Senior Rabbis Make Mamzerim – Why?

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn/eidensohnd@gmail.com/845-578-1917

We have worked hard recently to refute the incredible distortions of halacha by Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky who permitted Tamar Epstein Freidman to remarry without a GET. It took weeks after the sinful remarriage of Tamar Epstein Friedman to arouse some senior rabbis to protest. This blog began serious protests long before then. It was always obvious that the rabbis who guided Tamar Epstein Friedman had an agenda that was not in the Shulchan Aruch. But the fact that nobody but me and my brother protested proved to most people that the senior rabbis who declared that Tamar did not need a GET were perhaps correct. For long months my blog produced limited interest. Finally, when senior rabbis began saying what I was saying for years, that without a GET Tamar would produce mamzerim, my blog shot up. At last, people realized that I was right and that the prominent rabbis who encouraged Tamar to remarry without a GET were wrong.

We are not here to rest on our laurels. True, we publicly stressed the true Shulchan Aruch long before anyone else came along publicly.  But what has been achieved? As of this writing, nothing. Tamar is still with a strange man. The rabbis who are responsible for her remarriage have not publicly recanted. Surely some women will decide to remarry without a GET, based upon these rabbis and what they did. We want to discuss here two things: One is where are we now with prominent rabbis defying the Shulchan Aruch, and two, where will we be down the road with prominent rabbis defying the Shulchan Aruch?

First, where are we now with prominent rabbis defying the Shulchan Aruch? We know of course about Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky and their ideas about Tamar. Some may think this is an unusual thing. But it is not an unusual thing. Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, the rabbi of Baltimore, is a major sponsor of ORA, the organization that humiliates and coerces husbands to giving a GET. Such a GET is likely a coerced GET that is invalid and the children born from it are possibly mamzerim. I called him up and asked him about this, and he told me something that showed he did not know the Shulchan Aruch. He is not the only one.

The last few years I have been involved in heavy wars with very prominent Rosh Yeshivas and poskim about coerced Gittin. There were two very famous cases where two prominent families had a war. The prominent rabbis of one side published letters signed by many prominent rabbis that everyone should humiliate the husband and shame him and cause him pain and distress until he gives a GET.  I protested that this violates a Rashbo VII:414 that there are husbands who are commanded by the Talmud to divorce their wives and they must do it. If these husbands are living sinfully with a relative say an aunt or sister, we force the GET even with beatings. But if the husband is unable to have children and to make the wife  happy in marriage, although the Talmud commands him to divorce his wife, it is forbidden to do three things: We may not put him in cherem, we may not physically attack him, and we may not humiliate him. On the other hand, says the Rashbo, a woman who demands a divorce from her husband because he disgusts her cannot force the husband to divorce her. “If he wants to, he divorces her, and if he does not want to, he does not divorce her.” Therefore, all of the these ladies who demand a GET because they despise or hate their husbands have no legal right to coerce the husband and if they do coerce the husband, then the GET is invalid. The Rashbo is quoted by the Shulchan Aruch, Ramo, Gro, Chelkas Mechokake and Beis Shmuel as the halacha in EH 77 paragraphs 2 and 3. Nobody disagrees. But Rabbi Heinemann disagrees.

The Chazon Ish even says that if a Beth Din commands such a husband to give a GET and he gives it, thinking that the Beth Din was only following the Shulchan Aruch, but in this case there was no law that the husband must give a GET, the GET is invalid for two reasons: it is a forced GET forced by the pesak of Beth Din, and it is a GET given by mistake, because the husband was wrong in assuming that the Beth Din was correct in their ruling that he must give a GET.  (Chazon Ish EH Gittin 99:2)

But how many Beth Dins and prominent rabbis violate this and command husbands to give a GET when they feel the marriage is over? How many humiliate husbands who refuse to give a GET only because the wife demands a GET and claims she despises her husband? We mentioned above Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, but there are many others.

The problem with Rabbis Greenblatt, Kaminetsky, Heinemann, etc. is one problem: Today, once a person considers himself a Gadol, he ignores the Shulchan Aruch. He and others assume that whatever he says is right, Shulchan Aruch or not.

So, what is going on today? People who achieve a certain status as Rosh Yeshivas or Rabbonim make up halacha. And nobody dares to challenge them. And if they produce invalid Gittin, they produce mamzerim. Rabbi Heinemann on ORA’s website called upon everyone to support an organization ORA because it forced 150 men to give a GET with public humiliation and public demonstrations. But a coerced GET is an invalid GET. And the invalid GET turns children into mamzerim. See the Rashbo I mentioned above. Here is a prominent rabbi congratulating those who make mamzerim and asks people to support them!

And what will happen tomorrow? It is likely be much worse, unless we really make it clear that mamzer makers are not Gedolim. But who will make that clear?

Somebody noted that it used to be that any woman whose husband would not give a GET could hire Epstein to torture the husband and give a GET for sixty thousand dollars. But after the Trenton trial when the FBI caught Epstein and his crew, people won’t do this anymore. Therefore, the only hope for some women is to find a rabbi who doesn’t believe in Gittin, or who twists halacha as Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky do. Is that going to be the wave of the future? It depends if we fight it and make it clear that Tamar and  others who follow the wrong rabbis are going to have children we consider mamzerim, and that this will be widely publicized.

I heard from Gedolei haDor of this and past generations that there is something wrong with the Yeshiva system. The enormous amount of divorces, broken families, broken children, and broken parents, is just growing and growing. There is obviously something very wrong when people who come from the finest families and attend the finest schools and have fine children tear each other part in divorce battles, in Beth Din and in secular court, without permission of Beth Din.

The Yeshiva system is designed to produce Gedolim. Once somebody has achieved this, and is considered a Gadol, whether as Rosh Yeshiva or Posek, he has achieved what the Yeshiva taught him to achieve. The Yeshiva did not teach him to achieve clear knowledge of the Shulchan Aruch and the poskim, because the vast majority of Yeshiva students are not trained in serious halacha. I have spoken to prominent poskim, Dayanim, etc., and they told me very strongly that husbands must give a GET upon demand. I asked them what they did with the Shulchan Aruch EH 77 par 2 and 3. They admitted that they had not learned it. But they pasken Gittin regularly as Dayanim.

