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The great failure of marriage even in the highest echelons of the Torah community is because people don't know the halacha, the Torah laws, of marriage, divorce, Family and raising children. Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn publishes books, publications, and material on blog and Google with approbations from the greatest rabbis such as the Gaonim Reb Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev and other major gedolim.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Critical Letter from Elaine Donnelly about Drafting Women in America
Sunday, May 15, 2016
America Prepares to Draft Women in Military
Here is a letter from Elaine Donnelly opposing drafting women for the military. Sadly, there are very few people fighting this even in the Torah community. For a woman to be drafted would be a problem that could lead to suicide or questions in halacha if this is יהרג ואל יעבור. But nobody seems interested.
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May 12, 2016
To: Rabbi David Eidensohnd
I am sending you a two-page summary of major reasons why the “Draft America’s Daughters”legislation, narrowly approved in the House Armed Services Committee on April 27, has no place in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017:
We understand that the NDAA (HR 4478) will come up for a floor vote next week.
This will be a major turning-point vote, signaling whether members of Congress actually support uniformed women and military readiness, or are willing to impose harmful policies on both in the name of politically correct “equality.”
I hope that you and your organization will hold accountable every member of Congress who votes for misguided legislation to “Draft America’s Daughters, or passively allow it to pass as part of the House version of the NDAA.
The time to act is now. Please let me know what you are willing to do.
Keep in mind that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has said he has no problem with the idea of registering and drafting unsuspecting girls-next-door.
More detailed information is available here:
The following articles also stress the urgency of the situation:
· Heritage Daily Signal: Don’t Force America’s Daughters into Combat · Stars & Stripes: House Set to Weigh in on Drafting Women
If you have questions about the two-page CMR Analysis of the “Draft America’s Daughters”legislation, please call me at 734/464-9430.
Thank you for caring about our troops; they deserve better treatment than this.
Elaine Donnelly
President, Center for Military Readiness
P. O. Box 51600
Livonia, Michigan 48151
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Sunday, May 8, 2016
Mamzer Makers Get Away with It
The major rabbis in the world wrote and published severe attacks on Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son Shalom for convincing a woman to remarry without a GET. Now Rabbi Dovid's Beth Din has kashered the treifeh tup with his ridiculous Beth Din that will not give out anything in writing. As one Dayan on that ridiculous Beth Din told me, "The Beth Din was only for Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, not the public. If I want to know what the pesak of the Beth Din is, you have to ask Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky." This, my friends, is the new Torah, with the new inventors who feel that the old Torah has problems and only they can invent a new Torah more appropriate to mamzer makers. This is what happens when you have "gedolim" like Rabbi Dovid Feinstein and his backers in the Agudah.
Obviously, it never occurred to Rabbi Dovid Feinstein to stop Tamar from sleeping with her boyfriend without a GET, nor do it occur to him to prevent Tamar from having mamzerim because any child she has with Adam is a mamzer. What is the purpose of the Feinstein Beth Din? To kasher the treifeh tup of two Kaminetsky mamzer makers!
And guess what - they are back! Nothing is wrong with them. The Kaminetskies have a clean slate not because they are not mamzer makers, because the mamzeruth continues due to them, but because Shalom wrote that he accepted the pesak that what he did was wrong. But Shalom never told Tamar to leave her boyfriend. Nor did his father, as far as everyone knows. So why are these two mamzer makers restored to the graces of the Agudah and why are they going around as speakers, etc?
In this world, we don't have Gedolim like Reb Moshe or Reb Aharon. If they were alive we would never have heard of Tamar Epstein Friedman. But we do have Rabbi Dovid Feinstein and his friends in the Agudah. They are happy that Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky has been created clean from his sewer of mamzeruth. Rabbi Dovid Feinstein's Beth Din that never published one word that anyone knows about has cleansed these rabbinical horrors, and taught the world an important lesson: If you are a friend of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein and his two partners in crime on his 'beth din" you can make mamzerim one day and be declared a tsadik the next day, without your doing anything to undo your mamzer making.
Let us not forget the rabbi who married Tamar to a man without a GET. Rabbi Noto Greenblatt so far as we know has not accepted that he did anything wrong. He is obviously happy with what he did, and he continues to support Tamar Epstein to make mamzerim.
I once called up Rabbi Greenblatt and asked him why he permitted Tamar to remarry. He told me that he has a pesak from Gedolim and that anyone who challenges these Gedolim is an ignoramus. My question is: What Gedolim ruled that Rabbi Greenblatt had the right to marry Tamar without a GET?
If the two Kaminetskies have accepted that their pesak was wrong, the only one in town who is still in the business of marrying women who are married to somebody else is Rabbi Greenblatt. What Gedolim is he relying on to claim that Gedolim agreed with him to permit Tamar to remarry without a GET?
Well, if you deal with the Feinsteins, the Kaminetskies, and the Greenblatts, you either take or it or you leave it. They are much too busy to be bothered with mamzerim. If the children are born mamzerim, that is not something that the Beth Din of Rabbi Feinstein worries about. Reb Dovid did his job and made Shmuel Kaminetsky kosher. The mamzerim should find somebody else to make them kosher.
Obviously, it never occurred to Rabbi Dovid Feinstein to stop Tamar from sleeping with her boyfriend without a GET, nor do it occur to him to prevent Tamar from having mamzerim because any child she has with Adam is a mamzer. What is the purpose of the Feinstein Beth Din? To kasher the treifeh tup of two Kaminetsky mamzer makers!
And guess what - they are back! Nothing is wrong with them. The Kaminetskies have a clean slate not because they are not mamzer makers, because the mamzeruth continues due to them, but because Shalom wrote that he accepted the pesak that what he did was wrong. But Shalom never told Tamar to leave her boyfriend. Nor did his father, as far as everyone knows. So why are these two mamzer makers restored to the graces of the Agudah and why are they going around as speakers, etc?
In this world, we don't have Gedolim like Reb Moshe or Reb Aharon. If they were alive we would never have heard of Tamar Epstein Friedman. But we do have Rabbi Dovid Feinstein and his friends in the Agudah. They are happy that Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky has been created clean from his sewer of mamzeruth. Rabbi Dovid Feinstein's Beth Din that never published one word that anyone knows about has cleansed these rabbinical horrors, and taught the world an important lesson: If you are a friend of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein and his two partners in crime on his 'beth din" you can make mamzerim one day and be declared a tsadik the next day, without your doing anything to undo your mamzer making.
Let us not forget the rabbi who married Tamar to a man without a GET. Rabbi Noto Greenblatt so far as we know has not accepted that he did anything wrong. He is obviously happy with what he did, and he continues to support Tamar Epstein to make mamzerim.
I once called up Rabbi Greenblatt and asked him why he permitted Tamar to remarry. He told me that he has a pesak from Gedolim and that anyone who challenges these Gedolim is an ignoramus. My question is: What Gedolim ruled that Rabbi Greenblatt had the right to marry Tamar without a GET?
If the two Kaminetskies have accepted that their pesak was wrong, the only one in town who is still in the business of marrying women who are married to somebody else is Rabbi Greenblatt. What Gedolim is he relying on to claim that Gedolim agreed with him to permit Tamar to remarry without a GET?
Well, if you deal with the Feinsteins, the Kaminetskies, and the Greenblatts, you either take or it or you leave it. They are much too busy to be bothered with mamzerim. If the children are born mamzerim, that is not something that the Beth Din of Rabbi Feinstein worries about. Reb Dovid did his job and made Shmuel Kaminetsky kosher. The mamzerim should find somebody else to make them kosher.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Please sign a petition to change New York State Law to equalize fathers with women in custody battles.
Please click on this request to change New York State law regarding father's rights. Today there are no father's rights only women's rights. Some times a father is better sometimes the mother and sometimes both. Why should the fathers always be excluded?
