Profile Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

Showing posts with label Coercing a GET is forbidden in the vast majority of cases and produces mamzerim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coercing a GET is forbidden in the vast majority of cases and produces mamzerim. Show all posts

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Beth Din and Forcing a GET

Whereas few people know the laws of Gittin, but many people are free with their comments about the laws of Gittin, I wish to break the general pattern by stating the laws of Gittin with sources. Some people dismiss my sources by saying that "that is the opinion of the minority" but they have no idea who the "majority" is. Secondly, I talk about Torah matters with a very strong backround in talking intensively with Gedolei HaDor of the past generation such as Reb Aharon Kotler, Reb Moshe Feinstein, Reb Yaacov Kaminetsky, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev and many others. If I say something, I can back it up. But the critics who have no proofs other than what they feel is right or wrong, have no sources. And this applies to nearly all of the Beth Dins and Rosh Yeshivas and rabbis who signed letters or who spoke out about coercing husbands to divorce. I never ever spoke with one of them who knew the laws of Gittin, although they surely thought that they did.

 Finally I contacted the Gedolim in Israel and they backed me up, sending out letters all over Israel, and finally making an entire Sefer on these topics. They say that any woman who receives a GET from those Beth Dins that coerce husbands in violation of clear halacha, that the GET is not recognized and the woman needs another GET. If she has children from the old GET it is a question if they are mamzerim.

We are thus anticipating a huge mamzer problem in the coming generation. Rav Elyashev zt"l told me that any Beth Din that coerces, he takes away from them chezkas Beth Din, meaning we don't respect their Gittin. They are not a Beth Din.

 I was once sent by the Beth Din in Jerusalem to Posek HaDor Reb Moshe Feinstein with a problem of a doubtful mamzer. I saw first hand what a horror it is. And now, we are going to have a flood of such people. Of course, if Open Orthox and Modern Orthodox parents have children like them, who disregard the Shulchan Aruch and invent the laws of Gittin, they may marry their own kind. But many non-Haredi children become Charedi. These children will be considered a problem, and I consider this child abuse. I visited a blog recently that pours scorn on me, and let them pour it. But why do they pour it on helpless babies? In fact, Rabbi Soloveitchik's son spoke out about this. He said, We must learn about the ways of the Haredi community, because many of our children will end up there. So why are we making mamzerim?

 And there are problems with Haredi Beth Dins also. One in Monsey has been censured severely by HaGaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlit"o. I wish to add here, that if chas vishalom somebody has such a problem, with a questionable GET or chas vishalom a problem with a child, please contact me. I once had a case of an utterly ridiculous GET, as somebody did his best but it wasn't wonderful, as he didn't know the laws of Gittin. I wrote a teshua on the GET and I was told that Reb Elyashev zt"l said when he saw it, "I never said the GET was invalid." Thus, on the one hand we have to prevent doubts. But if there are doubts and problems, we have to send the question to somebody with the extensive experience talking to Gedolei HaDor who can maneuver.

In the case I mentioned above about my mission to Reb Moshe, there was a huge argument among the greatest rabbis. It seemed that the boy would be ruined. But I have a lot of pure chutspah besides my training, and things were solved, beautifully. Of course, I cheated on that, as I merely did what a Gadol told me to do, but if you spend time with Gedolim, things can work out. The laws of coercing a husband to give a GET are found in two places. (Hint: ask your expert on Gittin where the laws of forcing a GET is. Probably, as I have found, they will point to somewhere in the laws of Gittin. Wrong. The coercion of a husband because of obvious physical faults, etc. in the husband is in the laws of Gittin. But this is extremely rare. The divorces today are about a wife who doesn't like the husband. The laws of that are not in Gittin but in Kesubose, because we don't want a GET, we want the family to continue.)

 In Even Hoezer Laws of Gittin 154 we have the laws of what husbands can be forced to give a GET. These are extremely rare cases, such as a husband who has an awful smell, etc., as well as a husband who cannot function as a man. Also there are very serious problems such as a husband who changes his religion, a husband who may hit or kill his wife, etc. But the laws of divorce that apply to the vast majority of Gittin are not in the laws of Gittin, but in Even Hoezer 77 paragraphs two and three. There everyone, the Shulchan Aruch, the Ramo, the Beis Shmuel, the Chelkas Mechokake and the Gro say that pressuring a husband to give a GET when the wife demands a GET because she loaths the husband is forbidden. The Vilna Gaon #5 says that nobody disagrees. And yet, right and left, we have Beth Dins openly demanding a GET and forcing it. The GET is invalid and the children are mamzerim, unless somebody finds a way out of it, which is quite a challenge.

 The Chazon Ish in EH 99 says that if Beth Din tells the husband that the Torah requires a GET and he gives it, the GET is invalid and the children are mamzerim. But this goes on all the time. Yes, there are great problems with Beth Dins that disagree with the Chazon Ish, or who never learned the Chazon Ish, or who don't really know the laws of Gittin. If you have a problem with a Beth Din, or in general, write me at dddeid@verizon.com or call 845-578-1917. Also, we are organizing nationally a group of people who want to fight back against the mamzer producers. Some of them are husbands who have been badly broken by the system. I encourage them to work with me and we will fight back. I am also interested in making a group for women mainly those who are stuck with problems of divorce. Children need a lot of help when the parents fight. I need some ladies who can help out in this. Shalom.