Responsa for Taanit 61:5
שבהן בנות ירושלים כו': ת"ר בת מלך שואלת מבת כהן גדול בת כהן גדול מבת סגן ובת סגן מבת משוח מלחמה ובת משוח מלחמה מבת כהן הדיוט וכל ישראל שואלין זה מזה כדי שלא יתבייש את מי שאין לו:
It has been taught: R'Eliezer the elder says: From the fifteenth of Ab onwards the strength of the sun grows less and they no longer felled trees for the altar, because they would not dry [sufficiently]. R'Menashya said: And they called it the Day of the Breaking of the Axe.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The name signified that there was no longer any need for the woodcutter's axe.');"><sup>5</sup></span>
Shut min haShamayim
They responded: There is a great principle in the kashrut of animals: "One who adds, will have added life, and one who does not add, let him be gathered away." (Taanit 31a.4) It seems from this that one who is stringent is blessed.2The opposite principle is mentioned in Chullin 54a.10, see Mishneh Torah, Shechitah 10.12
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