Tearing Clothes to the Heart for a Father Less Than a Tefach
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Question
A person who needs to tear clothes for a deceased father or mother, and the tearing according to the main law for parents is until the heart, as explained in Shulchan Aruch, Siman 340, Section 9. What is the law if from the edge of the opening to the heart is less than a tefach? Is it enough to tear until the heart, or is a tefach required?
Answer
One is obligated to tear a tefach, and until the heart is an addition to the law of tearing to show that his honor is annulled when his father dies, and it is not to ease but to be stringent, and one who tears less than a tefach, his tearing is not considered tearing.
Source
Responsa Chatam Sofer, Part 2 (Yoreh De'ah), Siman 333: "If from the beginning of the edge to the heart is less than a tefach, one must tear below the heart to the measure of a tefach, and this is simple."
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