Rebbetzin Leah Auerbach and the Photochromic Glasses
Buying photochromic glasses, Rebbetzin Leah Auerbach is torn: her father Rav Elyashiv avoids them on Shabbos, but her father-in-law Rav Shlomo Zalman permits them.
Rebbetzin Leah Auerbach, a”h, once visited a glasses store in Yerushalayim to purchase a new pair of glasses. She was considering photochromic lenses, which darken in sunlight and return to their clear state indoors. However, she hesitated, aware of the that their use on Shabbos is a gray area in halacha.
Recognizing who she was, the store owner suggested, “Why don’t you ask your father, Rav Elyashiv, or your father-in-law, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach?”
Rebbetzin Leah responded with a thoughtful smile, “That is precisely my dilemma. Before I was married, I followed my father’s ruling that it is better not to wear them on Shabbos. Now that I am married, I wonder if I could follow my father-in-law’s ruling, which permits them without question.” She was caught between two lenses of halachic thought.