Avoid adultery and mamzerim by not having a religious marriage

Igros Moshe (E.H. 3:6) Concerning a couple who are viewed as being married. They claim that they were married in a civil ceremony in Communist Russia and then they moved to Argentina where they separated by civil divorce and she later married a second time in a civil service  and gave birth to a son who now wants to marry a Jewish girl. The question is the validity of the first marriage? It is clear that in those days in Russia there was very strong government pressure not to be married in a religious ceremony and clearly most people did not have a religious marriage but only a civil registration that they were husband and wife …. There were also rabbis who refrained from performing religious marriages because it was difficult to find a mikve since in most communities the mikve was either locked up or destroyed and only a few functioning mikves existed. Additionally it was common that eventually the couple would decide to separate, which in Russia was not done through a court but they simply separated and got remarried and if there had been kiddushin and she had the halachic status of a married woman this would result in producing mamzerim.  Therefore they advised parents not to pressure their children to have a religious marriage even secretly if it wasn’t clear they were observant Jews and that is also how I conducted myself. Consequently in those days in Russia a couple living together as husband and wife even for a long time can not be assumed to have the halachic status of being married. Only by means of a religious ceremony do they become married. This is also true for America for those who have a civil marriage or a reform marriage. But this is in regard to the sin of adultery and capital punishment but not regarding the prohibition of remarriage without a get. So it is always best to require a get even from  a civil marriage. In contrast Rav Henkin was very strict and considered civil marriage as marriage.

 

CNN Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter 4/11/21 | CNN Breaking News Today April 11, 2021

Tucker Carlson: White Supremacist Mass Shooter Copycat | The Daily Show

Conservative Columnist Has Damning Questions For Fox News Bosses About Tucker Carlson

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/max-boot-fox-news-tucker-carlson-questions_n_607147dcc5b6ed59527f27ff

The Washington Post’s conservative columnist Max Boot wants to know, “how do the immigrants who run Fox News feel about Tucker Carlson’s anti-immigrant rants?”

Carlson “reached a new low” on Thursday with his explicit propagation of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, Boot wrote in his latest op-ed Friday.

The former Republican commentator noted, however, how Fox Corp’s founder and co-chair Rupert Murdoch and many of “the top management and the directors at Fox” are immigrants themselves.

Revealing negative information about others

 I was recently asked to publicize some astounding information regarding a talmid chachom who it is claimed is not only not Jewish but in fact is a missionary. 

This happened to me once before regarding someone who I knew from yeshiva and had started his own kiruv yeshiva and who made a deathbed confession that he was not Jewish but merely pretended to be one

What is my obligation regarding revealing these charges?

A Heartfelt Plea To Agunos

We the undersigned wish to state that we sympathize and empathize with the plight of women who are having difficulty obtaining gittin and are trapped in dead marriages by unscrupulous or cruel husbands. There is no halachic justification for husbands to engage in this type of activity, and we condemn it with every fiber of our beings.

lt is our concern for these women that motivates us to speak out at this time about a potential danger to these women that can have serious and tragic consequences for them and for their entire community.

Recently, an individual by the name of Rabbi Moshe Morgenstern, who heretofore has had no affiliation with any recognized Beth Din, nor has recently served in the active rabbinate, has advertised the ability of his "Beth Din" to annul Jewish marriages. He claims to be supported by Gedolai Yisroel in general, and in particular by the eminent Posek, Rav Ovadia Yosef, shlita.

Please be aware that his so-called Beth Din does not follow proper Get procedure. The annulments and/or heterim to remarry issued by his so-called Beth Din are carried out in halachically illegitimate ways. We are certain that virtually no Orthodox rabbi would be willing to officiate at weddings of women who wish to remarry based upon Rabbi Morgenstern's heterim. His claim that he follows the teachings of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt"I, is false and misleading. The prohibition of adultery and the stigma of mamzerus for their offspring loom ominously before women who would indeed remarry by virtue of these heterim.

