TOWARD A SOCIOLOGY OF PSAK

 https://traditiononline.org/towards-a-sociology-of-psak/

 Despite the tendency, particularly within the right-wing Orthodox communities, for an almost reflex-action rejection of the role of social forces in psak, the more carefully one considers the issue the more it is apparent that poskim are not simply computers and that, indeed, there are many social forces which enter into psak, both in terms of specific rulings made for individual cases and in terms of who is recognized at any given time as a reputable pasek. Nor is this an issue over which there is anyimplicit dispute between learned "right-wingers" and "modernists." A few examples from history should suffice to indicate the role of social forces and conditions in psak.

Can A Woman Initiate Jewish Divorce Proceedings?

 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/can-a-woman-initiate-jewish-divorce-proceedings/

 But, it should be stressed that if the coercion used by the beit din, or the secular courts at the behest of the beit din, is not effective to force the husband to participate in the get process, the beit din itself can do nothing. Only the man can do the acts required for a valid Jewish divorce; the Jewish court has no more power to declare a man divorced against his will than it does to declare a man married against his will.

Divorce: The Halakhic Perspective

 https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/divorce-halakhic-perspective

Only a man can give a get, and that get must be given of his free will. A get which is given under duress or coercion (known as a get me’useh, a “forced divorce”) is void. The rabbis derive this rule from the same verse in Deuteronomy quoted above for the principle that a man could divorce his wife unilaterally. Since the husband has the unilateral power to divorce his wife, the rabbis maintain that the act of divorce can occur only if it complies with the husband’s discretion and free will.

The fact that rabbis derive the rule prohibiting the “forced divorce” from the Bible, and not from secular principles of contract, underscores the impact of this rule and distinguishes it from civil rules regarding coercion, force and duress. Because the rule against the forced divorce is attributed to the Bible and to God, the question of whether a husband has agreed to give his wife a get of his own free will is subject to strict scrutiny by rabbis.

Intro to Shulchan Aruch

 הקדמות לשולחן ערוך הקדמת השו"ע
אודה ה' מאוד בפי ובתוך רבים אהללנו ומשירי אהודנו. במה אקדם ה' אכף לאלקי מרום אשר ממעון קדשו מן השמים הופיע ברוב רחמיו וחסדיו והשפיע מטובו על שפל אנשים כמוני לחבר ספר הנותן אמרי שפר, החיבור הגדול שחברתי על הארבעה טורים אשר קראתיו "בית יוסף". אשר כללתי בו כל הדינים הנמצאים בכל הפוסקים חדשים גם ישנים, עם מקומות מושבותם בחצריהם ובטירותם בתלמוד בבלי ובתלמוד ירושלמי בתוספתא בספרא בספרי ובמכילתא, ודברי המפרשים והפוסקים ובעלי התשובות חדשים גם ישנים, ונתבאר שם כל דין ודין באר היטיב דבר דבור על אופניו, וארמון על משפטו ישב תלוי עליו כל שלטי הגבורים אנשי השם אשר מעולם.
ראיתי אני בלבי כי טוב ללקוט שושני ספירי אמריו בדרך קצרה בלשון צח וכולל יפה ונעים, למען תהיה תורת ה' תמימה שגורה בפי כל איש ישראל, כי כאשר ישאלו לת"ח דבר הלכה לא יגמגם בה אלא יאמר לחכמה אחותי את, כשם שברור לו שאחותו אסורה לו, כך יהיה ברור לו כל דין שישאל עליו הלכה למעשה בהיותו שגור בפיו ספר זה הבנוי לתלפיות תל שהכל פונים בו, לחלקו לחלקים שלשים ללמוד בו בכל יום חלק, ונמצא שבכל חדש הוא חוזר תלמודו ויאמר עליו אשרי מי שבא לכאן ותלמודו בידו.
זאת ועוד, התלמידים הקטנים יהגו בו תמיד וישננו לשונו על פה ותהיה גירסא דינקותא מסודרת בפיהם מקטנותם הלכה למעשה, וגם כי יזקינו לא יסורו ממנו, והמשכילים יזהירו כזוהר הרקיע בהניח להם מעצבם ויגיע כפים ישעשעו נפשם בהגותם בספר זה אשר כולו מחמדים הלכה פסוקה באין אומר ואין דברים.
וקראתי שם ספר זה "שלחן ערוך", כי בו ימצא ההוגה כל מיני מטעמים ערוכים בכל ושמורים סדורים וברורים. ומובטח אני בחסד עליון כי ע"י ספר זה תמלא הארץ דעה את ה' הקטנים עם הגדולים תלמיד עם מבין חכם חרשים ונבון לחש. ובכן אפרוש כפי אל ה' יעזרני על דבר כבוד שמו להיות ממצדיקי הרבים, ויזכני החל וגמור להיות מסודר כהלכתו מתוקן ומקובל וטוב ויפה. והנני מתחיל לעשות כאשר יעדתי וה' יהיה בעזרי.