When a “Gadol” thinks something is right, it becomes “Daas Torah,” even if it openly conflicts with the Shulchan Aruch and poskim. Rabbi Gedaliah Schwartz, the senior rabbi of the Modern Orthodox, told me that a frumeh couple married by an Orthodox rabbi and who lived together for a month could separate without a GET and remarry. I had asked him why he sent them away without giving them a GET and he told me “because there was no biah.” I asked him how he knew there was no biah as biah acquires in ways that there are no tears. He had no answer. But the amazing thing in my discussion with him was that he did not know what every person who studies the gemora or Shulchan Aruch knows, that a woman is acquired in marriage without biah, either through a ring or something of value, or a document (shtar). (Shulchan Aruch Kiddushin 26:4) And this ignoramus is considered the major authority of the RCA.

I once had somebody ask Rabbi Herschel Schachter of YU for his source to force husbands to divorce with public humiliation. He replied, “Rabbi Gedaliah Schwartz”. Can we rely on Gittin from such “rabbis”?

Mamzer Makers Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky: Are They  Gedolim or the Opposite?

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn/Wed 29 Cheshvan 5776/845-578-1917/eidensohnd@gmail.com

There is great joy in the Torah community that after weeks of silence some major rabbonim are presenting their views on the Tamar Epstein Friedman remarriage with no GET. My brother’s blog daattorah.blogspot.com features them and more rabbis are anticipated to weigh in with their criticisms soon. I was the first one to attack Rabbis Kaminetsky and Greenblatt in America and my brother in Israel was the first one to anticipate and refute what he assumed was the reason for their allowing Tamar to remarry without a GET, something confirmed by  others later on. Both of us worked for weeks attacking the remarriage without a GET but no prominent rabbis signed up. Now this is being rectified Baruch HaShem; and we anticipate more rabbis soon. What I want to do here is to ask What Did They Say? I feel there is some confusion here, at least with most of the protests.

Let us review the major rabbis posted on my brother’s blog daattorah.blogspot.com. First we mention the four prominent rabbis HaGaonim Reb Shlomo Miller, Rav Eli Ber Wachtfogel,  Rav Moshe Green, and Rav Yechiel Tauber. This group of senior scholars refers to Rabbi Greenblatt not as Rabbi but  as “Rabbi” meaning he is not even a rabbi. It also says that all who permit such things are “those who teach Torah falsely” which seems to include RSK and his son. HaGaon Rav Gestetner writes: “It was later announced that Tamar was married to Adam Fleischer by Rabbi Nota Greenblatt from Memphis, Tennessee. We protest at this terrible breach of the walls of our holy Torah that was heretofore unheard of amongst the Orthodox, but known only amongst the Reform. Anyone taking any part of this breach to permit what has been prohibited throughout the generations completely rejects the Torah and mocks the words of the Sages.

Therefore, pursuant to our holy Torah, we announce that the Rabbi Nota Greenblatt is an uprooter of the Torah, similar to the Reform movement.  He must be completely separated from the Jewish community, and his Jewish Law teachings, his bread and his wine are prohibited.  This is also the status of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, as all who have the authority to protest this matter and do not do so are held culpable.  Without his approval this would not have happened and it is clear that he bears responsibility for this terrible matter.

We also announce: Jewish Law is clear that Tamar is still married to Aharon and that Tamar and Adam Fleischer are violating the prohibition of another man living with a married woman. Any children born to Adam and Tamar will be considered complete “mamzerim” until the end of generations.  And there is an obligation to pronounce this.

Tamar must leave both men and is prohibited to either forever.  Before Tamar separates from Adam Fleischer through receiving a get, it is prohibited for Aharon to give a get to Tamar.  And even after Tamar receives a get from Adam there is no obligation on Aharon to give a get before Tamar agrees to an appropriate custody arrangement. Any children born by Tamar from Adam even after Tamar receives a get are mamzerim according to the rabbis.  There is an obligation to encourage them to separate. Signed, this first day of the week of “Vateshachais haaretz lifnei Elokim” [the earth was destroyed before Hashem] [Noach], 28 Tishrei, 5776,Monsey New York, Beis Din Shar Hamishpat

Posted by Daas Torah at 12

So far, the protesting rabbis utterly denigrated Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky. One put them in cherem and the other considered them as lacking in the ability to be a posek. Now let us turn to the other protests who also agreed that what was done makes mamzerim, but they spoke much differently about Rabbis  Greenblatt and Kaminetsky.

Here are the words of Rabbi Shternbuch in my brother’s English translation. The Hebrew is on his blog daattorah.blogspot.com. It begins:

“This is in regards to the recently publicized psak of one of the gedolim (an American rosh yeshiva) together with an American posek. The psak freed a woman from marriage without a Get despite the fact that she had lived with her first husband for an extended period of time and she had born a daughter from him. But now a therapist claims that the husband suffers from mental illness that had existed prior to their marriage. Therefore these two rabbis paskened that they had determined that the marriage was a mistake (mekach ta'os) and that therefore the woman was free to marry immediately without needing a Get. And in fact they [the posek] officiated at a wedding for her without her receiving a Get.

“And I saw the teshuva that ‘freed’ her. I hate to say this but the teshuva is total nonsense.”

The confusion is as follows: It begins by saying that the rabbis are Gedolim and then says that “the teshuva is total nonsense.” How can somebody who writes a teshuva that is “total nonsense” be considered a Gadol?

Rabbi Shternbuch continues, “In fact in many cases of divorce, the wife brings a therapist's opinion to beis din, that the husband suffers from mental illness that was a pre-existing condition. Therefore according to the view of these two rabbis there would be no need for a Get (G-d forbid!) in those cases! Such an approach is destructive to Judaism and uproots the basic laws governing Jewish marriage. And this that they claim that they are merely basing themselves on the views of Rav Moshe Feinstein – that is total nonsense.” Now, can Gedolim and poskim pasken something that is total nonsense?

And I have another point that most people don’t realize. The only posek who permits a person with severe deficiencies to be removed from a marriage is Reb Moshe Feinstein. He admits that gedolim of all of the generations disagreed with him and forbade the woman to remarry without a GET, and yet he permits it in certain extreme cases. But he makes a condition: This is only when the husband won’t give a GET. If the husband will give a GET, even if the wife has to give in to his demands in the most painful way, she may not remarry. So how can Rabbi Greenblatt, a disciple of Reb Moshe, permit the woman to remarry without a GET when nobody in the world would permit it? And if two rabbis permit a woman to remarry without a GET with claims that are “total nonsense” how can they be considered Gedolim? And note this. The  terms “total nonsense is used twice, once regarding the basic teshuva that permitted the remarriage, and the other thing is the claim of the two “Gedolim” that Reb Moshe Feinstein would permit Tamar to remarry. Somebody who makes up lies in the name of Reb Moshe Feinstein who writes clearly in Igeres Moshe that a husband who wants to give a GET but wants severe conditions, Reb Moshe does not permit remarriage even if the husband is hideously impossible to live with. So here we have “nonsense” and lies, and a scholarship that is far below the level of a Gadol.