Rav Ovadia Yosef has issued an unusually strong public statement denouncing Rabbi Morgenstern's actions, denying ever having supported him. Furthermore, Rav Yosef requests that the American rabbinate inform the public of the damage that can be done by this type of irresponsible behavior, and to urge women in the strongest terms possible to refrain from going to this so-called Beth Din.

ln conclusion we beseech the public to seek out competent Batei Din for the resolution of these matters, and we implore Hashem to hearken to the tears of anguished women throughout the world and bring about their redemption as well as the redemption of the entire Jewish nation. 

 

Yosef Adler Rabbi, Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Shimon A/ouf Rabbi, Cong. Ahaba VeAhva, Bklyn, NY Kenneth Auman Rabbi, Young lsrae/ of Flatbush, Bklyn, NY Hershel Billet Rabbi, Young lsrael of Woodmere, Woodmere, NY Binyamin 8/au Rabbi, Community & Beth Din, Elizabeth, NJ Alfred Cohen Rabbi, Cong. Ohave Yisroe/, Monsey, NY Reuven Fink Rabbi, Young lsrael of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY Menachem Genack Rabbi, Cong. Shomrei Emunah, Englewood, NJ Shmue/ Goldin Rabbi, Cong. Ahavath Torah, Englewood, NJ Baruch Ben Haim Chacham, Cong. Shaare Zion, Bklyn, NY Shlomo Hochberg Rabbi, Young lsrael of Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Est., NY A vraham Kanarek Rabbi, Cong. Beth Tefi//a, Paramus, NJEfraim Kanarfogel Rabbi, Beth Aaron Cong., Teaneck, NJ Simcha Krauss Rabbi, Young lsrae/ of Hillcest, Flushing, NY Yaakov Lerner Rabbi, Young lsrae/ of Great Neck, Great Neck, NY Milton Polin Rabbi Emeritus, Kingsway Jewish Center, Bklyn, NY Steven Pruzansky Rabbi, Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ Jonathan Rosenblatt Riverdale Jewish Center, Riverdale, NY Asher Schechter Rabbi, Cong. Ahavas Achim, Fairlawn, NJ Fabian Schonfeld Rabbi, Young lsrael of Kew Gardens Hills, NY Max Schreier Rabbi, A venue N Jewish Center, Bklyn, NY Peretz Steinberg Rabbi, Young lsrae/ Queens Val/ey, Kew Gardens Hills, NY Michael Taubes Rabbi, Kehilas Tzemach Dovid, Teaneck, NJ Moshe Tendler Rabbi, Community Synagogue, Monsey, NY Elazar Mayer Teitz Rabbi, Community and Beth Din, Elizabeth, NJ Eliyahu Teitz Rabbi, Community and Beth Din, Elizabeth, NJ Feivel Wagner Rabbi, Young lsrael of Forest Hills, Forest Hills, NY Hersche/ We/cher Rabbi, Cong. Ahavas Yisroe/, Kew Gardens Hills, NY Mordechai Willig Rabbi, Young lsrae/ of Riverda/e, Riverda/e, NY Neil Winkler Rabbi, Young lsrael of Fort Lee, NJ, Fort Lee, NJ Benjamin Yudin Rabbi, Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fairlawn, NJ

You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers

 https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye

 Just read U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil's opinion, leaning heavily on the arguments of Fox's lawyers: The "'general tenor' of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not 'stating actual facts' about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in 'exaggeration' and 'non-literal commentary.' "

Rav Gestetner against International Beis Din

Additional justification for Rav Schachter's attack on the Krauss Beis Din for Agunos

 

          Five Towns Jewish Times by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Last week, the Five Towns Jewish Times ran an article about the unfortunate dilemma of agunos. A number of points were made in the article. One point was that Rav Hershel Schachter, a leading halachicposek and a champion of the rights of agunos, had voiced serious dissent against what he sees as radically innovative methods propounded by the International Beis Din established by Rabbi Simcha Krauss.

