Rav Moshe and Seven Clean Days
The Talmud Blog has a post about some of the more recent episodes of Srugim, addressing the question of the Seven Clean Days. Shai links to an older post of mine which reported an attempt to be more lenient with regard to these days when the timing of a woman’s ovulation made it very difficult for her to conceive. See this article by Rabbi Howard Jachter on a number of rabbinic discussions of this issue.
One of the responsum that R. Jachter cites is Igrot Moshe, YD 1:93. Without addressing Rav Moshe’s conclusion, I found that his introductory paragraph revealed a behind the scenes look at the making of a responsum. This responsum was written in 1950.
Trans: Behold, my honorable and learned friend knows that this question has already been an issue for more than two years, and more than twenty people have already come to me. Also, the honorable and learned one’s father-in-law came to me over a year ago in order to discuss this. Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin shlit”a was also asked a number of questions, and we still refused to answer because it is very, very, difficult to be lenient in an area where they were very strict, even though it is something new in these times that this relates to a number of people in regards to the great commandment of procreation and even though I have reasons to be lenient in this case. Therefore, practically speaking, one should not permit and they should refuse the questioner.
At the end of the responsum, Rav Moshe wrote that he would be willing to speak with the questioner about this issue and explain to him any reasons that he might have to be lenient, but he didn’t want to put any of this in writing. See here for another instance in which Rav Moshe refused to put something in writing.