How To Fix the Tamar Mess?
taken from my comments on my brother's blog
Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn
The above article [in my brother's blog written by a Cons rabbi] contains: "In its recent article, the Forward quoted Rabbi Aharon Feldman of Baltimore’s Ner Israel Yeshiva as calling for the former agunah (whose original marriage, and therefore whose status as an agunah, he deems to remain intact) to leave her new husband. Rabbi Feldman declares any future children born to the Fleischers to be mamzerim — “bastards”— themselves forever debarred from marriage to “legitimate” Jews. Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn similarly is quoted as describing the dissolution of Ms. Epstein’s first marriage as “a sad joke based on a clear corruption and misuse of halachic principles,” and declaring Ms. Epstein an “adulteress.”
I want to clarify something. Technically, Ms. Epstein is an "adulteress." But she only followed, like a good Jewish woman, the teachings of her rebbes, the Kaminetskys. Her father was a pious man who was greatly admired by everyone but when he died her father became the Kaminetskies. They, and they alone, are responsible for her being an "adulteress" and if she has a child, all of the rabbis have declared it would be a "Mamzer." The "mamzer maker" will be the Kaminetskies. Now this is a very important fact. Let me explain.
The proper solution that everyone wants is for the three rabbis involved in this to tell Tamar it was a mistake and that she must leave her husband, at least long enough to settle with a GET and avoid mamzeruth. Since these three rabbis are busy inventing the Torah, they will have no trouble doing this. But what will they tell Tamar? Will they tell her that they made a mistake? And now that she may be pregnant, what will she say? How will she feel? And how will her mother feel? If the three rabbis do this, what will people think about them? That is why it will probably never happen. And one mamzer after the other will be born.
I merely want to point out the pain involved for RSK to admit to Tamar that he was wrong, which basically means that he is not the Gadol perfect rabbi he thought he was, and I don't see that happening so fast. I surely hope and pray that I am completely wrong.
There is another factor here. You have two ninety year old rabbis who are getting a lot of pressure. We have to pray for them to stay healthy until they take the terrible step of admitting their mistake to Tamar, which is really a heroic deed. They are the only ones who can fix this, and for that, they must be healthy enough to be alive!
I want to clarify something. Technically, Ms. Epstein is an "adulteress." But she only followed, like a good Jewish woman, the teachings of her rebbes, the Kaminetskys. Her father was a pious man who was greatly admired by everyone but when he died her father became the Kaminetskies. They, and they alone, are responsible for her being an "adulteress" and if she has a child, all of the rabbis have declared it would be a "Mamzer." The "mamzer maker" will be the Kaminetskies. Now this is a very important fact. Let me explain.
The proper solution that everyone wants is for the three rabbis involved in this to tell Tamar it was a mistake and that she must leave her husband, at least long enough to settle with a GET and avoid mamzeruth. Since these three rabbis are busy inventing the Torah, they will have no trouble doing this. But what will they tell Tamar? Will they tell her that they made a mistake? And now that she may be pregnant, what will she say? How will she feel? And how will her mother feel? If the three rabbis do this, what will people think about them? That is why it will probably never happen. And one mamzer after the other will be born.
I merely want to point out the pain involved for RSK to admit to Tamar that he was wrong, which basically means that he is not the Gadol perfect rabbi he thought he was, and I don't see that happening so fast. I surely hope and pray that I am completely wrong.
There is another factor here. You have two ninety year old rabbis who are getting a lot of pressure. We have to pray for them to stay healthy until they take the terrible step of admitting their mistake to Tamar, which is really a heroic deed. They are the only ones who can fix this, and for that, they must be healthy enough to be alive!
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