                Rabbi Shternbuch concludes, “It is important, therefore that it be publicized that the heter of these rabbis for her to remarry is totally worthless and has no basis. Consequently she is still married to the first husband in every respect and therefore any children born from her relation to the second husband are clearly mamzerim. I have no peace of mind because I have not heard protests against this false heter - which is against G-d's honor and His Torah.”

                Here again we ask, “If people make a heter that is “totally worthless and has no basis” and is a “false heter”,are they “Gedolim”?

We turn now to the protest of Rabbi Aharon Feldman.

Rabbi Aharon Freedman Attacks Heter of Rabbi Greenblatt

Rabbi Aharon Feldman writes, “A few weeks ago, one of the most authoritative and distinguished rabbis in America [Rav Nota Greenblatt] permitted her to marry another man - and even performed the ceremony himself - without her receiving a Get from her husband. I asked this great rabbi what was his justification? He responded that the basis of his ruling, that she could marry another man, was an expert psychiatrist's report that had been given him. The psychiatrist had concluded that the husband (Aharon Friedman) suffered from the personality disorders of Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD) and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) from the beginning of their marriage. Furthermore the psychiatrist claimed that these personality disorders were incurable. On the basis of this information, the distinguished rabbi concluded that the marriage was retroactively annulled based on the halachic principle of mekach ta'os (mistaken acquisition).”

At the end of his remarks Rabbi Feldman says, “In addition to the danger posed because the heter has been produced by Rabbi Greenblatt, in the eyes of the public Rabbi Greenblatt  is viewed as being supported in producing the heter by one of the senior rosh yeshivos (Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky) of the present generation as well as his son ( Rabbi Sholom Kaminetsky) who is also a distinguished Torah scholar. Despite the fact that the Kaminetskys deny this, there is no question that many will rely on these rumors to permit the nullification of the status of being a married woman by means of this heter. That is because they think gedolim have clearly supported this heter.” Here again we have Gedolim, this time Rabbis Shmuel and Shalom Kaminetsky, called Gedolim. And yet, what they have done defies, as the lengthy letter of Rabbi Feldman proves, basic logic and Torah teachings. These are “Gedolim”?

When I learned by Gedolim Reb Aharon Kotler, Reb Moshe Feinstein and Reb Shmuel HaLevi Wosner all of the zt”l, and I made a mistake, I caught it. But when a person is a “Gadol” and makes mamzerim, that  is something else.

But one of the signers against Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky told me that there is method to the madness.

There are two approaches to use when attacking Tamar’s remarriage. One is that of completely denigrating the rabbis responsible for it, such as was done with two of the above protests. The other is the approach of another two protesters, to protest very strongly and declare that children will be mamzerim, and yet, to speak highly of the rabbis who did it. As I pointed out, if rabbis make such an error to make mamzerim, do we call them “gedolim” and other such titles? But this rabbi explained to me the reasoning.

Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky must be brought to understand that what they did was wrong. If they do this, we can hope that other rabbis will be afraid to repeat what they did. But if Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky are insulted and they continue to believe they are right, they will make more mamzerim. Furthermore, their students and disciples and those who look to them for guidance will  accept negation of marriage without a GET. Then Klal Yisroel will be split in two some considering the others side mamzerim. Others believe that if these two rabbis are not destroyed, they will continue their evil ways. 

Tamar Epstein: Translation of protest by R Shlomo Miller, R E B Wachtfogel, R Moshe Green and R Yechiel Tauber

Tamar Epstein: Translation of protest by R Shlomo Miller, R E B Wachtfogel, R Moshe Green and R Yechiel Tauber

English translation from my brother's blog daattorah.blogspot.com

This is concerning the uproar regarding the case of Tamar Epstein the wife of Aharon Friedman. He has refused to give her a Get for many years because of unresolved issues regarding custody of their daughter.  The facts of the case of been investigated and established by Rav Aharon Feldman. 

There is a "rav" [R Nota Greenblatt] who has given Tamar a heter to remarry without a Get. He  said the marriage was annulled retroactively because of the principle of mekach ta'os (mistaken acquistion). The reason for the mekach ta'os he claims is that the husband (Aharon) suffers from the personality disorders of Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD_ and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD).

However this explanation is not adequate justification for annulling the marriage - since it is obvious that there are many people who have such personality disorders and yet are still able to have a successful marriage. In fact I asked two psychotherapists about this and they both said that these personality disorders are not mental illness but are simply personality traits. Thus there is absolutely no justification to declare the marriage annulled because of mekach ta'os. Furthermore the Beis Din of Baltimore - which is the only beis din that has been authorized by both side and they both appeared before it - has said that there is no sign of mental illness in the husband.

And if as a result of this "psak", reckless and irresponsible rabbis permit other woman to remarry it would mean that there will never be a need for a Get again. That is because the wife will simply claim that she has discovered that her husband has a serious personality problem and that she would have never agreed to marry him if she had known about it before the marriage. As a result of this mistaken reasoning - G-d forbid- it will result in multiplying the number of mamzerim in the Jewish people.

 Besides the above objections to the heter, it is a fact that they remained living together for an extended period of time and she never claimed that her marriage was a mistake -mekach ta'os. And in addition even after the therapist wrote that her husband had these "incurable" personality disorders - she remained living with him for a period of 4 months. Given these facts it is obvious that even if in fact that her husband has this defect of mental illness  (but as we noted before it is not a defect that justifies annulling the marriage ) it is clear that she was able to accept him as a husband and therefore the marriage can not be considered inherently mistaken (mekach ta'os).

Today it is widespread that reckless and irresponsible people who want to resolve every case of aguna by simply saying that the marriage is a mistaken marriage (mekach ta'os). As a result of such an approach the Torah (G-d forbid!) will be deserted and no one will be concerned with the truth as to what the halacha really is. It will be sufficient for these people that they can find some sort of rabbi who will declare that they are free from their marriage and it doesn't concern them whether the rabbi is following the halacha or not.