Please sign and publicize. we need to have all the signatures within 30 days from the date the petition was opened thank you and Tizku Lmitzvos https://www.change.org/p/new-york-governor-stop-the-alienation-against-fathers-joint-physical-custody-in-new-york?recruiter=46758182&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=co
Shalom,
Dovid Eidensohn
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Reb Dovid Feinstein ראוי לנדותו!
R. Dovid Feinstein Fails
R. Dovid Feinstein aroused great enthusiasm among many people, myself included, when we heard he was involved with a Beth Din that would adjudicate about Tamar Epstein Friedman. It was our hope that he would clearly state that Tamar Epstein Friedman was an adulteress, that if she had a child it would be a mamzer, and that any woman who did such things was a great sinner. We anticipated a strong demand from the Beth Din that those involved with encouraging Tamar Epstein Friedman to remarry without a GET were wrong, and were guilty of the sin of encouraging the worst sins. That is, we hoped that the Beth Din would clearly require Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky to revoke any permission or encouragement that they gave to Tamar to remarry without a GET from her husband Aharon Friedman.
That is what we anticipated, but that is not what we got. Instead, the Beth Din of Reb Dovid did not give out anything. All that we have is a letter from Shalom Kaminetsky that he accepts the ruling of the Beth Din that he should not have encouraged Tamar to remarry without a GET, although I don't have the exact words he wrote at this point. Furthermore, we do not find that Shalom or Shmuel or Noto Greenblatt made any statements about the sin of remarrying without a GET.
I called up Rabbi Hillel David to find out what the Beth Din ruled and he told me basically that it was none of my business, because the entire Beth Din was only made as a favor for Shmuel Kaminetsky. And if I wanted to know what the Beth Din ruled, they should ask Shmuel Kaminetsky.
What happened is therefore a whitewash by the Beth Din to protect the name of Shmuel Kaminetsky, who accepted the Pesak of the Beth Din and was immediately allowed to visit the Gedolim in Israel now that he had climbed out of the tree with Reb Dovid's cleverness. Reb Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son Shalom spent months getting a woman to marry without a GET based upon their ridiculous logic and lies, and then they got Rabbi Notto Greenblatt to marry her without a GET to a man who was not her husband. For this wickedness and folly Reb Dovid worked, not to protect women from the rulings of people like RSK, but to protect RSK from the folly and rishuse that he invented with his son. RSK and his son are mamzer makers. That is all they are. They should not be Roshei Yeshiva. They should not pasken halochose. And a decent Beth Din would not work to restore them to their senior positions in Agudah Israel. But Dovid Feinstein does not have a decent Beth Din. He is a member of the Agudah, and the Agudah is more concerned with restoring RSK to his very high position there, as a Gadol HaDor, than it is to admitting that it has a mamzer maker who speaks as if he is the senior rabbi in the Agudah on a regular basis.
How the mighty have fallen! The Agudah and Reb Dovid used to have great respect, no more. Now Dovid is a friend of a liar and twister of halacha, a mamzer maker, and his friendship has destroyed his name. Now he is just that, a friend of a mamzer maker. And if you are a friend of a mamzer maker, you are very, very far from a Gadol. The only Gadol you are is a Gadol in making mamzerim.
Again, the Beth Din of Dovid Feinstein is a wicked "Beth Din." It does not protect women from those who invent halocho to produce mamzerim. The three rabbis on that Beth Din are working to protect a mamzer maker and his son who is also a mamzer maker. For this we have to tell it like it is. The Beth Din are reshoim. What does it do with the gemoras that "whoever can prevent a sin but does not is punished for that sin"? Does the Beth Din have a different gemora? Does it treat gemoras the way it treats women to tell them to make mamzerim? Obviously, it does.
I have been battling the rosho Kaminetsky and his son for a long time. I always wondered where everybody else was. It seemed like me and my brother were fighting against mamzer makers but nobody else. Then Tamar married without a GET. The world exploded with rabbis from Israel, America and Canada writing very sharp criticism of those who permitted Tamar to remarry without a GET. At that point, RSK and his son Shalom were ruined. But Reb Shmuel got Reb Dovid his colleague from Agudas Yisroel to get the monkey out of the tree, and Reb Dovid and his fake Beth Din did it. But there was a price to pay. Now Reb Dovid and that Beth Din are working for those who are working to invent halochose that nobody accepts. If Reb Dovid wants that status, well, he has it. Maybe the Agudah will honor him for this. Because they have some very interesting "gedolim" who are also mamzer makers or the friends of mamzer makers.
Again, the "Beth Din" of Dovid Feinstein, Hillel David and Senderowitz is a fake Beth Din, violating its obligation to fight mamzerim, and instead protecting the great mamzer maker and his son. Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son should not teach Torah surely not in a Yeshiva. They should not pasken shaalose. And they should not be honored as great authorities. They are reshoim, liars, inventors, who have a different Torah than the real one. And Reb Dovid is their great backer. For this it is proper to say of Reb Dovid, ראוי לנדותו.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Miriam, Aharon and Moshe: Different people, why were they different?
Miriam was the sister of Aharon and Moshe. She was the eldest child. She saved the life of Moshe, she caused her father to remarry his wife when he despaired of having his children killed by the Egyptians. She led the Jewish women in dance and song after the Splitting of the Sea, something the men did not do.
Aharon was famous for making peace in broken families, and for restoring friendships that had frayed. His children were famous for the extreme piety, and from him came the lineage of the COHANIM, the priests.
Moshe was the greatest of the prophets. He merited to go to heaven and speak directly to G-d for forty days and forty nights several times. He rescued the Jews from Egypt and brought the Jews to Sinai to receive the Torah from G-d. He then went to heaven to receives the Ten Commandments and the Torah from G-d.
Who do you think is outstanding, in all this, if anyone? Why do you think each person of this fabulous family went their own way? Why could they not simply have merged into one pure and holy type of individual?
Any comments please.
Aharon was famous for making peace in broken families, and for restoring friendships that had frayed. His children were famous for the extreme piety, and from him came the lineage of the COHANIM, the priests.
Moshe was the greatest of the prophets. He merited to go to heaven and speak directly to G-d for forty days and forty nights several times. He rescued the Jews from Egypt and brought the Jews to Sinai to receive the Torah from G-d. He then went to heaven to receives the Ten Commandments and the Torah from G-d.
Who do you think is outstanding, in all this, if anyone? Why do you think each person of this fabulous family went their own way? Why could they not simply have merged into one pure and holy type of individual?
Any comments please.
Why Did Aharon Make the Aigel?
Now that Pesach is upon us, and Shavuose coming soon, it is time to ask a question why Aharon HaKohen made the Aigel HaZohov, as the Torah says, "The Aigel that Aharon made." The Zohar talks about Aharon the saint and one so removed from evil, but it does not explain why Aharon did what he did. We can also quote the opinion that Aharon saw that the son of Miriam, Chur, was murdered by the Egyptians who left Egypt to join the Jews. These Egyptians saw the miracles of the Going Out of Egypt and decided to become Jews. The Egyptians vastly outnumbered the Jews and thus the Egyptians killed Chur one of the holiest Jews. Aharon realized that if he protested what the Egyptian EIRUV RAV did, they would kill him also. And if they killed him, the High Priest, who knows what would happen to the Jewish people?
Thus, I pose this question, a very important question, but the basic answer is not here. How did Aharon the pious stumble into this mess so that the Torah writes "the Aigel that Aharon made"?
They key to the answer is to find something that Aharon did that was not a sin in of itself, but for a person on his level, it was imperfect, and thus, somewhat sinful. For this Aharon ended up with the blame for the Aigel. But what did Aharon do that was imperfect? After all, Rashi tells us that Aharon and Moshe were equal. So, the first part of the puzzle is to find out something that Aharon did that was imperfect. The next part is to show why this imperfection fitted in perfectly with the punishment that Aharon should be blamed for making the Golden Calf, which sprung forth only after Aharon pushed the gold of the Jews into the furnace.
