<p>rav asher weiss never gave an open heter to hold hands during birth</p> <p>he said that if there would be no other option [i.e. she is hysterical, overcome with fear...] she certainly is a choleh sheyaish bo sakana and holding her hand may be the one thing that calms her. certainly this is included in the heter of yisuva daata [כ"ש מדין נר לסומא ואינו תלוי בתרופות דווקא ופשוט], this refers to holding her hand to comfort her as would her mother, in which case it would not be derech hiba. this was not said as a blanket heter rather as a possible heter in very extreme &nbsp;circumstances. it would be worthwhile to spend a few extra minutes verifying what is said over in a q&amp;a session with laymen, before accussing a prominent rav of permitting the forbidden.</p>

<p>to the anonymous commenter - of course I confirmed with a rav who was there and knows Rav Asher Weiss shlit"a very very well before giving this שיעור. If you have any further information for me or would like to discuss please feel free to contact me offline at [email protected]</p>

<p>I had a chance to speak to Rav Asher Weiss shlit"a directly about the issue of a husband holding a wife's hand during labor. He acknowledged that many people who were there got the impression that he had permitted it, but said that he was misunderstood. He meant to say that holding hands in that context may not be considered to be "derech chibah" and may therefore be permissible for somebody other than the husband. With "ishto nidah" even negiah shelo b'derech chibah is prohibited. Also, he was not willing to say that it is permissible because of "yisuvei da'ata" since there must be some limit on yesuvai da'ata</p>