Today when  the Jewish people is in mortal danger from the sword of the Arabs, we need to ask what sin has brought about these types of afflictions? I am not a prophet  or even the son of a prophet and I don't have esoteric knowledge - but I do know something about the words of our Sages. The sword comes to the world because of those who rebel against the Torah and distort its teaching against the halacha. There is no greater rebellion and distortion of the Torah than to say that it is permitted for a married woman to marry someone else without first receiving a Get from her husband.

In summary, this married woman Tamar Epstein is prohibited to her second husband because she married him without first obtaining a Get from her first husband. Consequently all children she has from her second husband are mamzerim and can not marry other Jews.

Signed in anguish because of the terrible destruction and the public chilul haShem

Rav Shlomo Miller
Rav E B. Wachtfogel
Rav Moshe Green
Rav Yechiel Tauber

Hagaon Rav Moshe Shternbuch shlit"o Severely Attacks Rabbis N. Greenblatt and S. Kaminetsky for Heter of Tamar to Remarry

Translation of letter from Gayed HaGaon Reb Moshe Shternbuch shlit"o by my brother Rabbi Dr. Daniel Eidensohn of Jerusalem

---

Rav Moshe Sternbuch

Protest against heter for Tamar Epstein to remarry without a Get

This is in regards to the recently publicized psak of one of the gedolim (an American rosh yeshiva) together with an American posek. The psak freed a woman from marriage without a Get despite the fact that she had lived with her first husband for an extended period of time and she had born a daughter from him. But now a therapist claims that the husband suffers from mental illness that had existed prior to their marriage. Therefore these two rabbis paskened that they had determined that the marriage was a mistake (mekach ta'os) and that therefore the woman was free to marry immediately without needing a Get. And in fact they [the posek] officiated at a wedding for her without her receiving a Get.

And I saw the teshuva that "freed" her. I hate to say this but the teshuva is total nonsense. Taking the approach of this teshuva it is possible to destroy the whole framework of halachic marriage. For example, if a spouse is found to have cancer – something which begins to develop a long time before it is discovered by the doctors – it would be possible according to the logic of this teshuva to declare that the marriage is a mistake (mekach ta'os) and thus never existed. Similarly there are thousands of other cases of problems that develop prior to marriage but are only discovered after marriage. 

In fact in many cases of divorce, the wife brings a therapist's opinion to beis din, that the husband suffers from mental illness that was a pre-existing condition. Therefore according to the view of these two rabbis there would be no need for a Get (G-d forbid!) in those cases! Such an approach is destructive to Judaism and uproots the basic laws governing Jewish marriage. And this that they claim that they are merely basing themselves on the views of Rav Moshe Feinstein – that is total nonsense. The present case is not comparable to Rav Moshe's cases. But this is not the place to go into the details.

When a certain Religious Zionistic rabbi declared the he had found a heter for  a person who had the status of a mamzer to marry, the Minchas Yitzchok (Dayan Weiss) gathered the people together and they sat on the ground and tore their clothing as a sign of mourning. It is explained in Kiddushin (13a) that when a married woman is declared to be free of her married status against the halacha, G-d becomes very angry and brings about punishment which is greater than that of the Generation of the Flood. To the degree that even the fish in the sea are destroyed.

It is important, therefore that it be publicized that the heter of these rabbis for her to remarry is totally worthless and has no basis. Consequently she is still married to the first husband in every respect and therefore any children born from her relation to the second husband are clearly mamzerim. I have no peace of mind because I have not heard protests against this false heter - which is against G-d's honor and His Torah.

I heard from the Brisker Rav that when there is a serious problem that it be  dealt with by issuing a categorical prohibition without giving detailed explanations. That is because if a reason for the objections are given, then it is possible for someone to argue and say they are wrong. Therefore also in this case, I am not coming forth except to encourage he who protests the heter and sanctifies G-d's name.  His reward is exceedingly great.

Protest Against Heter of Tamar by Geonim Rav Shlomo Miller, Rav Eli Ber Wachtfogel, Rav Moshe Green, Rav Yechiel Tauber

This letter is copied from my brother's blog daattorah.blogspot.com and was vouched for by Reb Shalom Miller, son of Rav Shlomo Miller. Rav Miller is the posek of Lakewood Yeshiva and has a Yeshiva in Toronto. Rav Eli Ber Wachtfogel has a prominent Yeshiva in upstate New York. Rav Moshe Green is the senior Rov and Rosh Yeshiva of Monsey, NY. Rav Yechiel Tauber is the head of Mochon LiHora in Monsey. Dovid Eidensohn.

May Tamar Remarry Her First Husband? A Message for Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn/845-578-1917/eidensohnd@gmail.com  8/11/2015

My brother’s daattorah.blogspot.com revealed letters from Senior Rabbis Moshe Shternbuch, Aharon Feldman and Leibish Landesman opposing Rabbi Greenblatt’s marrying Tamir Epstein Friedman to a strange man while she was still married to Aharon Friedman. The Senior rabbis  ruled that her children from the second man would be mamzerim. I surely agree with this and have been saying this for weeks, even though until now I was the only one saying it publicly on my blog torahhalacha.blogspot.com in America and my brother the only one saying it publicly in Israel . I will also mention that my brother 1) guessed what the reasoning of Rabbi Greenblatt was before any of the facts dribbled out and 2) showed that the reasoning has nothing to do with halacha. And finally he received proofs that he was right on both points.

As I publish this post on my blog and send it to my mailing list I am aware that soon new voices will be added to the above list of Senior rabbis who disagree with Rabbi Greenblatt.  At that point, people will undoubtedly realize that Tamar Epstein Freidman married out of wedlock and that her children will be mamzerim from the second husband.

This has led to a question: The Rashbo in 1189 says that if a Beth Din erred and told a married woman that she may remarry without a GET, she may return to her first husband because she is ONUSE, a forced person, and did not sin willingly. If so, perhaps in Tamar’s case she is also to be considered ONUSE and technically would be permitted to return to her husband Aharon.  Tamar was told by Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky that she could remarry without a GET. Is this the same as the Beth Din in the Rashbo’s case that permitted the woman to remarry?

