Program of Jewish Outreach Congregation and Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn – 11/5/2017   - Student of Gedolei HaDor HaGeon Rav Aharon Kotler Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon Rav Moshe Feinstein world’s leading authority in halacha, the Israeli Posek HaGaon Reb Yosef Shalom Elyashev, all of them zt”l. 

Rabbi Eidensohn has a blog entitled www.torahhalacha.blogspot.com. It has a readership of approximately three thousand posts read each month. It deals with marriage, family, children, problems and solutions. 

Program of Study - Chayey Soro - the Life Story of Soro -greater in prophecy than her husband Abraham – Comparing Women to Men Regarding the Torah and Judaism 

 - Study of Beginning of the Talmud of Jerusalem and the Talmud of Babylonia regarding Cycles of Day and Night and Prayer Times 

 – Separate Telephone Classes for Men and for Women – We welcome  learned people and people with little or no background who want to learn Torah. We have classes for men by telephone Monday and Wednesday nights 8-8:30. We have made a separate program for ladies that meets Motsi Shabbos. Anyone interested please contact me at 845-578-1917 or email at eidensohnd@gmail.com. No charge.  The class for men is studies in Torah with a broad range, Talmud, Kabbala, history, etc. The ladies group will have a program based on the interests and needs of the members of the group after their joint meeting Motsi Shabbos.

 We are especially interested in dealing with gender issues. What exactly does the Talmud and Kabbala say about men and about women and about family?

I had intensive study programs under the greatest rabbis in the world, Gadol HaDor Rav Aharon Kotler of Lakewood Yeshiva, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rosh Yeshiva in Tiferes Yerushalim and world’s leading authority of Torah law, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev of Israel, a mighty authority on Torah law, and others. Stories about them appear in my books and in my blog. – We are also interested in publishing my books on family, marriage, children, Problems and Solutions. Anyone interested in purchasing a share in these books please call me at 845-578-1917 or email me at eidensohnd@gmail.com. Make checks out to Jewish Outreach Congregation or deposit on Pay Pal.

Thank you. 

Pesak from a Great Gaon in a Bitter Divorce

Pesak from the Gaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt”l in a Divorce

Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn

Some years back I was training to be a posek. I would go to various rabbis, dayanim and Gittin experts to learn from them. Once I came to a GET and I walked into the room with those getting divorced. A woman was crying bitterly and next to her sat a woman who looked at me with hate. Of course, she thought I was part of the Beth Din. But I was just a visitor who knew nothing of the people involved in the GET.

The head of the Beth Din was a friend of mine who explained that the man and women had a son. They were secular Israelis and then the husband became religious. The wife was madly in love with her husband. But although she tried her best, she could not tolerate being religious. Finally, advisors told the man to divorce his wife. The wife was crying terribly, because she loved her husband.

I was very disturbed by the decision of the advisors of the husband to counsel him to divorce his wife. Who gave the husband the right to give his son away to his wife who was not religious and would probably raise the son to be irreligious?  But I said nothing then.

Not long after this, I was visiting my rebbe in Israel, the Gaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt”l, one of the greatest Torah authorities. I told him how disturbed I was that the husband gave away his son. (I didn’t tell him what I thought about the advisors who couldn’t make a compromise with the husband and wife. If the wife is madly in love with her husband, but she can’t be the supper fanatic that he became, let him behave in a way that her love will tolerate. But I knew nothing about the husband and wife and why should I talk about such things? So I told him what I did know and awaited his response.)

Rav Elyashev told me: “If the wife would tolerate yaharas hamishpocho (go to the mikva regularly), he would not advise a divorce.” That is a tremendous ruling, something only the greatest sage can utter! It meant that the wife won’t keep Shabbos and maybe not kashruse and who knows what else. But if she keeps taharas hamishpocho the marriage continues. It means that the wife will be the mother of all of his children, and all of them will be raised by a woman who is not Orthodox.

I wonder what the Rov would rule if the woman did not love her husband madly. Maybe that was critical. Maybe he believed that her love would continue if he did not divorce her, and she would very slowly but surely become more and more religious. If she truly loves her husband, and the husband could be encouraged not to be a cruel fanatic, maybe that could improve things? But I did not ask that question. Maybe it was too late to ask questions.

One thing comes out from this sad story. When somebody is faced with such a problem, ask only the greatest authority. There is a postscript to this story that has nothing to do with divorces. I used to speak regularly to the Posek HaDor Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. Furthermore, I only asked him questions that if he did not tell me the answer, I would probably never find an answer for them.

I once asked him if a person is hopelessly ill and there is no cure. He is in agony and wants to die. Is it necessary to keep him alive even if he wants to die? I am not referring to mercy killing. I am talking about basic “keep him alive” care. Reb Moshe told me that in such a case the person may be allowed to die. I later discovered that his pesak is two open gemoras, Gittin 70 and Avoda Zoro 12. A dying person should be kept alive long enough to arrange his financial affairs with his children so they don’t fight over the inheritance. Perhaps we assume that he is willing to suffer that long, but longer is not necessary.

I once told this to the Gaon Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner zt”l and he replied, “Poshut azoy” that is obvious. I wondered why he answered that way and then I realized that since Reb Moshe was the Gadol HaDor in paskening Rav Wosner felt that to say he agrees would not be appropriate, so he just said, “poshut azoy.”
I once heard from the Gaon Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l that with a serious medical problem we may need three doctors.
Today there are many children who are not successful in schools and begin to take drugs. In Monsey two children overdosed and are buried in the Orthodox cemetery. 
For children like this, how many doctors do we need?