Get refusers - Severe halachic questions to using a hysteric mob

 There have been a number of recent mass demonstrations meant to force a husband to give his wife a get.

One in particular claims it was instigated by Rabbi Chaim Shabes- but no letter or evidence is produced to support this claim.

It is also claimed the husband is required to give a Get when the wife demands one or when a summons to appear in beis din is ignored- both of these claims are clearly false.

Perhaps more problematic is that forcing a get through lynch mob can only produce a get me'usa which is inherently invalid and if the wife subsequently marries - future children are mamzerim. As well as the horrible reality that the woman who remarries is committing adultery

While the people involved, clearly view themselves as righteous but the problem is that they are clearly ignorant of elementary halacha either willfully or because of poor education. Basically they are rebelling against halacha, since they can't get what they want by using the system even if they call themselves rabbis or Divorce experts

I am not claiming that a woman should be chained to a bad marriage. But the solution being used is simply stupid and counterproductive. Dropping an atom bomb because you are upset and feel the other side is morally wrong just doesn't always work. 

Rabbis or beis din can not issue a judgment after listening to only  one side. Unfortunately in recent years such illegitimate behavior has become more common

Israel-UAE relations & the Abraham Accords are not at risk under Biden

 https://www.gzeromedia.com/the-red-pen/israel-uae-relations-the-abraham-accords-are-not-at-risk-under-biden

In a Washington Post op-ed, commentator Hugh Hewitt states his concern that President Biden will continue his streak of policy reversals in the Middle East, specifically regarding the peace deals that Trump brokered in his final year in office. But in fact, Biden has consistently supported the Abraham Accords, even during the heat of the presidential campaign. Ian Bremmer and Eurasia Group analysts Jeffrey Wright and Sofia Meranto take out the Red Pen to point out that Hewitt may be overreacting to Biden's recent freeze on a fighter jet deal to the UAE.

 

Biden’s Fall Ranks Among The Top Air Force One Gaffes — But It’s Not Number One

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2021/03/20/bidens-fall-ranks-among-the-top-air-force-one-gaffes---but-its-not-number-one/?sh=3aafb5fb6be1

 Though yesterday’s incident ended with a routine salute, Joe Biden’s triple-trip while scaling the red-carpeted steps to Air Force One was nevertheless roundly scorned, especially by conservative media. Biden was taking a round-trip flight to Atlanta to meet with Asian-American community leaders in the wake of the massage parlor massacre.

 Last summer, Vice President Mike Pence had a moment remarkably similar to President Biden’s upward slip. The former veep was filmed running, then tripping, up the staircase of Air Force Two. Pence had almost reached the top of the stairs when he suddenly lunged forward, using his hands to break his fall. He quickly picked himself up, bounded up the remaining steps, straightened his jacket and tie, and offered a wave and a thumbs up before entering the plane. 

Rav Kook on women voting

 Rav Kook (Page 58 in Judge Elon’s Status of Women): The psychological reason for having women vote and for publicly calling voting by the name of “the right of women” is a consequence of the lowly state of women in the general population in these countries. If the condition of their families were truly tranquil and decent as we find in most of our families – then we would not have the women themselves, nor the academics or ethical authorities or idealists be trying to achieve what they call the “rights of voting for women.” It is something which in fact is likely to ruin the quality of family life. And this destruction of family life must of necessity lead to great destruction in the quality of communities as well as society in general. It is only because of the despair and psychological bitterness that results from the coarse conduct of men that secular family life has been ruined. Thus the secular society decided to try to improve the situation by means of giving more power to the community and to try with this to elevate the broken ruins of the family unit. But they have shown no concern for the negative side-effects and consequences from such a change since they already have so much breakdown in the family unit for other reasons. However, we in contrast have not descended to their lowly existence and we don’t wish to see our sisters in this degraded state. The home for us is even now a bastion of holiness.  G‑d forbid that we should degrade the brilliant light that exists in the life of our sisters and to create the possibility of embittering their lives by means of exposing them to the conflicting views and bitter disputes that are connected with the elections and the political issues concerning the nature of the country.