I responded as follows: First of all, the situation with Tamar was without a Beth Din. No Beth Din received the couple, in this case, Aharon and Tamar, to hear both of them out and decide whether a GET was needed. A Beth Din must hear both sides equally, as stated in Choshen Mishpot 17:1,7. It is inferred from a posuk in the Torah בצדק תשפוט עמיתך in Rambam Sanhedrin 21:1. Radvaz there brings a Sifro that it is a lav לא תלך רגיל בעמך. Also, see Rambam רמב"ם סנהדרין כ' יב' כל המטה משפט אחד מישראל עובר בלאו אחד שנאמר לא תעשו עול כמשפט עכ"ל

Did Rabbi Greenblatt have three people who listened to Aharon and Tamar? And when he paskened without proper Beth Din proceedings, did he not violate the Torah? Rambam says that a Beth Din that does not follow proper procedure by treating both sides equally has violated a mitsvas Eseh בצדק תשפוט עמיתך San21:1. But Rambam says a bit earlier there (20:12) that the sin is worse than that, not an ESEH but a LAV -   כל המטה משפט אחד מישראל עובר בלאו אחד שנאמר לא תעשו עול במשפט. The solution to this contradiction is that if the Beth Din did not damage anyone but simply did not follow proper Beth Din proceedings, it sins only with an ESEH, a positive command. But if it sins by damaging somebody, it sins with a negative command a LAV which is worse.  Obviously, taking somebody’s wife away without proper judicial procedures is the greatest twisting of justice and Rabbi Greenblatt sinned with the positive and negative command of a rabbi who judges people and twists the judgment. He also caused damage to Tamar in the worst way of turning her into an adulteress and her new children to be mamzerim.

More to the point: Did Rabbi Greenblatt even talk to Aharon? Did he talk to Tamar himself or did he rely on others who were clearly on the side of Tamar and accept their opinions? This is not an act of a Beth Din. It is not even the act of a single Rov. It is the act of a Rov who heard one side, believed in them, and destroyed the life of a woman Tamar, who is now consigned to the status of adulteress, and the  present child of Tamar who will grow up with a mother who is a sinner, and  a public sinner at that. Because this story will be public knowledge. And if Tamar has a child from the second husband, it will be a mamzer. And if Rabbi Greenblatt disagrees, ask him if he will marry his children to the mamzer. If he says he will marry them he is a liar or a meshugeneh and maybe both.

Thus, this miscarriage of justice that Rabbi Greenblatt performed is not an act of a Beth Din, it is not the act of a single judge, because it violates the entire system of justice that requires equality between the two sides. It is Rabbi Greenblatt’s invention and reliance on others because he was too lazy to check things out himself. I called up Rabbi Greenblatt and told him that he married off a married woman. He told me that Gedolim approved of what he did. I told him that even Gedolim cannot violate the Torah and quoted a Chazon Ish and he hung up on me.  Now, it is interesting just who these Gedolim were. Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky? Because Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky signed a letter before Tamar married that he did not support her remarrying without a GET.  I know nobody who considers Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky a posek.

So who is the Gadol that Rabbi Greenblatt trusted?

But let us leave this sordid mess of Rabbi Greenblatt behind and return to the Rashbo that is the source of the Ramo in EH 17:58. A Beth Din tells a woman to remarry because it made a mistake, the woman is considered ONUS or a forced person and is not a sinner so she may return to her first husband. The Rashbo is talking about a case where a  woman is engaged to a man. The man came to the home of the woman and asked the father to let the woman he wants to marry come to the table with everyone else. The father said he would not allow her to come to the table with everyone else until the husband  gave her a ring which is known in that community as an act of marriage, a Kiddushin. The husband gave the ring in front of many people who were in the room. Afterwards the woman married somebody else and had children from him. The first man who gave her the ring appeared. He brought proof that he gave her a ring and there were witnesses who saw it. He established that she was married to him when she married the second man and the children of the second man would be mamzerim. The Rashbo was asked about this.

The Rashbo says that the rule in this is that if the woman goes to a Beth Din that clearly establishes to her that she is permitted to remarry, she is ANUSO and may return to her first husband. But  if it is a situation where she did not have a clear statement that the Torah permitted her to remarry, and she did not check out things properly, her children are mamzerim.

When a senior dayan  heard Tamar Epstein Freidman claiming that she did not need a GET and planned to marry another man not her husband, he went to Israel and asked the shaalo in a major Beth Din.  The Beth Din stated clearly that a GET was required. Subsequently, the Rosh Beth Din wrote up his opinion and it will be printed very soon as I understand.  When Dayanim in Israel heard that an American rabbi was about to remarry a woman without a GET, they came to our American Senior Dayan and asked him how such a thing could be? The senior Dayan came back to America and informed the family that many rabbis disagree with those who permit her to remarry.  Now, when the family and the Tamar heard this, were they ANUS to listen to Rabbi Greenblatt, who never saw Aharon, never spoke to him, and maybe never talked to Tamar until he married her to the stranger? Of course, Tamar  knew clearly that the issue was one where prominent rabbis disagreed with Rabbi Greenblatt. Therefore, she was not ANUSE to follow Rabbi Greenblatt.  Again, the senior Dayan told me that he personally informed Tamar and her family of the great opposition of rabbis to what they were doing.

Therefore, Tamar is not Anuse and she must leave her husband and her “new” husband, and the child from the new husband is a mamzer.

Now I turn to the prominent rabbis who permitted Tamar to do this, Rabbis Greenblatt, Shmuel and Shalom Kaminetsky: Please realize that the whole world is up in arms against you. I get phone calls from people who want to publicly protest your taking a woman who has no father and is a yesoma and help her become an adulteress and have mamzerim for children. SHAME ON YOU. As I send these words out on my mailing list and blog, I know that in a few days, other prominent rabbis will be signing and sending their protests at what you did. If you admit your error, and get Tamar to leave her new “husband” and get a GET from her real husband, people will say that this shows the high quality of rabbis who admitted a terrible mistake. But if you continue to back her living in sin, the anger at you will grow. I hope you will think a bit about what I am saying. If there is anything I can do to help you in this matter, please contact me at Dovid Eidensohn 845-578-1917/eidensohnd@gmail.com . Until I hear what I want to hear from you, I will continue to blast you again and again, and if a child is born to Tamar, I will publicize that it is a mamzer.

I hope and pray that in the merit of ninety years of serving the Torah you will not end your lives with this growing storm. Think of  your Yeshiva and your vast community of those who are inspired by you.  Please. Nobody has come forward to agree with Rabbi Greenblatt,  but I know of many rabbis who have stated that he is completely wrong.

I cannot imagine how the Philly Yeshiva will stand the growing fury of an entire Orthodox community even the Modern Orthodox other than a few known Torah inventors who are not prominent except for their inventions.

Make up your mind, now, because time is running out.