Some clever people may find the answer in an open passage in the Torah about Aharon and how he acted when he found out that his brother, younger than Aharon, would lead the Jews from Egypt and be the leader of the Jews. And some very clever people may find the basic idea in a passage in the Torah about the Jews singing a song of praise to HaShem.
This is a very difficult riddle, and I only found the answer the easy way, by reading it in the book of biblical commentaries, but that isn't much of a hint. So, after dropping this and that idea, who knows, maybe somebody will figure it out.
Shalom,
Dovid Eidensohn
Thus, I pose this question, a very important question, but the basic answer is not here. How did Aharon the pious stumble into this mess so that the Torah writes "the Aigel that Aharon made"?
They key to the answer is to find something that Aharon did that was not a sin in of itself, but for a person on his level, it was imperfect, and thus, somewhat sinful. For this Aharon ended up with the blame for the Aigel. But what did Aharon do that was imperfect? After all, Rashi tells us that Aharon and Moshe were equal. So, the first part of the puzzle is to find out something that Aharon did that was imperfect. The next part is to show why this imperfection fitted in perfectly with the punishment that Aharon should be blamed for making the Golden Calf, which sprung forth only after Aharon pushed the gold of the Jews into the furnace.
Some clever people may find the answer in an open passage in the Torah about Aharon and how he acted when he found out that his brother, younger than Aharon, would lead the Jews from Egypt and be the leader of the Jews. And some very clever people may find the basic idea in a passage in the Torah about the Jews singing a song of praise to HaShem.
This is a very difficult riddle, and I only found the answer the easy way, by reading it in the book of biblical commentaries, but that isn't much of a hint. So, after dropping this and that idea, who knows, maybe somebody will figure it out.
Shalom,
Dovid Eidensohn
Monday, April 25, 2016
Rabbi Herschel Schechter No Longer Rav of ORA?
Just heard from several reliable sources that Rabbi Herschel Schachter has resigned as Rov of ORA, the organization to force husbands to give their wives a GET. Such a GET is considered invalid and children born from such a GET can be mamzerim. Rabbi Schachter always encouraged such forcing of a GET, but something else occurred that caused him to resign as Posek of ORA. That was the ridiculous pesak of Rabbis N. Greenblatt and RS Kaminetsky that Tamar Epstein could remarry without a GET, something ridiculed by major rabbis all over the world. When ORA refused to accept Rav Schachter's pesak that Tamar Epstein could not remarry without a GET, he resigned as their Rov. However, he has not broken off contact with them. They still call him and consult with him but he is not their Rov, but one of many rabbis they can consult. He is not responsible for what they do as he used to be when he was their official Rov.
What we learn from this is that ORA has accepted the loss of its major Rov, Rav Herschel Schachter, but it would not back down from accepting any ridiculous reason for permitting a woman to remarry. The incredibly twisted reasoning that led to the Tamar Epstein remarrying without a GET was condemned by rabbis throughout the world as something invented, filled with lies, and without any basis in Torah. But ORA not only backed it, but lost its major Rov, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University, rather than back down one drop. ORA is a fanatic organization, has nothing to do with Torah, and anyone who participates in their anti-men demonizing will go to Gehenum for making mamzerim.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Reb Dovid's Beth Din Should Protest Tamar's Sins
By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn
A few hours ago today, Sunday March 27, I called up Rav
Hillel David and protested that nobody knew what Reb Dovid’s Beth Din has
ruled. He replied that the Beth Din was created to serve Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky
who had asked for it. Other people will not be notified of what the Beth Din
paskened. If I want to know what the Beth Din paskened, he said, I must speak
to Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky.
I then pointed out that Tamar is with a man not her husband,
which is adultery that could easily lead to a child born who is a mamzer. Do
the rabbis of the Beth Din not have an obligation to prevent mamzerim being
born and women prevented from committing adultery?
As regards the decision of the Beth Din to limit its reach
to one person, this is against a clear gemora in Shabbos 54b and 55A, “Whoever
has the power to prevent somebody from sinning and does not do it, is punished
with the sin he did not prevent.” If the Beth Din with its prominent rabbis
could compel Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky to tell Tamar to leave her boyfriend but
the Beth Din refuses, the sin of Tamar will go on the Beth Din. If the Beth Din
could prevent adultery from Tamar’s part but refuses to do this, the sin of
adultery goes on the Beth Din.
I want to mention several things in connection with the
above. One, Rav Hillel David was very kind to speak to me as long as I wanted and he
answered what he felt was the right answer, although I disagree with it. Two,
we do not know the deeper thoughts of Reb Dovid Feinstein. He is dealing with some very
difficult people and he may need many weeks to put his efforts into play.
Despite this, I feel it is great mitzvah to publicize the ridiculous state of
the Torah, where a woman leaves her husband, refuses to work out a GET, and is
told that she can remarry without a GET, something that is shown to be a
complete lie.
I therefore want to make the following statement: This is
the end of respect for Gedolim in America. If Reb Moshe was alive, he would
smash the whole swarm with his power. But Reb Dovid does not have this power.
He is limited to awaiting RSK’s acceptance of his Beth Din, which undoubtedly required
some bending of the sin of RSK lest he just ignore the Beth Din. And if RSK and
RNG ignore the Beth Din, many women will feel it is Daas Torah by the opinions
of major ninety year old rabbis to leave a husband without a GET. We must
therefore complain about the lack of power to stop what must be stopped, but we
must respect the reality that it is not so easy to do today what could be done
in earlier generations. We don’t have the gedolim anymore.
And if this is the reality, I am calling for a person here
and a person there to help me establish a group of old fashioned Jews who want
to keep the Shulchan Aruch properly, without adultery, without mamzeruth, and
without begging reshoim to please come to our Beth Din if we will behave.
If you are interested
in this project, please contact me at dddeid@verizon.net
or 845-578-1917. Remember, I am happy to do the difficult work. But I need
people here and there who can help me. Please realize that if this tragedy of
begging RSK to come to Beth Din is not challenged, that is the end of the Torah
in America.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
My Brother Laces into Rav Dovid Feinstein's Beth DIn
from Daattorah.blogspot.com
Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: The shameful reality is they think we are stupid
As mentioned yesterday, R Sholom Kaminetsky wrote a letter in which he acknowledged that Rav Dovid Feinstein had paskened that the heter was worthless and that he accepted this psak.
Some people felt that this was news worth celebrating - after all didn't the forces of good triumph over the forces of evil? The answer is no! The situation is much worse than before.
What was Rav Dovid Feinstein doing for the last 6 weeks? Apparently he was given one job and that was to decide whether the heter was good or not. Why did he do this? He apparently did this because the Novominsker and others convinced him that he was the only one that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky would listen to - as in fact Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky wrote to Rav Weiss when he asked him not to protest against the heter.
Thus Rav Feinstein was paskening solely for the sake of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky regarding the heter. He was not dealing with what Tamar Epstein should do, nor was he deciding whether Aharon Friedman should give a Get. He was not dealing with the corruption of the halacha in this case with a phony seruv issued by Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. He was also not dealing with whether Rav Nota Greenblatt was wrong in paskening based on a flawed psychiatric report based solely on Tamar Epstein's biased views about a case where Rav Nota didn't bother to speak to both sides or even verify that the information he was spoon fed by R Sholom Kaminetsky was true.
In short - Rav Dovid Feinstein was used to save the hide of the Kaminetskys. With his psak about the heter he gave Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and son a ladder to climb down from the branch that they were precariously hanging from that was being sawed off by the major rabbonim around the world who have explicitly condemned the heter.
