Question

Peace unto you,
I hope you are well and haven’t been harmed by the disturbances.
*Thank you for the post about Meron.

It seems to me that you’ve written more than once about institutionalizing the permitting of a prohibition in light of the famous words of the Akedat Yitzhak regarding promiscuity.
So these sources brought by Yabia Omer will surely interest you (you probably know them):

Responsa Yabia Omer, Part I, Orach Chayim, siman 30
And in searching I found in the book Orchot Chayim, in the glosses of Maharshalm (siman 551, se'if katan 30), that he was asked regarding the week of the Ninth of Av, when they do not slaughter in the butcher shops, and because of the fair—if they refrain from selling kosher meat publicly, people will buy non-kosher meat from the gentile shops. He discussed this at length and brought there the words of the Akedat Yitzhak (Gate 20), who was asked about places where sexual immorality is common, and the religious court wanted to seat available prostitutes there so that people should not stumble with a married woman. He answered that every great sin done without authorization of the religious court leaves all Israel innocent, but a small sin done with authorization of the religious court is the sin-offering of the entire community. And this was the sin of Sodom and of the concubine at Gibeah. He concluded (in Akedat Yitzhak) that whoever does not accept this in his mind has no portion or inheritance in the Torah of God. See there. [And these words of the Akedat Yitzhak were also brought in Responsa Maharshalm, part 7 (end of siman 104); in Responsa Darkei Shalom (siman 50, letter 10); in Responsa Meshiv Davar (Yoreh De'ah siman 43); and in Responsa Be'er Chaim Mordechai, part 1 (Yoreh De'ah siman 40), part 2 (Yoreh De'ah siman 21), and part 3 (Even HaEzer siman 49). See there.] All the more so since these sinners eat the meat without salting, and in mixtures of meat and milk, etc. Therefore it is not proper to abolish an established custom for their sake. End of the words of Maharshalm. And one may add another example, something also common in these wretched generations: young men and women going around together, behaving licentiously with one another, especially dancing at celebrations, where the matter has become as if permitted, to our great sorrow—and especially when they are engaged. The great sage Rabbi Yonatan already cried out about this like a town crier in his book Ya'arot Devash, and in Responsa Me'il Tzedakah (siman 19). See there. And in Responsa Zikhron Yosef Steinhart (Orach Chayim siman 17) he elaborated on this and brought support from what is written in Jeremiah 31:12: “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and young men and old together”—and not virgins and young men together. See there. And so too in Sefer Chasidim (siman 168). See there. And see further in the homilies of the Tzelach (homily 29), and in Responsa Yehuda Ya'aleh Asad (Orach Chayim siman 91), and likewise in Sdei Chemed (entry: Bride and Groom, letter 12). And according to that man of God, one should tremble at the severity of the prohibition, since they are virgin women who are menstruants, and this is an accessory of forbidden sexual relations, for which one must be killed rather than transgress. See there. And it never entered anyone’s mind to permit virgins nowadays to immerse in a ritual bath, so that they should not stumble in the severe sin of niddah and instead be judged merely as involving an unmarried woman. And well known is the responsum of the Rivash (siman 425), brought in Beit Yosef, Yoreh De'ah (end of siman 183), that they made a fence in this matter so that virgins should not immerse, lest people come to stumble with them, since the prohibition of an unmarried woman is light in the eyes of the masses. See there. Therefore it seems that the Sages were not concerned with making an enactment for sinners, but only with saving those who tremble at the word of God from the net of the evil inclination, as it is said: “The ways of the Lord are upright; the righteous walk in them and sinners stumble in them.”

(16) And likewise, in a holy place I saw in Sdei Chemed, Pe'at HaSadeh (entry: The Three Weeks, siman 1, letter 8), who brought the words of Rabbi She'eilat Shalom, part 2 (siman 96), who was also asked regarding meat in the week of the Ninth of Av, and he too concluded that one must not permit it at all. And Sdei Chemed wrote that this was also the view of the gaon Rabbi Y.Z. Stern of Shawlow. His responsum was printed in Responsa Zekher Yehosef (siman 199). See there. And so ruled the gaon of Satmar in Responsa Zikhron Yehuda (siman 178), regarding the week of the Ninth of Av. See there. (And I saw in Responsa Zekher Yehosef that he wrote this also regarding our case. And so too in Sdei Chemed, entry: Jewish Holiday, and in Divrei Chachamim (siman 130). See there. And so ruled in Responsa HaRavaz (end of siman 115). See there.) Now I heard that in the last generation they were lenient in Alexandria to slaughter animals in the week in which the Ninth of Av falls, and to sell meat publicly for the above reason, and it seems that this is not with the approval of the sages. As was written similarly in Responsa She'eilat Shalom, part 2 (siman 96), that heaven forbid one breach the fence set by the earlier authorities, for then the people will break out excessively; and if they say that such is the custom in Iași, certainly this was not done with the approval of the sages, etc. See there. And all the more so in our times, when every butcher shop has electric refrigerators, and meat slaughtered before the holiday is as fresh as on the day it was bought; its eye has not dimmed and its moisture has not fled. And those accursed people who have opened their mouths without restraint, threatening to buy non-kosher meat, come only with a pretext; they will always concoct charges and mock the messengers of God, and we should pay them no heed. All the more so since the custom in Egypt is to be lenient and eat poultry in the week of the Ninth of Av, as written in Nehar Mitzrayim (folio 36a). If so, even one who is an apostate out of appetite does not abandon the permitted and eat the forbidden (Chullin 4). And likewise on a Jewish holiday. [Afterward I saw in Responsa Harei Besamim, part 1 (siman 58), that he concluded one may permit slaughtering cattle in the slaughterhouse from the New Moon of Av until the fast in a place where there is concern that people will come to eat carcasses and non-kosher meat. See there. Nevertheless, in our case it is only for one day, and there are electric refrigerators, so that rabbi too would agree that it should be forbidden, as above.]