Shalom,

Dovid Eidensohn

Solutions For Frogs Without Legs

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn/845-578-1917/eidensohnd@gmail.com

What is the problem of Frogs Without Legs? And what Solutions are there? Men with broken marriages come to me to talk about their situation. Usually they have a lot to say: the Beth Din, the Courts, this one that one was wrong, etc. Then I respond, “You are a frog without legs. A frog can swim, jump and croak. Without legs it cannot swim and jump. It can just croak. And that is exactly what so many men with broken marriages do. They croak, talk, talk, talk, but do nothing that can help their situation.”

What is the solution for the frogs? I urge them to emulate the ladies. It wasn’t so long ago that ladies were utterly denigrated and helpless. But they organized; they got media backing, formed groups to fight for their rights, and raised huge sums of money. Now they are much stronger than men. Why? Because men don’t like to organize to fight women, for whatever reason. And a lone man against an army of women is helpless.

Not long ago the New York Times featured a front page story that tells it all. President Obama threatened that he would withhold funding from Harvard if it did not accept complaints by women against men without any proof, even though complaints by men against women required proof. Forty law professors from Harvard then signed a complaint that if men cannot complain against women without proof, but women can complain about men without proof, there is an unconstitutional gender bias favoring women. This is one of the small attempts by men in America, not the religious men, to assert their rights in a world that backs ladies in an unconstitutional way.  But religious men don’t assert themselves. They are frogs without legs. Thus, even though secular men are starting to fight back against unconstitutional gender bias, religious men lag behind, and suffer terribly.

At this point, the world is so bias towards women that even rabbis and Beth Din force husbands to give a GET simply because the wife wants out. This is absolutely wrong. If a man marries a sister, we beat him to force a GET. If he is unable to satisfy his wife as he is not a man, the Talmud requires a GET but no coercion is permitted other than to tell the husband the the Talmud requires a GET and to refuse makes him a wicked person. But if a woman demands a GET because she despises the husband, no coercion is permitted. Furthermore, a prenup that allows the woman to force a GET whenever she pleases is a violation of a Mishneh in Nedorim 90 that when a woman has the power to force a GET she will be free to marry anyone she wants based on her lies so we don’t allow her to have these powers.

We must keep in mind that this means that based upon the woman’s demands there is no mitzvah. But if the husband is not living with a wife in a functioning marriage, and he may have evil thoughts, or if he has not had a boy and a girl and has to fulfill the mitzvah and this wife refuses to be with him, or even if he has had a boy and a girl but has a mitzvah to increase his family, these mitsvose surely stay with the husband. On the other hand, if the husband fears that if he gives a GET the wife will destroy his relationship with the children or she will take him to a civil court and destroy him financially, perhaps a mitzvah to do a positive command does not force him to endanger his children or himself, and we will not discuss this further now.

By the laws of the Torah, a woman who confesses to her husband that she slept with another man intentionally gets a divorce from her husband because we believe her and she is forbidden to her husband. But since this would empower all women to force a GET and walk out on their husbands and maybe they leave because they just like another man, the rabbis took away her power to confess and get a GET. Now, when she tells her husband she slept with another man we don’t believe her but she must bring proof that she slept with the other man. This is an incredible thing, but it shows who important it is for a woman not to have the power to just force the husband to give her a GET. Some bring proof from a Nachalas Shiva Simon 9 that this is permitted. But the Nachalas Shiva is talking about a different case, when the husband tortured the wife and she demanded a Din Torah, and meanwhile she fled the house. The husband must give her ten gold coins to pay for her food to tide her over away from his house until the husband attends the Beth Din and presumably is corrected by the rabbis regarding his behavior. Furthermore, as long as she is out of the house and the conflict continues he must continue to pay her a monthly ten coins. When the Beth Din has instructed the husband to cease and desist with the evil things he does to his wife, then the couple goes on in a marriage without his tortures. If the husband continues to torment his wife the Beth Din will figure out what to do. But a prenup permits the woman to drain the husband financially until he gives her a full GET without him doing anything wrong. Anytime she finds a nicer man to marry she can force him to divorce her. This is forbidden as we see in the above Mishneh in Nedrom 90b.

All of this is not the fault of the ladies. There is a general feeling, even among rabbis, that women must be supported in their demand for a GET. This is not true. Not only does a husband not have an obligation to divorce his wife when she demands a GET, but the poskim say that the husband has no mitzvah to do so. (See Rashbo VII:414 quoted by Radvaz II Section IV:118 that humiliating a husband to pressure for a GET is forbidden even if the husband is  unable to be a man and is commanded by the Talmud to give a GET. But a husband who is normal and can have children may not be pressured at all see Rashbo VII:414 and Shulchan Aruch Even Hoezer 77 paragraphs 2 and 3 and all commentators there, Shulchan Aruch, Ramo, Gro, Chelkas Mechokake and Beis Shmuel agree that a husband is not coerced to divorce when the wife says he disgusts her and she wants a GET. HaGaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev says the husband has no mitzvah to give a GET see his sources Kovets Teshuvose 174:1[i])

The problem is something else. Women are often moved to break with their husbands because other ladies, relatives, friends, or “professional agitators” urge them on. All of these feel that it is a great mitzvah to destroy the husband. The woman who is scared and unsure what to do is easily convinced by these people to destroy her husband, even if she is a true believer in the laws of loshon hora and stealing.

A husband contacted me who was being destroyed by his local Beth Din that forbade him to visit his children and got him fired from several jobs because he did not obey them and give his wife a GET. Once a Beth Din rules that a husband must give a GET the next step is either he gives it or is destroyed. But this time he came to somebody who could help him.

I wrote a public blog to answer this Beth Din that their attack on the husband was against the Torah. The Chazon Ish says that if a husband is not one of those who must give a GET and a Beth Din said he must give a GET, and the husband obeys, the GET is invalid for two reasons, even by Torah not just rabbinical standards. (EH Gittin 99:2) That produced a new attitude and one rabbi who was very aggressive against husbands began to write to me with very proper remarks. He just never knew the laws of marriage, because very few rabbis know them. Even major rabbis don’t know them.

Frogs of the World! Unite! Cast off your chains! Call me. Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn/845-578-1917/eidensohnd@gmail.com

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Failures During "Footsteps of Moshiach"

by Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

The Talmud (Sota 49) tells that  the period before the arrival of Moshiach known as Footsteps of the Moshiach will feature destruction of the family. We see destruction of the family, divorces and broken children, but we don’t see Moshiach yet. But we recall the statement of the Talmud that in such a terrible period “We have nobody to rely on  other than our Father in Heaven.” If we turn to Him and get to work to solve things, we may get somewhere. Despair is not the solution.