That is why the heter was not announced publicly but was sent to R Shalom Kaminetsky. It was only his response that was published and that done through the strange publication in Matzav - not the normal channel for such an important notification. There is no written psak from Rav Dovid Feinstein and there is no official letter of response from Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. It is simply smoke and mirrors. I was told that if there had been an official written psak, that the Kaminetskys would have been subject to direct criticism by the Rabbonim and by the media and they would not have retracted. Rav Dovid Feinstein and the Aguda avoided this spectacle by making a virtual announcement. This way the Kaminetskys were allow to make it appear that they were innocent bystanders - without Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky actually saying anything.
Ah but you are saying - but Rav Dovid did invalidate the heter. Isn't that progress? The answer is no. Primarily because Rav Greenblatt has not retracted his mistaken psak. Thus Rav Dovid Feinstein was suckered into making this a machlokess haposkim. It is now his view versus Rav Greenblatt. Tamar can simply say that she received the heter from a major posek and that the heter is still in place. Nothing has changed,
What needs to happen is that Rav Dovid Feinstein has to issue a written psak - as has been done by major figures such as Rav Shlomo Miller and the Baltimore Beis Din. He needs to explicitly criticize the process of the heter - otherwise it will open a floodgate of phony heterim. Rav Dovid has done nothing to protect us from anyone with mail order smicha doing away with the need for Gittin.
He needs to write that Tamar needs to separate from Adam. Without addressing the status of Tamar and what she has to do - it remains simply a public relations move to save the Kaminetskys.
Finally Rav Dovid Feinstein needs to directly criticize Rav Nota Greenblatt for issuing the heter and trying to deceive everyone that he had nothing to do with the heter. He needs to make public condemnations so that no one in their right mind will think of doing this again. As it stands there is absolutely no downside of privately telling a woman he she doesn't need a get because if she had only known what she knows now she would never have married him. This is the Rackman mechanism - which has gained a foothold through this heter.
Bottom line, Nothing has been done to clean up the stinking garbage of corruption and trampling on our holy Torah. We need the restoration of Torah leadership - not more "leave it to the gedolim to decide" announcements.
Friday, March 25, 2016
ORA Person Wears Superman Outfit to Celebrate More Women Joining ORA to Force Husbands to Give a GET
Menachem Roitter dressed as Superman for ORA:
YOU PUT ON A SUPERMAN COSTUME BECAUSE YOU GOT SOME WOMEN TO HAVE ORA TORTURE THEIR HUSBANDS WITH DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THEM AND THEIR OLD PARENTS TO FORCE THEM TO GIVE A GET. BUT MOST RABBIS CONSIDER SUCH CHILDREN BORN FROM A FORCED GET TO BE MAMZERIM.
What did you do
for her with your superman costume? Even superman can't fix a child born from
an invalid GET who is a mamzer. When the child grows up and is refused marriage
because he or she is a mamzer, you had better find a good place to hide,
because that child will really hate you. YOU ARE A MAMZER MAKER!
YOU DEAL IN STORIES OF WOMEN CRYING. WHAT ABOUT BABIES CRYING
BECAUSE THE MAJOR RABBIS IN THE WORLD CONSIDER THEM MAMZERIM OR DOUBTFUL
MAMZERIM. WHEN YOU GO TO GEHENUM FOR MAKING MAMZERIM, THEN YOU WILL KNOW ABOUT
CRYING.
AGAIN, THE MAJOR RABBIS IN THE WORLD CONSIDER A COERCED GET IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF CASES TO BE INVALID, AND THE CHILDREN BORN FROM SUCH A WOMAN WHO REMARRIES WITHOUT A GET ARE MAMZERIM OR AT LEAST DOUBTFUL MAMZERIM. THE BABY WILL GROW UP WITH THE MAJORITY OF GREAT RABBIS CONSIDERING HIM A MAMZER. WHO WILL MARRY HIM? SUPERMAN?
I HELPED TWO WOMEN IN MONSEY WITH THE WORST AGUNAH CASES. NO COERCION. NOTHING NASTY. JUST TALKING AND GETTING THE COMMUNITY AND THE RABBIS INVOLVED. THE HUSBANDS HAD THEIR DAY IN COURT, AND EVERYONE LEFT SATISFIED WITH NO HATE FOR ANYONE.
MEN TRUST ME BECAUSE I DON'T FORCE THEM TO DO WHAT THEY DON'T WANT TO DO. BUT I CAN TALK TO THEM SO THAT THEY UNDERSTAND AND PERHAPS THEY WILL GIVE A GET, A KOSHER ONE. THEN MAYBE I WILL BORROW YOUR SUPERMAN COAT!
Thursday, March 24, 2016
We Need a New Agudah That Will Fight False "Gedolim" and not Praise Reshoim
A New Agudah is Needed
By Rabbi Dovid E.
Eidensohn
In our blog torahhalacha.blogspot.com Joe Orlow posted a
comment that we have to go beyond the blogs into the community to teach people
who are the gedolim and who are the opposite. I think he is right. The failures
and tragedies of Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky and the woman he encouraged with his
son to remarry without a GET are the failures organizations protesting. It is
true that after a while when the pressures from the blogs became very strong,
many rabbis did send in letters to the blog with their opinions that any child
of Tamar with her boyfriend without a GET from her husband is a mamzer. But
there was no organization devoted not to advancing the rabbis in some form or
other, but in protecting the community from the bad rabbis.
The Agudah is the prime example of a bad organization that
is interested in raising money for Yeshivas, making a lot of fantastic
publicity for Torah causes, but not getting involved in the other things. The rabbinical
world knew of the disgrace of Philly
rabbis supporting Tamar Epstein Friedman to remarry without a GET. They said in
writing time and again that any child she would have from her boyfriend with no
GET from her husband would be a mamzer. But the only one fighting it was my
blog and my brother’s blog. There was no rabbinic organization designed to
fight these things. And furthermore, since the Yeshiva and rabbinical world
relies on funding from charitable Jews, and some of these Jews may be relative
or friends of Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky or Rabbi Notto Greenblatt, they were
reluctant to get involved, and they kept quiet. The Agudah made great efforts
in presenting RSK as the main speaker and a Gadol even as the rabbis of the
world attacked him for making adultery and eventually mamzerim.
So yes, let us think anew. In each community, there are a
few people who are concerned about the truth and true Torah leadership. Let a
few people in each community study up on our blogs, and contact me about
whatever topics are important, and then, within their communities, let them
have a meeting, at first in somebody’s house, or maybe eventually in a shull,
and perhaps a rabbis will speak out on what has to be spoken. But let’s go in
that direction, and hopefully, HaShem will help us. My email is dddeid@verizon.net and my phone is
845-578-1917.
There is now a situation in the United States that the
President and Congress have declared there is no difference between men and
women regarding the military draft. This would mean that Orthodox girls drafted
into the military would have a problem of suicide. And yet, there is no Jewish
organization even talking about this, as far as I know. The Agudah is not
interested in this topic.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Rav Dovid's Beth DIn - What Has to be Done Now
Rav Feinstein’s pesak that Tamar’s Heter is Invalid
The world is gushing with joy about Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky’s
letter that he accepts the pesak of Rav Dovid Feinstein that the Heter for
Tamar is invalid. I am not gushing with joy. For one, why did it take forty
days to pasken that the heter was worthless, forty days when Tamar was living
with a man not her husband, and may possibly have a child from him, and the
great Torah authorities throughout the world have ruled that the baby will be a
mamzer. If a baby is born, will it gush
with joy?