The approach, in essence, creates annulments by unilaterally dissolving marriages by a light investigation where the three members of the beisdin determine that there were never valid witnesses in the first place.

This author further pointed out that ultimately the “annulment approach” to resolving the agunah crisis would both create pariah status for the descendants of those who received IBD annulments as well as cause a marriage rift in Orthodox Judaism. I presented the argument that we must certainly address the agunah crisis, but not at this double cost of making these young women and their children pariahs and of causing a rift within KlalYisrael where people will not marry into them.

Update

Since then, the Five Towns Jewish Times has obtained specific rulings that have emanated from the IBD. It seems that the IBD has thus far issued annulments to seven women. The 5TJT has seen the alleged arguments for three of these rulings. Essentially, the IBD views videotapes of the weddings and seeing no witnesses standing in the front, assumes that there were no previously specified witnesses in the audience and thus annuls the marriages. They also assume incompetence on behalf of the officiating rabbi, an assumption that is, at best, halachically questionable.

Initially, the IBD claimed that they would have full transparency in regard to all their annulments. Unfortunately, the rulings were never made public, even though a full seven annulments have been issued. Only after pressure has some of the information been released.

Further clarifications have also revealed that Rav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg had never backed the IBD initiative. Previously it was reported that he had initially supported the idea but backed away. It seems that this is entirely incorrect. Inquiries have revealed that Rav Goldberg had never backed the IBD initiative in any manner.[...]

A Review of International Beit Din Case 105

 https://www.torahmusings.com/2015/09/a-review-of-international-beit-din-case-105/

 Rav Hershel Schachter published a letter encouraging his students and colleagues to not rely on IBD rulings, to which other dayanim across the country added their agreement. ^[1] Specifically, Rav Schachter challenged a particular ruling relying on a well-known opinion of the Ritva. This is a reference to the IBD psak (ruling) on Case 105 (from here on: Psak 105), available in both English and Hebrew on the IBD website. ^[2] The IBD website tells us that “This psak is representative of several decisions handed down by the International Beit Din.” Additionally, Rabbis Simcha Krauss and Yehuda Warburg of the IBD have written with regard to Psak 105 that “This psak din as well as other IBD decisions are available for public scrutiny on our website.” ^[3] As such, it seems appropriate to subject Psak 105 to the examination which Rabbis Krauss and Warburg have invited. I strongly encourage any reader not to take my word, but to read the English and Hebrew versions of Psak 105 in conjunction with this review. This review will assume that the reader is generally familiar with the contents of Psak 105, including the background and final decision.

News on International Beit Din (IBD)

 https://cross-currents.com/2015/09/22/news-on-international-beit-din-ibd/

 Eli Blum

1. October 2, 2015 at 12:09 pm

   Why is what the IBD is doing any different than the Tamar Epstein case, where (supposedly) she also remarried without a Get under the auspices of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky? Is he the newest member of the IBD? If so, don’t we have to give them more credit as they have Gedolim on their side?

 

The “International Beit Din”- A Very Troubling Update

 https://yated.com/international-beit-din-troubling-update/

Another new dayan is Rabbi David Bigman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Maale Gilbo’a. Ma’ale Gilboa is considered to take a liberal approach to many things, and Rabbi Bigman is on the advisory board of Yeshivat Maharat, the Open Orthodox school that ordains “women rabbis.” [Rabbi Krauss is on the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) advisory board.] Rabbi Bigman is also on the advisory board of Beit Midrash Har’el, a co-ed Israeli “semicha” program.