During the First World War there was mighty suffering in Europe. The Chofetz Chaim, the saint of the generation would preach,  “A new war will come about that will make this look like childs play. “ We know now he was talking about the Second World War. But that was not the end. Today we are enduring the part of suffering taught in the Talmud, the destruction of family. We suffer from divorces and broken children. We have gender wars.

Going back about five hundred years, the great rabbis announced the beginning of the pre-Messianic Era, also known as the period of Footsteps of the Moshiach. This does not mean that Moshiach came five hundred years ago. It means that the world is preparing for the End of Days and the Messianic Era, with its tribulations and testing.

The gender war did not begin now. It began at creation. And the first one to suffer from it was G-d. In an incredible story in the Talmud (Chulin 60b) , the female Moon and the male Sun were equally bright. The Moon protested to G-d that “two kings cannot share the same crown.” She wanted to be the great light and she wanted the sun to be diminished. G-d refused and the Moon argued and argued. Finally G-d said to the Moon: “Go and diminish yourself.” The Moon replied, “Because I say something proper I must diminish myself?” G-d said, “I failed to satisfy the Moon. Therefore bring for Me a sacrifice on the New Moon.”  What does this mean?

The world was created with two forces, Justice and Mercy. The righteous live with the very strict rules of Justice and are punished for sinning in this world. Other people are allowed to sin and nobody bothers them. But in the other world, only the righteous will be honored and others will be punished. The Moon protested that she, the female, is the superior force of justice, and the sun was the inferior level of kindness. If the sun was equal to the moon, it meant that sinners and righteous people were equal. The Moon wanted the world to be for righteous people. She wanted sinners to be punished and the world to be cleansed constantly of evil. This would be a glory for the Torah. But G-d said He did not want a world of perfect people, but wanted penitence (Avoda Zora 4b).  Thus King David sinned and repented and was accepted. And the Jews at Sinai sinned with the Golden Calf and then repented and were accepted. But the Moon had a point that all of this sinning was a disgrace for G-d and holiness. So G-d brought a sacrifice on the New Moon, acknowledging the decline of the world without the Moon in charge with justice.

I spoke to some young women with children who are going through divorces. I explained that they should not feel guilty. These are living during the Footsteps of Moshiach with its terrors. And the Talmud concludes its comments about the Footsteps with the statement, “And we have nobody to turn to other than our Father in Heaven.” This means, say the rabbis, that even in such a hopeless time, we can turn to G-d and find solutions, if we are ready to pursue them properly.

The two ladies were comforted, at least somewhat. Our times are terrible tribulations. But despair is not the proper or only response.

We have posted many articles about the problems of our times. The most recent scandal was the woman who remarried without a GET, based upon the encouragement and participation of two of the major rabbis in America, Rabbis Kaminetsky and Greenblatt.  The remarriage was a terrible sin and children from the second man will be mamzerim.  And the great silence that greeted this outrage is in itself a greater outrage than the sin itself. Even if eventually some people will present some public opposition, it will come weeks after the event, much too late and too insignificant.

The structure of Torah is damaged, and is part of the reason we have so many divorces and broken families. Until we realize that we have no proper leadership in America, and that the leadership itself  is doing things that may be damaging, such as the rabbis of prominent positions who support gay rights and prominent gays for public office, we will not be able to escape from the darkness.

At this point, we have to look at the whole structure, and identify the problems. Those who want to stay with the mud, will stay with it, and sink in further. And others will escape it, if they are ready to accept the true Torah position that is now badly eroded.

We hope to elaborate on these matters in future posts.

Tamar Epstein Friedman Remarries – What is the Public Reaction?

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

Tamar Epstein Friedman, with the encouragement of the Rabbis Kaminetsky in Philadelphia, was remarried by Rabbi Notto Greenblatt of Memphis, Tennessee, even though she was still married to Aharon Friedman.   I wrote a post called “Rabbi Greenblatt Makes Mamzerim.” Other than that and my brother’s very popular Israeli blog that was filled with this, silence.  But the silence was misleading. People were reading my blog and my brother’s blog. They were reading the flyers I gave out. And they were getting very angry. As the street stiffened in its objection to this, the rabbis who struggled to find the facts had an easier time. Finally, there was a crack here and a crack there, and then, some big cracks. People now know basically what happened, and they have proof of the major points.

When the community got to work to fight this and find the facts, every shade of Orthodoxy was represented.  Those who worked on this did not go around bragging or making statements. So people could mistake the silence for disinterest. Nobody is rushing .  They want to make sure that nobody ever tries this again.

The version of the story accepted by  people I have spoken to is as follows: Rabbi Greenblatt was told by Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky that Aharon Friedman had an incurable mental illness that made him completely unable to satisfy a wife. Out of respect for Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, Rabbi Greenblatt completely accepted the story, and performed the marriage. Previously Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky signed a paper forced on him by two major rabbis that he no longer encouraged Tamar to remarry. But somehow she remarried anyway.

Here I want to talk about three people or groups who fought this. One is me. I fought immediately not because I knew why Rabbi Greenblatt did what he did, but I fought because I know that in halacha there is no possible permission for such a thing, as I describe in detail on my blog torahhalacha.blogspot.com many times. See later here. Next is my brother Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn. My brother has an ability foreign to me. He does incredible things that nobody understands until finally everybody accepts it. His blog exploded after the marriage with ideas how to annul the marriage which turned out to be right on target. And he immediately showed why those ideas, getting therapists or psychiatrists to declare somebody with a mental illness and thus claim that the marriage is negated, has no place in the Torah.

The Gaon Rav Henkin states clearly that in the past centuries nobody ever negated a marriage because of some defect of the husband. This is also the opinion of the Nodah Biyehuda II:80, Bais HaLevi, and Kovneh Rov. See also gemora Kesubose 72,73 and Even Hoezer 38,39 and 117. Nowhere does it say that if a woman has a husband with a blemish or problems that the marriage can be cancelled. The Gaon Reb Moshe Feinstein permits this but only on the condition that the husband is truly horrendous such as a homosexual, and that it is absolutely impossible to get a GET. In the case of Tamar Epstein Friedman, the husband wanted to give a GET. But he wanted an improvement in visitation rights regarding the daughter. According to Reb Moshe, there could be no negation of the marriage in these circumstances. Thus, Rabbi Greenblatt performed a marriage for a married woman that is forbidden by all Torah authorities, the gemora and Shulchan Aruch. So he and Rabbi Kaminetskys are reshoim.

