13 Odor 5766
A Letter About YUCHSIN
From Rav Dovid Eliyohu Eidensohn
מחבר ספרים הלכות בית נאמן: שטרות עיסקא ועניני ממונות, קדושת בית נאמן: הלכות בחוקותיהם ועניני משפחה, שו"ת בית נאמן: ריבית
1) I recently spoke to a major Mesader Gittin, one who has made thousands of Gittin. He told me that he permitted a man and woman to remarry without a GET, after they were married properly. He told me his reasoning, but the senior poskim reject it. They consider the GET worthless.
2) There is today a plethora of HETERIM for men or women to remarry that shock senior poskim. Some rabbis force the husband to give a GET in ways not permitted by the senior poskim. Others negate the Kiddushin in ways not acceptable to senior poskim. There is also a thriving business in HETER MAYO RABBONIM that is not approved by senior poskim.
3) Sadly to say, there are rabbis who take huge sums to “permit” people to remarry. The Chilul HaShem is enormous.
4) Other than the Chilul HaShem of rabbis who sell the Torah with treifeh innovations, there is the problem of mamzerut. What can be more sacred than YUCHSIN, the holiness of the Jewish people, and the avoidance of mamzerut rachmono litslon?
5) Any woman who receives a GET considered proper by some authorities but considered unfit by other authorities has a problem. A woman who remarries with such a GET has made a great problem for her children. Even if she does want to rely on the rabbi who gave her the GET, she should realize the problems her progeny may have. They may be mamzerim.
6) A mamzer who is certainly one may marry another mamzer. A mamzer vadei is a definite mamzer. Such a person may marry another mamzer. Not so a doubtful mamzer. A doubtful mamzer may not marry a mamzer and may not marry an Israelite who has the proper pure and unblemished YICHUSE. Thus, the disaster of being a doubtful mamzer is worse than being a definite mamzer.
7) It was my sad duty in the past generation to go between a Gaon in Israel and Reb Moshe Feinstein zt”l about what to do in the situation where someone had a question on his yichuse. It was not an easy situation. I saw first hand a real person who had this problem.
8) My rebbe the Gaon Posek HaDor Reb Yosef Shalom Elyashev shlit”o told me that he takes away the chezkas dayan of anyone who employs the New York State Get Law to force a husband to give a GET. That is, any GET emanating from a proper Beth Din is generally considered proper. However, to attain the status of a Beth Din requires a good reputation. A Beth Din that employs governmental force to achieve a GET is no longer a Beth Din regarding Chezkas Beth Din, and we suspect the Gittin it makes.
9) What this means is that in the next generation, many marriages made by Orthodox Beth Dins that employ governmental pressure on a husband to give a GET will produce children. Some rabbis may not accept these children’s Yichuse. What a disaster that will be. In a Yeshiva, some children will be known as doubtful mamzerim.
10) A friend of mine once saw a boy learning late in the Beis HaMedrash. He looked like a fine fellow, so my friend went over to him and asked, “Are you interested in a Shidduch?” The boy replied, “I am a mamzer.”
11) In the past generation, a certain rabbi gave invalid divorces. One of his divorces then produced a child who went to Bais Yaacov. During her shidduch it was discovered that she may be a mamzeress.
12) It is becoming a style in some Orthodox quarters to teach women with shalom bayis problems how to get an order of protection and then put the husband in jail, get custody of the children, and take more money from him, as well as get a GET.
13) The District Attorney of Brooklyn, doing a favor to Orthodox feminists, procured 250,000 dollars to find Orthodox husbands who abuse their wives and to put them in jail. Orthodox rabbis speak at these meetings, although gradually fewer and fewer do so. This is Project Eden, a curse of mesirah and destroying families.
14) We are sad that so few people even know what is going on in the world. It is time for them to wake up, before it is too late.
15) There is a gender war in the general culture, and it is spilling over into the Orthodox community. It destroys marriages and is now producing mamzerim.
16) Therefore, we are now obligated to look into the process of marriage and shalom bayis, and to make it very clear to all that there is no role for the police in Shalom Bayis. Whoever teaches women to maser on their husbands with orders of protection is a great rosho. Whoever “helps” women by giving them a doubtful Get is a great rosho. Whoever “makes a living” by inventing ways for men or women to escape their marital bonds without a GET is a great rosho.
17) Those of us who want a world free of mamzerim, chilul HaShem, and corrupt and mistaken rabbis, must speak out.
18) Therefore, when you need a GET, go only to a Beth Din with a good reputation, one that does not coerce husband or wife, one that does not issue frivolous HETER MAYO RABBONIM, and one that is staffed by serious scholars.
19) If you consider marrying, be careful to check if the family had any Gittin and certainly if it had any negated marriages. Find out if these Gittin were done with the highest Torah standards, or are they from the swamp of today’s improper halacha innovations.
20) Every rabbi has an obligation to teach his congregation the importance of YUCHSIN, and to advise them on these sensitive matters.
21) Every person must fight the decadence of some rabbis, who for personal gain or even idealism are creating a generation of dubious Yichuse.
22) Those who wish to participate in a program of helping people with Shalom Bayis and Kosher Gittin may contact us at 845-352-7267.
23) A woman recently went to a Beth Din for a GET. She was told, “There is nothing we can do.” She said, “So what can I do?” They said, “Pray.” We in the community who ignore these problems are not practicing the kindness and sensitivity so crucial to the Jewish character.
24) If we ignore the plight of men suffering in jail because of a divorce situation, we are also cruel.
25) Jails are peopled with vicious people who often have AIDS. Anyone in jail is in mortal danger. Many are attacked and infected. How can a Jew put another Jew in jail to gain the upper hand in a divorce situation?
26) We must uproot those in our midst who cater to hate, and must replace them with those who teach Shalom Bayis.
Shalom Uvrocho,
Dovid Eidensohn
Monsey, NY