Friday, September 29, 2023

Danger of being too lenient

R Rackman One man's Jusaism page 206 

file:///C:/Users/meide/Downloads/One-Mans-Judaism.pdf

Discussing Rav Moshe heter for a getless divorce


23 comments :

  1. fair enough, but then he counters this argument, followed by a discussion of ends vs means, and asks which end are we to safeguard?

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  2. he also mentions the agreement of senior rabbis
    In other words he was once careful about the system and concerned with rabbinic approval
    when fid he become a revolutionary rebel against the system?

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  3. Yes, he was a responsible orthodox rav, was head of the rca, and rav of the 5th avenue synagogue.

    He says that he was forced by halacha to tell agunot that he cannot help them, and this pain was unbearable for one so compassionate for the pain of others. An oheiv yisroel.

    I have an article he wrote in 1988 where he says the time is not far off when Modern /centrist rabbis will take the initiative in their own hands using wholly halachic methods to resolve the agunah problem. He was 78 at this point. In the early 90s Rav soloveitchik and rav Goren were niftar. The other modern leaders such as rav Lichtenstein would not change anything from rav soloveitchik's stand. Actually I met rav Riskin around this time and mentioned Rackman to him. He seemed to be aware of something that Rackman might be discussing, but I didn't know what.
    Incidentally, a book in honor of rav Rackman's 80th birthday was published in Hebrew. There another modern orthodox rav mendel Lewittes wrote a piece both praising and critical of the Rackman proposal. He didn't like the annulment proposal because of the logical problem of annullimg eg a sadists kiddushin. He preferred a Sanhedrin in our time.
    Alas the idea had been brewing and he was frustrated with the lack of progress. He claimed that poskim were just not bold and maybe even callous.
    When he did set up his BD in the late 90s, he said that the abuse he received was unpleasant, but that finally he was no longer forced to say he cannot help

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  4. In other words he ignored his original position and said I don't care that I am going against the majority I can't stand the present situation!

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  5. Akavya ben mehalelel simply repeated what he heard from his rebbes, who at an earlier time were a majority, but was still punished for adhering to his mesora. Rackman felt that he would be the first to enter deep water, and hoped that others would one day follow. There are still new iterations of his BD.

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  6. Also you can and did say the same about 2 American gedolim who recently freed an agunah.

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  7. Rav Goren's amended Maharsham proposal

    was rejected by Rav Simcha Kook, and rav Shlomo Karelitz, even though it had been used by Kook's father!

    https://moderntoraleadership.wordpress.com/2022/09/29/halakhic-power-and-halakhic-policy-mamzerut-and-iggun-part-3/

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  8. And if they are being criticized it means Rackman can do it also!!!!!!

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  9. It's a legitimate question to ask - if halacha ever developed like this? How did the chassidic movement gain acceptance when it was originally banned? Even Zionism and religious Zionism were originally rejected - now at least they have bedieved status.

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  10. They knew about rackman before they made their own rackman Memphis bd. But they did it anyway.
    Do you see that the level of protest falls slightly for each iteration of this expansion of halacha?
    I'm not able to make halachic psak - I'm just discussing socio -psychology of halachic disputes.

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  11. No I dont see your theory of habituation
    There was unanimous protests by all major poskim where was the defense?

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  12. this heter does not even get accepted bedieved
    The only issue seems yo be whether the alleged involvement of gedolim makes even chazir kosher

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  13. He still remains on the moetses gedolei Torah, whereas Rackman was not even allowed to be head of a University. For the IBD, a few moans and groans but nothing major. And the IBD continues now under HaRav HaGaon Bigman shlita. Not a whisper against him. Again, i am not arrogating to myself to suggest how halacha is arrived at or gets accepted.

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  14. havent heard of any evidence that the IBD has become acceptablr
    Rav Shmuel denies supporting the heter

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  15. but there is little or no interest in what they get up to , maybe because the whole Gadol hador era is over, and there is no clear leadership anymore.
    OK, Maybe there never was a heter , who knows?

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  16. In other words you really don't know and therefore are wildly guessing!

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  17. Are you advising me to not believe everything you post?

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  18. http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2014/05/tamar-epstein-is-free-according-to.html?m=1

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  19. I am in agreement that lack of protest is not the same as halachic acceptance.

    there are several radical batei din:

    rackman

    EJF on giur
    Dayan Sherman on giur.

    Memphis /Philly

    IBD 1 / IBD 2



    none of these were very successful.

    Ejf and Sherman had backing of Posek hador but faced opposition both by the rabbanut and other authorities.

    Some hareidim are even rehabilitating rav Goren. Chabad are regularly quoting him. Yated.com drew a parallel with the Sherman and the langer heter.
    What will happen if these disagreements continue, is Jewishness, mamzerut will be contested by different communities

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  20. danger of being too strict - the Chofetz Chaim 's kiddush cup was inherited by his daughter. Some fruM yeshiva students refused to accept it for kiddush, as it did not meet their extreme shiur.

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  21. there are a few versions of it floating around

    see https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/43496/the-chofetz-chaims-kiddush-cup

    apparently the version I heard was from R Rakeffet's shiur

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