Second of all, there is no retraction as yet from the major
players in this evil, Rabbis Greenblatt and S. Kaminetsky. A married woman can
assume that they never agreed that they were wrong and that their opinion is
still valid. I understand that Rabbi Greenblatt has clearly stated that his heter is valid, despite the fact that he
never spoke to Aharon Friedman, and that those who studied his pesak say that
it is lies and distortions and surely worthless in halacha. If so, nothing has
been changed. Women, including Tamar, can still leave their husbands without a
GET and say that Greenblatt accepted it.
I just called Rabbi Greenblatt and asked him if he agreed
with Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky to accept the pesak from Rav Dovid Feinstein that
the Tamar heter is invalid. He did not answer but just asked me this and asked
me that and finally just hung up. I was told by people who spoke to him or who
studied his approach to this that he believes that his pesak is still valid,
and that it is more valid than the pesak of Reb Moshe Feinstein in these
matters. If so, since this Greenblatt is considered the major Rov of the South
United States as I was told, many women and many rabbis will continue to back
him.
As long as Reb Dovid does not give out a clear pesak in
writing that Rabbis Greenblatt and S. Kaminetsky accepted his pesak that their
heter was invalid, or prove that this is so with either witnesses or their
handwriting, he has failed. He has created a situation where women will
continue to rely on the heter of Greenblatt and S. Kaminetsky. He has failed so
far to forbid Tamar from being with her new boyfriend, so what has he achieved?
At this point, the only one who has publicly recanted if his
letter is not a forgery is Reb Shalom Kaminetsky. If Reb Dovid accepts that and
closes his Beth Din, he has saved the reputations of the other rabbis who were
not attacked. And if that is what he achieved with his Beth Din, he has made
much more problems than he solved. I am not sure that Reb Shalom did not accept
the hit for this mess in order to save his father and reputation with
Greenblatt. Now he will be considered a baal teshuva and will be a very strong
candidate to succeed his father in Philly, and the ladies he permitted can continue
to rely on the old rabbis who permitted it.
We must continue to demand that:
Tamar must separate
permanently from her husband.
) Tamar must arrange a GET
after she moves to Washington so Aharon can visit his daughter properly
Tamar must not go back to
her boyfriend after the GET. If this cannot be worked out properly, Aharon will
have a problem giving the GET.
Until Greenblatt and S.
Kaminetsky openly retract the Tamar Heter, they are to be publicly lambasted as
mamzer makers and reshoim.
If the Agudah retains R S
Kaminetsky as a senior rabbi, it is to be attacked.
It is time to publicly
declare the evil of prominent rabbis who help ladies get a GET that is invalid
and children born from it will be mamzerim.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Rav Dovid Feinstein's Beth Din Stuck? What should be done?
By Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn
It is now almost five weeks that the Beth Din of Rav Dovid
Feinstein has been working on the Tamar Epstein issue, and nothing has been
announced. The great delay of almost five weeks in doing anything public shows
that the Beth Din is not able to do what it wanted. What did it want?
The following is what the Beth Din was designed to do. After
Tamar was given in marriage to a man not her husband and she had no GET to do
so, the rabbinical world erupted in fury and proclaimed that any child she had
would be a mamzer. But a careful reading of the many rabbinical statements
reveals a split in how to deal with the problem. Some felt that the
perpetrators of this “marriage without a GET” were wicked people. The Rov of
Brisk in Israel said that Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky may not teach Torah anymore.
Others indicated that Rabbis Greenblat and Kaminetsky were not real
rabbis. But others did just the
opposite. They made it clear that Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky are rabbis
of prominence who just happened to make an error which is the fate of human
beings who sometimes err.
I asked one of the rabbis who talked about those rabbis with
great respect and yet said that the child would be a mamzer, how this was
possible. A rabbi who defies the entire rabbinical world and makes a marriage
without a GET that leads to children mamzerim, how can you write about him as
if he is a prominent rabbi? He is a prominent rosho. The rabbi explained to me
that the goal now is not to bang away at Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky, but rather,
the goal is to convince them to accept that they made a mistake and to forbid
Tamar to be with her boyfriend and to admit that the entire process of negating
a marriage with very funny tactics was wrong.
This is a very important goal. If the two rabbis implicated
in this adultery do not confess their mistake publicly, surely some or even
many women will do what Tamar did, to invent some excuse for negating their
marriage and to remarry without a GET. Thus the Beth Din wants to convince
these prominent rabbis to confess their mistake, somehow hang on to their
prominence, but to negate any more Tamars from adultery and mamzeruth.
This goal was the purpose of the Rabbi Dovid Feinstein Beth
Din. It was initiated by Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, it seems with some help from
a prominent Agudah rabbi. This is important. Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, even
after the terrific uproar of the great rabbis throughout the world, is still
considered by Agudas Israel of America to be a gadol of prime standing.
Therefore, the Agudah has a need to save Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky from being
declared a Rosho, because if that is accepted, the Agudah will have to fire
him, and they have no intention of doing such a thing. Therefore, the Rav Dovid
Feinstein Beth Din was accepted as a group of rabbis who could convince Rabbis
Kaminetsky and Greenblatt to confess their mistake and somehow to retain their
previous status in the Agudah and other places that will willingly embrace them
still.
But this goal is extremely difficult to achieve. I was told
by two people I respect that Rabbi Greenblatt, weeks after the Beth Din began,
firmly believes he did the right thing. Furthermore, he feels that his HETER
for Tamir was stronger than anything that Reb Moshe paskened to permit a woman.
If this is so, why should he accept that he made a mistake? Obviously, he will
never do it. And since he only helped Tamar because of the Kaminetskies, they
cannot admit their mistake without hurting him. After all, he did them a great
favor by marrying Tamar without a GET when no rabbi in the world would do such
a thing.
So what happens now? The Beth Din of Rav Dovid Feinstein
will do nothing, and if it does something, it will have to cross a red line and
antagonize the great rabbis of the world. So probably it is the end of the Beth
Din, although with the Agudah backing it to the hilt it is possible that some
clever saving of face will take place. But if the rabbis who made this horror of
a woman remarrying without a GET are saved by this Beth Din that is desperate
to save itself, the honor of the Torah is destroyed, at least in the American
Yeshiva world.
I will present here what I understand should be the decision
of the Beth Din, as I heard from gedolim in Gittin and Botei Dinin. One, it
must pasken that Tamar separate herself from her adultery boyfriend immediately.
If she is pregnant and has a baby the Beth Din must rule it is a mamzer. The two
rabbis who encouraged Tamar with her terrible adultery and refused to recant should
be declared wicked, not Gedolim, and not rabbis.
At stake is the honor of the Agudah of America and Rav Dovid
Feinstein, and the public trust in “gedolim” when now we know better.
I have stated before, and I say it again: Rabbis Shmuel
Kaminetsky and Noto Greenblatt are worthy of being put in Cherem ראוי
לנדותם but in Monsey we don’t
do that to curse them, at least now at this point. But after doing what they
have done, they have no right to pasken Torah halochose and are not to be
considered worthy of teaching Torah or rendering Torah halacha. Nobody should
send a child to the Philadelphia Yeshiva as long as that Rosho is the Rosh
Yeshiva. And if his son Shalom succeeds him, surely nobody should go there.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Guest Post from Joe Orlow Re: Why
I Fight “Gedolim”
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A Torah life is built
on obedience to authority. Children obey parents. Students obey teachers.
Community members obey the Torah leaders in their town. Local Torah leaders
obey national leaders.
A local Torah leader can be the Rabbi of a Shul; a Rosh Yeshiva; a Dayan on a Bais Din; or a Torah scholar without a community position who people turn to for advice.
Parents and teachers are only to be obeyed if they follow the Torah. A child is not obligated to follow an order from a parent demanding that the child transgress the Torah.
Furthermore, the Torah directs each person to select a Rav to follow. The terminology is "Aseh L'cha Rav", "make for yourself a Rav". That is, a Rav cannot come and demand obedience from someone unless that person chose to submit to him. There are exceptions, however.
