halachah (Jewish law) damaging your skin is forbidden.
According to most interpretations, this means electric shavers are forbidden in the many Orthodox communities. The few that were allowed had to carry a special hechsher (rabbinical approval).
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However, in what could be unprecedented, a new halachic interpretation in the Tchumin religious journal, which brings together rabbis from different streams of Judaism to discuss and innovate on matters of Jewish law under the auspices of the Tzomet Institute, has made this prohibition all but obsolete.
The institute announced the decision in a special post claiming that based on the latest inteprertation, "almost every type of electric shaver which operates as described above can be used."
The decision followed extensive deliberations by American Rabbi Chaim Jachter and his son Benjamin, who wrote the new article in the journal. The two based their analysis on their correspondence with senior engineers at several leading manufacturers, such as Philips and Procter & Gamble, and learned that modern electric shavers use a so-called "lift-and-cut" technology, which lifts the hairs and cut them without the blade injuring the skin.
According to Tzomet, "If anything, this mechanism makes the operation even closer to that of scissors, since it uses three elements in the cutting process: the blade, the screen, and the 'lift and cut' device," and therefore it would make no sense to take it out of such electrical appliances for religious reasons.
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