The senior Gaon Rav Nissim Karelitz of Bnei Braq said clearly that Tamar could only marry if she had a GET.  Rav Suriel Rosenberg, the Rosh Beth Din of Rav Karelitz, was there when Rav Karelitz said she had to have a GET. He subsequently wrote in strong support of what Rav Karelitz said. Rav Rosenberg is considered one of the major poskim in our generation. The Beth Din of Baltimore that dealt with the case until Tamar ran away to Philadelphia said clearly that there was no possibility to negate the marriage because of any fault of Aharon Friedman, and that any children born from Tamar from her new marriage would be mamzerim.

Let’s consider the husband, Aharon Friedman. Rabbi Greenblatt declares that his wife is free to remarry without a GET. And how is this possible? Only because Aharon has such a terrible mental illness that it can’t be cured and no woman can be married to him. Rabbi Greenblatt, besides making mamzerim of Tamar’s new children, makes a mental case out of the husband Aharon. And guess what:  when Rabbi Greenblatt believes the Kaminetskys and declares Tamar to be free to marry without a GET, he has turned her into a sinning adulteress. And when he declared that Aharon was mentally insane and unable to be a husband, he destroyed his name and future  to remarry. And both things Rabbi Greenblatt achieved, the destruction of Tamar and her new children, and the destruction of Aharon, are completely mistaken and have no place in the Torah, and no place in truth.  Aharon who has for years maintained a high position in Congress as an attorney, is not mentally ill. Furthermore, during the years that Aharon and Tamar went to Beth Din and courts about their marriage, Tamar never successfully argued that Aharon had any mental problems. The Baltimore Beth Din knows exactly what Tamar did say about Aharon and why she wanted a GET. Therefore the head of the Baltimore Beth Din told me that there is no hint at all from his experience with Tamar’s claims that she felt that Aharon was mentally incapable of being a husband. He further told me that if she has a child it will be a mamzer. So much for the lies of the Kaminetskys.

Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky had a married woman remarry without a GET for invalid reasons. He did a terrible sin to teach the wife to ignore her marriage and remarry without a GET. He did a terrible sin to teach a woman to remarry and have mamzerim for children. He did a terrible sin to make up lies about the husband Aharon. For each of these aveirose, bain odom lichaveru, Yom Kippur does not atone, only the forgiveness of the injured person.  Can the baby  mamzer really forgive? Can anyone really forgive? If Shalom Kaminetsky was the main power in this hideous sinning, he is a rosho and can not be a Rosh Yeshiva. Do not send your child to Philadelphia Yeshiva. It is forbidden to learn Torah from someone like that.

 I called up Rabbi Greenblatt and told him that he married off a married woman. He told me that Gedolim permitted this and anyone who disagrees has chutzpah. I told him a Chazon Ish and he hung up on me.

Just as it is a mitzvah to proclaim the evil in Shalom Kaminetsky and the terrible mistakes of Rabbis Greenblatt and Shmuel  Kaminesty, so it is a mitzvah to proclaim the suffering of Aharon. He has been demonized in Washington, DC so that no shull will invite him to doven there. He has been humiliated by the cursed organization of mamzer producers ORA, sponsored by Rabbi Herschel Schachter and recommended highly by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann.  This despite the Rashbo in VII:414 that forbids humiliation even for a husband commanded by the Talmud to give a GET because he cannot be a man. Certainly a man who has a child is not to be humiliated. The pressures of  humiliation are in the words of Rabbeinu Yona “humiliation is worse than death,”  a great pressure that makes a GET invalid.

We have a world where some rabbis who get themselves a name do what they want. This is  the tragedy brought about by Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky.

In the coming generation, any woman who received a GET from Rabbi Greenblatt may be suspected of having an invalid GET. Any woman who was freed from her marriage because ORA or others humiliated the husband is also a suspected person and needs a proper Beth Din to determine if she may remarry. The anger is building against rabbis who think they are “great ones” and  twist the Torah and destroy  people’s lives.

We have to do two things. One, we have to stop demonizing men who don’t give their wives a GET, and we should rather listen to their side of the story, especially if they have children. Two, we need to increase the study of Shulchan Aruch Even Hoezer, Family and Marriage Laws so we will be safe from the inventions of the “great ones.”

We want to publicize flyers, booklets, audio tapes, telephone conferences, and have public teachings about the laws of Gittin and family.

Anyone interested can contact me Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn at 845-578-1917 or eidensohnd@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Dovid Eidensohn

The Hidden Mamzerim - And Why They Are Hidden

By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

I received a call from a prominent Gittin personality who told me the following:  One, the Rabbis Kaminetskys and Rabbi Greenblatt are not the only ones who make remarriages without a GET. There are others with positions in various Beth Dins. But the vast majority of Haredi rabbis and even Modern Orthodox rabbis  disagree. Therefore, this  guarantees that from these “remarried” women will come children considered to be mamzerim or at least doubtful mamzerim. And who would want to marry somebody who may be a mamzer? And if a child has even laaz, a whispering that he may be a mamzer, who would marry him?

Another thing this rabbi told me was the following:  A woman remarried without a GET. Somebody asked her why she did not fear that people will denigrate her or her children as adulterers and mamzerim? She replied, “I know ladies who remarried without a GET and they live in peace. I, too, will live in peace.”

Well, Tamar Epstein Friedman will not have this luxury, no fault of her own. She only does what her rabbis the Kaminetskys tell her. But such a pity on her new children. Everyone knows that they are mamzerim or at best doubtful mamzerim, who are also forbidden in marriage. But we have to be aware of the two things this rabbi told me. One, there are rabbis with positions in Beth Dins who permit remarriage without  a GET. And there are people among us remarried without a GET who are having children, and nobody is aware of the problem.  These children are part of our community and nobody suspects any problems. Maybe it is time to teach people to suspect problems.

There are those who are trying to organize a response to this problem on the national or international level. I wish them success. Personally, I have no hope for this at this time. I am looking for something else, a small group of people who follow the Shulchan Aruch Even Hoezer and the Poskim. I am now talking to people who want to do something in response to the  Tamar outrage. It is a person here and a person there, but since so many people are good and angry, the number will grow. And when it reaches a certain level, it will become strong and able to influence a lot of people.

I want to distribute flyers about these problems to make people aware of the halochose. I want to speak in different areas to educate and inspire as many people as possible. And I want to produce educational materials to teach people the halochose with some depth.

If you want to get involved or help out in this cause, please contact me Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn at 845-578-1917 or eidensohnd@gmail.com .