When the S'micha from Moshe was still given, a Rav could subpoena someone to appear his court.
And historically, when Jews lived in all-Jewish communities, a person could come under the jurisdiction of a Rav without choosing him. A Rav selected by the community at large had to be obeyed even by those who may oppose him. The seven Tuvai Ha'Ir, even if they were not Rabbis, had to be obeyed. But even there, people had a choice. Someone could leave the city or region or move elsewhere.
If a Rabbi in America is a true scholar and his peers recognize his scholarship and defer to his decisions, he can become a Gadol, or even Gadol Hador, "The Great One of the Generation"; or perhaps a title limiting his authority to a region is conferred on him, such as, "The Greatest Gadol in America". Under those circumstances, the Gadol can require obedience.
Yet, curiously, some Rabbis claim that all Jews in America must submit to them without these Rabbis having properly earned the title. They assume the title of "Gadol", a "Great One", by dint of a family name, or having a prominent position in an established Yeshiva, by having studied under a true Gadol, or because many people bring them their questions or come to their Shiurim; or simply because they sit on the Eastern wall of the dais at a convention. Still, the scholarship of these men may be lacking and thus they are without the respect of true scholars and are pseudo-Gadolim.
Aa long as pseudo-Gadolim work within the confines of those places where their supporters treat them as a Gadol, their impact on others outside their followers is limited.
But when a pseudo-Gadol overreaches and makes decisions that affect people who disdain him for his sloppy scholarship, the stage is set for a showdown between individuals and the pseudo-Gadol. A free-for-all can ensue.
Those who consider the pseudo-Gadol as a fraud, a Rasha, and maybe even an Apikoros, begin publicly airing the flaws of the pseudo-Gadol. Meanwhile, the pseudo-Gadol's followers hit back and begin demanding respect for the man.
Each side demands to be left alone.
But in truth, the pseudo-Gadol has only himself to blame. He bought into all the hype. He exposed his own vulnerability by going into battle without arming himself with sources and proofs from the Mesorah.
Pronouncements from on high don't fly in the old fashioned Torah world. And a sure sign someone is a phony Gadol is when he clams up or begins double-talking, saying one thing to one person and another thing to another, or contradicting himself.
So don't berate me for jumping in and piling it on when a pseudo-Gadol raises his hand against one of my friends. Don't tell me to let the Gadolim handle it and that I should stay out and just watch from the sidelines.
Rather, let those who criticize me ask themselves why their vocal "Gadol" all of a sudden is scrambling to rise above the fray, when it was he who threw the first punch? Why is he refusing to discuss the issue at hand openly and honestly? I'll take a stab at answering that question: Because the pseudo-Gadol is used to being obeyed unquestioningly, and when someone catches him playing fast and loose with the rules, he freezes like a deer caught in the headlights.
As for me, to do nothing when I discern the Torah being abused eats away at my soul. For self preservation I am compelled not to stand by idly.
A local Torah leader can be the Rabbi of a Shul; a Rosh Yeshiva; a Dayan on a Bais Din; or a Torah scholar without a community position who people turn to for advice.
Parents and teachers are only to be obeyed if they follow the Torah. A child is not obligated to follow an order from a parent demanding that the child transgress the Torah.
Furthermore, the Torah directs each person to select a Rav to follow. The terminology is "Aseh L'cha Rav", "make for yourself a Rav". That is, a Rav cannot come and demand obedience from someone unless that person chose to submit to him. There are exceptions, however.
When the S'micha from Moshe was still given, a Rav could subpoena someone to appear his court.
And historically, when Jews lived in all-Jewish communities, a person could come under the jurisdiction of a Rav without choosing him. A Rav selected by the community at large had to be obeyed even by those who may oppose him. The seven Tuvai Ha'Ir, even if they were not Rabbis, had to be obeyed. But even there, people had a choice. Someone could leave the city or region or move elsewhere.
If a Rabbi in America is a true scholar and his peers recognize his scholarship and defer to his decisions, he can become a Gadol, or even Gadol Hador, "The Great One of the Generation"; or perhaps a title limiting his authority to a region is conferred on him, such as, "The Greatest Gadol in America". Under those circumstances, the Gadol can require obedience.
Yet, curiously, some Rabbis claim that all Jews in America must submit to them without these Rabbis having properly earned the title. They assume the title of "Gadol", a "Great One", by dint of a family name, or having a prominent position in an established Yeshiva, by having studied under a true Gadol, or because many people bring them their questions or come to their Shiurim; or simply because they sit on the Eastern wall of the dais at a convention. Still, the scholarship of these men may be lacking and thus they are without the respect of true scholars and are pseudo-Gadolim.
Aa long as pseudo-Gadolim work within the confines of those places where their supporters treat them as a Gadol, their impact on others outside their followers is limited.
But when a pseudo-Gadol overreaches and makes decisions that affect people who disdain him for his sloppy scholarship, the stage is set for a showdown between individuals and the pseudo-Gadol. A free-for-all can ensue.
Those who consider the pseudo-Gadol as a fraud, a Rasha, and maybe even an Apikoros, begin publicly airing the flaws of the pseudo-Gadol. Meanwhile, the pseudo-Gadol's followers hit back and begin demanding respect for the man.
Each side demands to be left alone.
But in truth, the pseudo-Gadol has only himself to blame. He bought into all the hype. He exposed his own vulnerability by going into battle without arming himself with sources and proofs from the Mesorah.
Pronouncements from on high don't fly in the old fashioned Torah world. And a sure sign someone is a phony Gadol is when he clams up or begins double-talking, saying one thing to one person and another thing to another, or contradicting himself.
So don't berate me for jumping in and piling it on when a pseudo-Gadol raises his hand against one of my friends. Don't tell me to let the Gadolim handle it and that I should stay out and just watch from the sidelines.
Rather, let those who criticize me ask themselves why their vocal "Gadol" all of a sudden is scrambling to rise above the fray, when it was he who threw the first punch? Why is he refusing to discuss the issue at hand openly and honestly? I'll take a stab at answering that question: Because the pseudo-Gadol is used to being obeyed unquestioningly, and when someone catches him playing fast and loose with the rules, he freezes like a deer caught in the headlights.
As for me, to do nothing when I discern the Torah being abused eats away at my soul. For self preservation I am compelled not to stand by idly.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Rabbi Herschel Schechter Says to Beat and Even Kill Husbands Who Withhold a GET
See my brother's blog daattorah.blogspot.com of Feb 26,'16. It is about Rabbi Herschel Schechter's opinion that a husband who refuses a GET may be beaten and elsewhere, on tape, he is recorded as saying the husband may be killed. This is a refutation of this from the Shulchan Aruch and poskim. Interestingly enough, Rabbi Schechter has no source in the gemora or rishonim for what he says, and his "proofs" do not impress me. But we are here going to bring sources to show that the Shulchan Aruch and the major poskim and rishonim disagree with him completely.
HaGaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt"l told me that any Beth Din that violates the sin of coercing a GET is not a Beth Din, and any woman divorced from it must get another GET as this GET is not recognized. That is, a kosher Beth Din must look into the matter to see if there is any way of proving that the GET is kosher, and if not, she needs another GET and may not remarry with the GET from a non-Orthodox Halacha Beth Din.
R. Herschel Shechter has called for beating and even killing husbands who won't give a GET any time the wife wants out of the marriage. Any GET that he gives is invalid, as he is not recognized as an Orthodox posek or rabbi. The same is true of "rabbi" Gedliah Schwartz who told me clearly that he sent away a couple who wanted a GET because he felt they didn't need one because although there was a proper Kiddushin and Chupa there was no Biah, a statement that shows he is a complete ignoramus and does not know that a woman is considered married without Biah but with either kiddushin using a valuable such as a ring, or a marital document. (Shulchan Aruch EH Kiddushin 26:4) Such people invent the Torah and they are not true rabbis but wicked deniers of the Torah. Anyone who gets a GET from Shechter or Schwartz, and possibly from the entire RCA, must ask a kosher Beth Din what to do.
