Some poskim were mattir returning a brief handshake in a professional context based on the Yerushalmi that says “ain yetzer hara matzui l’sha’ah” and that the such a handshake would not be considered “derech chiba.” R’ Reuvein Feinstein, shlit”a, reportedly said that R’ Moshe, zt”l, was mattir returning a woman’s handshake in a case where she would otherwise be embarrassed. R’ Ya’akov Kaminetzky, zt”l, wrote “tzarich iyun” in such a case where returning a handshake would be necessary to avoid embarrassing someone. As Areivim wrote, refusing to return a handshake won’t necessarily cause embarrassment, in which case both R’ Moshe and R’ Ya’akov were inclined to assur returning the handshake.
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