(17) And it is obvious that this is unrelated to what the halakhic decisors disputed: whether one excommunicates transgressors when there is concern that by doing so they will go off into evil ways. See Rema in Yoreh De'ah (beginning of siman 334), and Taz, and see Pitchei Teshuvah there. For there we are doing something by positive action—excommunicating the sinner (and even so, the view of most later authorities is like the Rema, to excommunicate him). But here we are not doing an action; rather we sit passively and refrain from slaughtering on these days, because there is concern also for the stumbling of innocent people, and a breach calls to the thief. All the more so since it is a stumbling block for the many. See Tosafot, Shabbat 4. And see Responsa Ta'alumot Lev, part 3 (siman 29), and according to what was explained there is room to distinguish between the subjects. And see further on this in the words of the gaon Rabbi Shlomo Kluger in Responsa Tuv Ta'am VaDa'at, part 1 (siman 230), s.v. “And what he wrote.” And see Responsa Maharam Brisk, part 2 (end of siman 96), in the name of Responsa Harei Besamim (siman 38), who wrote that if we permit a woman to immerse by day (because of her threats that if we do not allow her she will live with her husband in prohibition without immersion), there is concern that the stumbling will multiply, because other women will learn from her, etc. See there. And see further Responsa Meshiv Davar (Yoreh De'ah simanim 43–44), Responsa Or Li (siman 133), Responsa Beit She'arim (Yoreh De'ah siman 425), and Responsa Be'er Chaim Mordechai (part 1, Yoreh De'ah siman 40; part 2, siman 21; and part 3, end of siman 49). See there. Elsewhere we have written more about this, and this is not the place to elaborate.

(18) There is also an additional prohibition in our case, since the animals belong to gentiles. According to several halakhic decisors, it is forbidden to slaughter a gentile’s animal on the assumption that they will buy it after slaughter for Jewish use if it turns out kosher, as written in Responsa Shev Ya'akov and brought in the responsum Avnei Milu'im (siman 2:3). He likewise concluded as a matter of Jewish law that one may not slaughter a gentile’s animal from the outset, even though a Jew acquires it afterward, unless there is necessity for this—and not like the early Noda B'Yehuda (Orach Chayim siman 29), who is lenient in this. Thus far his words. And see further in Responsa Zekher Yehosef (siman 199), who brought in the name of Responsa Gur Aryeh Yehuda that he also wrote to strengthen the words of Shev Ya'akov in this. See there. However, it appears that the main ruling follows the lenient view of Noda B'Yehuda, for so is proven from the aforementioned Responsa Rashba (siman 681). This was already discussed in Responsa Dei HaShev (siman 14), regarding the words of Shev Ya'akov, that they are contrary to the responsum of Rashba. See there. And they also noted this in Responsa Imrei Binah (laws of Jewish Holiday, siman 5), and in Responsa Maharam Schick (siman 273). So too in Responsa Chaim Shel Shalom, part 2 (siman 74), that the main ruling here follows Noda B'Yehuda. See there. And see further in Responsa Sha'arei De'ah (siman 14), Responsa Meshivat Nefesh (siman 19), Sdei Chemed (entry: Jewish Holiday), Divrei Chachamim (siman 130), and Da'at Torah, Orach Chayim (siman 498:11), what else they wrote on this. See there. Still, I remain with the first point: there is no room to uphold such a custom, from which several outright prohibitions follow. And praises to blessed God who helped us and gave us strength to overcome all the obstacles, and the custom has now continued that on a Jewish holiday they slaughter only poultry. May God help us for the sake of the honor of His name, and enlighten our eyes in His holy Torah, Amen. He who looks for the salvation of God soon, Ovadia Yosef, may his light shine.