Basherte means happiness in getting soul-mate?

Vayikra Rabbah (8:1) A Roman lady asked R. Jose b. Halafta: ‘In how many days did the Holy One, blessed be He, create His world?’ He answered: ‘In six days, as it is written, For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, etc.’ (Ex. 31, 17). She asked further: ‘And what has He been doing since that time?’ He answered: ‘He is joining couples proclaiming: "A's wife to be is allotted to A; A's daughter is allotted to B; (So-and-so's wealth is for So-and-so).’’’1 Said she: ‘This is a thing which I, too, am able to do. See how many male slaves and how many female slaves I have; I can make them consort together all at the same time.’ Said he: ‘If in your eyes it is an easy task, it is in His eyes as hard a task as the dividing of the Red Sea.’ He then went away and left her. What did she do? She sent for a thousand male slaves and a thousand female slaves, placed them in rows, and said to them: ‘Male A shall take to wife female B; C shall take D and so on.’ She let them consort together one night. In the morning they came to her; one had a head wounded, another had an eye taken out, another an elbow crushed, another a leg broken; one said: ‘I do not want this one as my husband,’ another said: ‘I do not want this one as my wife.’ Immediately she sent for R. Jose b. Halafta and said to him: ‘Rabbi, your Torah is true, fine and excellent; all you have said was well said.’Said he to her: ‘Have I not told you that if in your eyes it is an easy task, it is in His eyes a task as hard as the dividing of the Red Sea, as it is said, He maketh the solitary to dwell in a house, He bringeth out the prisoners into prosperity-ba-kosharoth (Ps. 68:7)?1 What does "ba-kosharoth" mean?-"Weeping (beki) and singing (shiroth)." He who is pleased with his match utters song, while he who is not pleased weeps. And what does God do when bringing about matches? He pairs them together despite themselves, without their good will.’

What is sarrah?

 I have have posted a discussion where Rav Moshe is asked whether a woman can be a masgiach.

The main problem is that the Rambam says women can not have Sarrah i.e. authority over others to tell them do do things they don't want to do.

Just came across a Rashi(Sanhedrin 16a where he states that a nasi and Cohen Gadol have Sarrah

He seems to be that they have status. Thus any status- even without authority should be problematic e.g.wife

רש"י מסכת סנהדרין דף טז עמוד א
דבריו של גדול - דינו של בעל שררה, כגון נשיא וכהן גדול.

Orthodox groups criticize 2 rabbis annulling marriages

 https://www.jweekly.com/1998/11/27/orthodox-groups-criticize-2-rabbis-annulling-marriages/

Rackman and Morgenstern, in interviews, said they annul marriages according to halachah, Jewish law, following formulas employed by great Orthodox rabbis of the past, including Rabbis Isaac Elchanan, Moshe Feinstein and Eliyahu Klotzkin.

 The Rackman-Morgenstern solution relies in part on the theory that abusive husbands suffer from mental illness, a position that the fervently religious Agudath Israel of America disputes.

 One of those is Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, a respected religious leader in the Orthodox enclave of Monsey, N.Y.

He told JTA that he has annulled hundreds of marriages over the last 30 years.

He applies the criteria mapped out by his grandfather, the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who "freed" women whose husbands refused to grant them a Jewish divorce if the wedding itself was not Orthodox or if there had been some technical flaw in the ceremony.

He said he annuls a marriage under these circumstances only a couple of times a year and after months of research.

Rackman and Morgenstern, unlike others, will dissolve the union if a problem like abusiveness, which was not well established before the wedding, becomes apparent after the marriage.