I spoke to gedolei haposkim about this and it is clear that anyone who humiliates a husband to force a GET has made an invalid GET. This is brought down in the new Sefer Mishpitei Yisreol in the beginning with signatures of Reb Chaim Kanievsky Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner and many of the Israeli Gedolim. They also say that a GET from a Beth Din that violates the Halacha re: coercion of a GET is invalid.
See Rashbo in teshuvose VII:414 that a woman who demands a GET because the husband cannot be a man we do not coerce the husband "we do not put him in Nidui, we do not humiliate him, and we do not make for him physical pain." This Rashbo is quoted by the Radvaz IV:118 word for word. The Chazon Ish brings the Bais Yosef EH 154 who quotes the Rashbo, and the Chazon Ish adds it to his commentary and then rules that this is the Halacha See EH in Chazon Ish 108:12 .
And yet there are those who are desperate to twist and turn and invent and they change the words of the Rashbo "we do not humiliate him" to "we do not hit him." But the problem with that invention is that the Rashbo says three things, "we do not put him in nidui, we do not humiliate him which they change to we do not hit him, and we do not hurt him physically." Now, if the Rashbo already said we may not hit him, why does he repeat "And we do not hurt him physically." At any rate, the Rashbo that we have, the Radvaz, the Beis Yosef and the Chazon Ish all say clearly that it is forbidden to humiliate him. Furthermore, Rabbeinu Yona in Shaarei Teshuva par 139 says that humiliation is like murder. He quotes Chazal that one who humiliates another in public goes to Gehenum and never comes up. Thus, humiliation is an extreme coercion and invalidates the GET.
The Rashbo there talks about two husbands. The first husband is a regular husband and the wife does not say that he is not possible to be a husband. Rather she says that she cannot tolerate living with him. In that case the Rashbo says, "We never coerce such a husband to divorce his wife, but if he wants to divorce, he divorces, and if he does not want to divorce, he does not divorce." This language means that no coercion or pressure is possible. Rabbeinu Tam quoted in Shita Kesubose says that it is even wrong for Beth Din to advise him that it would be a good thing to give a GET, as this is pressure of some kind. However, Rashbo talks about a second husband, who is not a man, cannot please his wife with intimacy, and is commanded by the Talmud to divorce his wife. But since it does not say in the Talmud to beat him, or coerce severely, the Rashbo says "we may not put him in Niduh, we may not humiliate him, and we may not cause him physical pain." But other milder coercions are permitted, such as telling him that he is wicked for disobeying the gemora.
The Shulchan Aruch EH in hapter 77 talks about a woman who demands a GET because her husband is disgusting to her. The Shulchan Aruch, Ramo, Gro, Beis Shmuel and Chelkas Mechokake all say there in par 2 and 3 the words of the Rashbo, "If he wants to divorce he may divorce and if he does not want to divorce he does not have to divorce." They interpret this to mean that no pressure may be put on him to divorce. If so, a woman who has a GET obtained from ORA has an invalid GET because it was pressured, and not just pressured, which is forbidden for all divorces, but was produced with humiliation, which is forbidden even for somebody who is not a man and is commanded by the Talmud to divorce.
HaGaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt"l told me that any Beth Din that violates the sin of coercing a GET is not a Beth Din, and any woman divorced from it must get another GET as this GET is not recognized. That is, a kosher Beth Din must look into the matter to see if there is any way of proving that the GET is kosher, and if not, she needs another GET and may not remarry with the GET from a non-Orthodox Halacha Beth Din.
R. Herschel Shechter has called for beating and even killing husbands who won't give a GET any time the wife wants out of the marriage. Any GET that he gives is invalid, as he is not recognized as an Orthodox posek or rabbi. The same is true of "rabbi" Gedliah Schwartz who told me clearly that he sent away a couple who wanted a GET because he felt they didn't need one because although there was a proper Kiddushin and Chupa there was no Biah, a statement that shows he is a complete ignoramus and does not know that a woman is considered married without Biah but with either kiddushin using a valuable such as a ring, or a marital document. (Shulchan Aruch EH Kiddushin 26:4) Such people invent the Torah and they are not true rabbis but wicked deniers of the Torah. Anyone who gets a GET from Shechter or Schwartz, and possibly from the entire RCA, must ask a kosher Beth Din what to do.
I spoke to gedolei haposkim about this and it is clear that anyone who humiliates a husband to force a GET has made an invalid GET. This is brought down in the new Sefer Mishpitei Yisreol in the beginning with signatures of Reb Chaim Kanievsky Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner and many of the Israeli Gedolim. They also say that a GET from a Beth Din that violates the Halacha re: coercion of a GET is invalid.
See Rashbo in teshuvose VII:414 that a woman who demands a GET because the husband cannot be a man we do not coerce the husband "we do not put him in Nidui, we do not humiliate him, and we do not make for him physical pain." This Rashbo is quoted by the Radvaz IV:118 word for word. The Chazon Ish brings the Bais Yosef EH 154 who quotes the Rashbo, and the Chazon Ish adds it to his commentary and then rules that this is the Halacha See EH in Chazon Ish 108:12 .
And yet there are those who are desperate to twist and turn and invent and they change the words of the Rashbo "we do not humiliate him" to "we do not hit him." But the problem with that invention is that the Rashbo says three things, "we do not put him in nidui, we do not humiliate him which they change to we do not hit him, and we do not hurt him physically." Now, if the Rashbo already said we may not hit him, why does he repeat "And we do not hurt him physically." At any rate, the Rashbo that we have, the Radvaz, the Beis Yosef and the Chazon Ish all say clearly that it is forbidden to humiliate him. Furthermore, Rabbeinu Yona in Shaarei Teshuva par 139 says that humiliation is like murder. He quotes Chazal that one who humiliates another in public goes to Gehenum and never comes up. Thus, humiliation is an extreme coercion and invalidates the GET.
The Rashbo there talks about two husbands. The first husband is a regular husband and the wife does not say that he is not possible to be a husband. Rather she says that she cannot tolerate living with him. In that case the Rashbo says, "We never coerce such a husband to divorce his wife, but if he wants to divorce, he divorces, and if he does not want to divorce, he does not divorce." This language means that no coercion or pressure is possible. Rabbeinu Tam quoted in Shita Kesubose says that it is even wrong for Beth Din to advise him that it would be a good thing to give a GET, as this is pressure of some kind. However, Rashbo talks about a second husband, who is not a man, cannot please his wife with intimacy, and is commanded by the Talmud to divorce his wife. But since it does not say in the Talmud to beat him, or coerce severely, the Rashbo says "we may not put him in Niduh, we may not humiliate him, and we may not cause him physical pain." But other milder coercions are permitted, such as telling him that he is wicked for disobeying the gemora.
