Message from Joe Orlow

I've had an opportunity to work with Rabbi Eidensohn for a number of years. I am grateful to be able to contribute to his blog, and I want to thank everyone who has visited this blog with its discussions about Torah marriage, family, and divorce.

Rabbi Eidensohn is in Monsey NY, and I am outside Washington DC. Trenton NJ is between Washington and Monsey, and is where a Chilul Hashem is being played out as Rabbis are on public trial for a crime that involved intent to kidnap and torture a man in order to force a  divorce. And during the trial, a prominent Rabbi has submitted a document to the court where he seems to indicate that a Bais Din led by one of the Rabbis on trial was acting according to Halacha when it ordered that a man be beaten to elicit a Get, and thus the man who was going to do the beating should be exonerated.

At first it seemed to be a cabal of a few Rabbis creating a Chilul Hashem by their beatings of husbands for monetary gain or other reasons. Now, based on this and on other research, the Chilul HaShem is that senior rabbis in the United States are openly backing the torture of husbands through humiliating, demonizing, and other ways of forcing a Get.

We say these Rabbis are ignorant of Halacha. The Shulchan Aruch declares such divorces forced with humiliation and loss of jobs to be invalid Gittin. The great Rabbis in Eretz Israel have declared that any woman receiving a Get from a Beth Din that permits coercing husbands in defiance of the Shulchan Aruch must get a kosher Get before she remarries. They have released a "Sefer Mishpitei Yisreol" about this with their signed opinions and that of fifty American geonim and major Torah personalities. You can get the Sefer by calling 845-352-0532.

The Sefer says that because of the rabbis who think it is a Mitzvah to coerce a husband, that in the next generation one may not marry anyone until there is a thorough checking that they are not descended in any way from an invalid Get, a questionable Get, or a Get given by a Beth Din that has lost its license to give Gittin because it strays from the Shulchan Aruch with regard to coercing the husband.

We are sitting on a volcano on the verge of erupting, splitting families and communities asunder, and where in America is this discussed openly other than on this blog? In Philadelphia, a Rosh Yeshiva with a very famous name, is encouraging a married woman to remarry without a Get. He says he has a Heter for allowing this, which every Rabbi I've contacted in this regard -- and I've contacted a number of Rabbis of Batei Din --  has rejected. To be sure, they have not learned the details of the Heter, which is being kept secret; their rejection seems to be based on their not being any possibility of a Heter in this case. If and when this woman in Philly remarries, any baby born from such a marriage will definitely be a Mamzer D'o'rysa. And yet, where are the protestations? Nowhere in America, except this blog.

Rabbi Eidensohn spent many sessions talking personally to Gedolei HaDor of the past generation: Reb Aharon Kotler, Reb Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev, all of them  zt”l, and others. Rabbi Eidensohn insists that we follow the Shulchan Aruch and not coerce husbands. Those who follow the Halacha in matters of divorce and re-marriage will be able to have children who are not doubtful Mamzerim. Other people will find out the hard way what happens.

Rabbi Eidensohn is now organizing a group of men and women who want to keep the Torah as the Gedolim Reb Aharon and Reb Moshe and Reb Elyashev, all of them zt”l, wanted. Participants from all over the United States are eager to keep the Torah from Sinai and to obey the rules of the Shulchan Aruch as taught by earlier generations. Our people who work to further the goal of saving children from being Mamzerim are invited to write guest posts. We ask that no personal attacks be made, but to talk about things that are important for us to know as we seek to educate others.

If you want to get involved in this Holy project, saving the next generation from facing a flood of Mamzerim, call Rabbi Eidensohn at 845-578-1917. The blog has a Pay Pal link. Please make a contribution which is a means of advancing Rabbi Eidensohn's work.

Shalom,

Joe Orlow