"We can be much more liberal in our interpretation of conditions that would warrant annulment because of our deeper understanding of the problems of mental health than Rabbi Feinstein could have possessed," Rackman said.

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Must a son agree if his father wants to live with him?

Rav Sternbuch (2:444):  Question: The mitzva of honoring parents is different than all other mitzvos. On the one hand there is no obligation to spend money on this mitzva since the halacha is that honoring parents is on the father’s expense and not the son’s. In contrast all other mitzvos require payment up to a fifth of his wealth. On the other hand the positive command of honoring parents is more severe than all other mitzvos since the parent’s honor is equated to that of G‑d. Another question is why is it that will all other mitzvos we say that there is no obligation to do it if it causes great embarrassment since there is the principle that “human dignity if great since it allows avoiding in a passive way of any positive mitzva. The Achronim discuss that that great torment is equivalent to great embarrassment in that it exempts the obligation to do a positive mitzva and it doesn’t exhaust his wealth because he is only obligated to spend at most a fifth of his wealth. In contrast the mitzva of honoring parents is obligatory even when there is great torment and great embarrassment. We know that even if the father insults him verbally in public it is prohibited to respond. In the present case where the sun claims that if his father lives with him it will cause him great torment and he will be required to deal with him constantly and because of that it will totally destroy his relationship with his wife and family. He will end up totally occupied with his father’s needs. The son says that this will be extremely great torment that will require unlimited care for his father. In addition it will entail expenses that are much greater than a fifth of his wealth. Answer: In my opinion the son’s words are totally wrong because we are not talking about doing a mitzva on a single occasion but rather that his father will be dwelling with him and as a result he will have hundreds of opportunities to do the mitzva. The Ran at the end of Yoma has stated that even concerning two serious prohibition which involve stoning and here we have the mitzva of honoring parents which will occur many times  - it is impossible to push off the obligation and merit of such a mitzva. Therefore it is necessary to explain to his wife about the great merit that he will get from this as well as the great reward she will receive for assisting her father-in-law. In addition that he can not get out of doing this mitzva with the excuse that it will cost more than a fifth of his wealth. However if he is forced to send his father to a nursing home in order to get proper treatment it would seem that he has the obligation to pay if the father can’t afford it and he not deduct the expenses from his charity funds. The reason for this I once heard in the name of the Brisker Rav that this that we rule that the father is obligated to pay his expenses that is only for things which are he is not personally obligated to do. But if the son is personally obligated and he is paying in order to avoid personally taking of his father – then he must pay. That is because he isn’t paying for his father but rather to avoid having to do that which he is obligated to do. Thus we see that he is actually according to the law to pay since it isn’t for his father but simply to avoid personal involvement. Consequently in the present case where is is obligated according to the law to take his father into his house but he wants to avoid this obligation by sending his father to a nursing home – then he must pay out of his pocket in order to avoid doing the mitzva personally. However if the father has the money then according to the law then the son doesn’t have the personal obligation to take care of his father. That is because the father has the option of being in a nursing home at his own expense. Thus it seems that the father would then be obligated to pay. Nevertheless even if the father has the money but he is a miser and he is prepared to pay and he truly needs the services of the nursing home, it seems that the son should pay for his father and afterwards deduct it the inheritance that goes to the father’s heirs. It is correct to issue a notice first before 2 witnesses that he is not paying for the nursing home as a gift to his father but rather the father owes him the money and he will deduct it later.  Nonetheless it is prohibited to leave his father in a neglected condition. (There is a well known story regarding someone who asked Rav Chaim Brisker whether he was obligated to pay transportation costs to visit his father in Warsaw since the halacha is that honoring of parents is the father’s expense. Rav Chaim replied, that he was obligated to go to Warsaw by foot but if he didn’t want to walk he could pay for the fare to get there. Nevertheless it needs to be investigated whether he actually needs to walk to another city in order to fulfill the mitzva of honoring parents. See Moadim v’Zmaninm (1:4). I heard that Rav Chaim Brisker discussed with the Chazon Ish when they met in Minsk during the War whether the halacha requires going to another city in order to acquire a kosher esrog. See Moadim v’Zemanin (1:3) Nevertheless with the mitzva of honoring parents is a more stringent mitzva because it is associated with honoring G‑d. This requires further study.