The Shulchan Aruch EH in hapter 77 talks about a woman who demands a GET because her husband is disgusting to her. The Shulchan Aruch, Ramo, Gro, Beis Shmuel and Chelkas Mechokake all say there in par 2 and 3 the words of the Rashbo, "If he wants to divorce he may divorce and if he does not want to divorce he does not have to divorce." They interpret this to mean that no pressure may be put on him to divorce. If so, a woman who has a GET obtained from ORA has an invalid GET because it was pressured, and not just pressured, which is forbidden for all divorces, but was produced with humiliation, which is forbidden even for somebody who is not a man and is commanded by the Talmud to divorce.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Thoughts on the Beth Din of Rav Dovid Feinstein re: RSK and RNG
Thoughts on the Beth Din of Rav Dovid Feinstein re: RSK and RNG
By Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn
When I first heard of
the Beth Din of Rav Dovid Feinstein, I was fearful and negative, for the simple
reason that I felt he was doing mission impossible, to satisfy Rabbis Shmuel
Kaminetsky and Noto Greenblatt, and the halacha. As I understand it, Rabbi
Shmuel Kaminetsky asked for this Beth Din. Now, he asked for this Beth Din to
save his reputation which is now in tatters because great rabbonim in Israel,
America and Canada have clearly written that Tamar has no right to remarry
without a GET and if she does she lives in sin and her children will be
mamzerim. If so, how can Rav Dovid make RSK and RNG happy unless he says what
they want to hear, that Tamar may remarry without a GET. And if Reb Dovid would
permit this, it would be a major catastrophe, not just for Torah, but for Reb
Dovid, because at this point, the whole world knows the darker side of Reb
Shmuel, and even Rav Dovid cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Susequently, I heard that somebody was working very hard to
improve things, and based upon that, I had more confidence and was willing to
give things a chance. Yesterday, I found out that nothing has changed, and that
the situation is dragging on now for two weeks, and nobody sees an end to this
for the above reason. As one very prominent person told me, Rav Dovid will
surely not permit Tamar to remarry without a GET, but if he phrases his
negative attitude in a manner that shows that RSK is still a Gadol, or if he
phrases it in a way that does not clearly indicate how bad it was and how
wicked it was, this will be a great problem. I spoke yesterday at length with
two major poskim, and both were very upset about the Beth Din and wished that
it would disappear.
As I understand, those in opposition to the Beth Din are
ready to start speaking out against it. I don’t know where all of this will end
up, and it may drag on and it may dissolve or it may succeed somehow. But what
exactly will happen nobody knows. I want to express here what I heard from
major poskim who have extensive experience with the world of pesak and Torah.
First of all, there is outrage that Reb Dovid did not
immediately order Tamar to separate from her boyfriend. Even if we hold that a woman who was told by
a Beth Din to remarry without a GET is not a sinner, because she followed the
established Beth Din, and is ONUS, like a forced woman, Tamar was not forced to
marry, and was clearly aware that the greatest rabbis opposed her remarrying
without a GET. A major rabbi in Philadelphia went to Israel and spoke to the
elder and Gaon Rav Nissim Karelitz about the case and was told that she may not
remarry without a GET. This major rabbi returned to Philadelphia and told Tamar
and her mother, but they were not interested. Now, the opinion that permits a
woman to remarry talks about a case where there was only one Beth Din and it
was the accepted Beth Din and it permitted the woman with no question. But when
a very senior Rov and his Beth Din forbid the woman to remarry, but somebody
comes along, without a Beth Din, and permits her, and she knows that the great
rabbi forbade it, she is not forced to remarry. And therefore, she is an
intentional sinner and surely was never “forced” to marry.
The fact that Rav Dovid has been sitting on this case for
two weeks whereby nothing has been done, and Tamar is living with her boyfriend
in very serious sin, is a great complaint against the Beth Din. On the other
hand, this Beth Din is not there to tell people that RSK and RNG erred in their
pesak. Everybody knows that all ready and many great rabbis have clearly stated
this. The Beth Din of Reb Dovid is to try, if it is at all possible, to make a
statement that RSK and RNG will accept to the extent that they will openly
admit that they were wrong. This would be a great achievement because these two
rabbis are very prominent and many women would accept their opinions if they do
not change their minds. This is the main benefit of this Beth Din.
The question though is, whether satisfying the two rabbis is
right. If as is widely assumed that they did some very bad things, how can they
be honored by Rav Dovid and his Beth Din after they encouraged a woman to
remarry without a GET, and have a child that will be a mamzer?
The great problem is the Agudah. If the Agudah is pressuring
Reb Dovid to go easy on Reb Shmuel, we don’t know what will happen. Therefore,
at this point, the reputations of RSK and RNG and the Agudah is at stake, and
nobody knows where the wind will blow. The great rabbis that I spoke to are
furious that Reb Dovid is silent on the issue of Tamar staying with her
boyfriend. They are also very upset that Rav Dovid may temper his criticism of
the Tamar heter to somehow hint that RSK and RBG are really prominent rabbis
and maybe what they said was not based on lies, etc. That would be a great
problem.
I have written this briefly, to present the situation. One
thing is for sure: If at this juncture, Rav Dovid will release a statement that
erases or even eases the evil done by these two rabbis, it will not be
accepted, other than in Agudas Israel, which is the only one who has a dog in
this fight because the Agudah treats Reb
Shmuel as a great gadol. And if Reb Dovid criticizes him it would besmirch the
Agudah. So it is unlikely that this episode will end quickly or in a way that
everyone will accept. It will probably just feed the fumes of another round of
ferocious criticism of the rabbis who permitted Tamar to remarry without a GET,
but this time, if Reb Dovid backs them, he will be the target, but whether he
is worried about those things I don’t know.
From my brother's blog - Studying Kedusho and Intimacy is important
Rav Yitzchok Isaac Sher: the Importance, nature and holiness of sexual relations
Kuntres Kedushas Yisroel (Introduction): The Ravad wrote in Baal Nefesh at the beginng of Sha'ar HaKedusha, "I wish to write at length and in detail in this section because there is benefit in being expansive. That is because in these matters the majority of people err in their understanding and therefore make mistakes in what they do. Therefore I saw fit to expound on this topic until it becomes simple and clearly understood to all those who are interested."
We see that this genuinely pious person (Ravad) said that he knows that in these matters most people err. Because he is concerned about these people, he wanted to teach them the proper understanding to deal with these matters and the proper conduct to lead a proper life. However in our lowly times, it seems to me the G-d fearing scholars do not know these matters and there are many talmidei chachomim who simply rely on their knowledge based on studying this Sha'aar HaKedusha of the Ravad. However the truth is that the Sha'ar HaKedusha is a closed document for people like us and is not properly understood. The Ravad with his deep understanding thought that his brief words were sufficiently clear for proper understanding and he even apologized in his introduction for being so expansive in this matter. He did this so that what he wrote should be simple and understandable to all those who studied it. However for those who don't have extensive knowledge, these words are often merely unclear allusions which require much elaborations and explanations in order to understand their profoundity properly
After the Ravad (1125-1198) we merited to have the Igros Kodesh attributed to the Ramban (1194-1270). Even though the Ramban saw the words of the Ravad, he nevertheless decided it would be proper to expand the material into 6 chapters. He explained the material in an impressive manner with principles and detail as to what to do. However due to our poor comprehension even the Ramban’s expansions are too terse and they themselves now need to be expanded and clarified. I will try with G-d’s help to explain the depth of his words and remove the difficulties to those who study them that prevent proper understanding.
In the first chapter I will discuss the topic in general – that these issues determine the sanctity of the Chosen Jewish People and whether they are able to be holy to G-d as the Torah says, “You should sanctify yourselves and be holy because I the L-rd am holy. Just as He is holy so should you be holy. Given that the material that man is made of and his nature are the causes of being good or bad based on his temperment and this is determined by the nature of the drop from which he developed – it follows that sexual intercourse of a man and woman is the cause of the holiness of the Jewish people and the holiness of G-d or mundaneness according to the children that are born since they constitute the nation. Therefore we are commanded to sanctify ourselves at the time of intercourse since that is the cause of giving birth to tzadikim who sanctify G-d’s name or evil people who profane G-d’s name. Therefore it is a holy obligation to know what is this sanctification. In explaining this holiness there are five aspects which are explained in these chapters – the nature of intercourse, the appropriate time, the food that is appropriate to eat, the intent and motivation for intercourse and the quality of intercourse. [to be continued]
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