Rabbi Bigman has expressed views that are not consistent with ikkarei ha’emunah. In an article titled “Reclaiming the Multi-Genre Perspective” that was written for a website that rejects Torah miSinai, Rabbi Bigman argues that the Torah was not dictated by Hashem to Moshe. Based on Biblical Criticism and Rabbi Bigman’s own reading of the Chumash, he professes that “there is no other option but to let go of the narrative of the dictation… ‘The Torah speaks in the language of human beings.’ We can understand this statement as merely a comment on the literary style of our Torah, but it can also be understood in a broader and more fundamental way.” In other words, according to Rabbi Bigman, as explained further in his article, the language of the Torah was written by men, not by Hakadosh Boruch Hu and told to Moshe Rabbeinu. According to the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:8), this is outright kefirah.

In another article on that same website titled “Refracting History through the Spiritual Experience of the Present,” Rabbi Bigman argues that one need not accept the Torah’s narrative of Yetzias Mitzrayim as historical fact. And in an article on that website titled “Moderating the Stark Truth of the Written Torah,” Rabbi Bigman maintains that Chazal actually fabricated the drashos and halachos of Torah Shebaal Peh in order to make the mitzvos of the Torah more palatable. To deny the miSinai quality of Torah Shebaal Peh is categorized by the Rambam as kefirah (Hilchos Teshuvah ibid. and introduction to Peirush HaMishnayos).

Hence, since a member of IBD espouses kefirah, this places a pesul upon any rulings of IBD.

 

Rav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg denies supporting the Kraus Beis Din for Agunos

The following claim of Rav Goldberg's support for the Kraus Beis Din was reported here. 

Jewish Week     In what appears to be a major breakthrough in the long, tortuous effort to solve the problem of agunot, or "chained wives," an international religious court is in formation, headed by a highly respected Orthodox rabbi, with the goal of freeing women trapped in broken marriages.

Blu Greenberg, a longtime activist on this issue and founder of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, announced at the group’s international conference this week that Rabbi Simcha Krauss, former rabbi of the Young Israel of Hillcrest and now living in Israel, has agreed to serve as the head of an independent rabbinic court in formation seeking “systemic halachic solutions” to the problem.

A major figure in centrist Orthodoxy who was president of the Religious Zionists of America, Rabbi Krauss made aliyah in 2005 and is affiliated with Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi in Jerusalem. He is well respected for his Torah knowledge and integrity by a wide swath of the Orthodox community.

But the key to the new court’s success may well rest on one of the two leading Israeli rabbis associated with the haredi community who have given their imprimatur to Rabbi Krauss. Most significant is Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, a rosh yeshiva, posek, or religious decisor, and chief justice of the rabbinical high court in Jerusalem.

===========However Rav Zalman Nechmiah Goldberg says the claim is false =====

[On his letterhead]

27 Kislev 5775

I hereby let it be publicly known that I have absolutely no connection with the International Bet Din for Agunot, and all mentions of my name as if I agree to them are a complete falsehood.

I have already written in [the journal] Techumim, which is published annually, that chas veshalom (G-d forbid) one should not use Hafka'at Kiddushin (retroactive annulment) to allow a married woman to remarry, as it will cause, chas veshalom, her [subsequent] children to be mamzerim.  The same applies to the other methods which have been mentioned in regard to the new Bet Din.

One should be very cautious and stay far from this Bet Din, who [by their statements] are suspect in every way. It is incorrect to use them, and even a regular Get that they issue is suspect that it was done improperly.

Whosoever can protest [this Bet Din] and nullify their plans should do so, and may they be blessed for this.

Signing With Pain,

Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg

Consequences of Rav Schachter's strong attack on the Krauss Beis Din for Agunos

Jewish Week

In its first year, the New York-based International Beit Din (IBD), headed by Rabbi Simcha Krauss, a widely respected rabbi here and in Israel, has resolved nearly 20 cases of agunot, a chained women, freeing them from their loveless marriages.

In doing so, it has incurred the condemnation of some leading rabbinic authorities, most notably, and recently, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a leading rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University’s rabbinical school, who last month penned a public letter of protest dismissing the court’s collective rulings and pronouncing Rabbi Krauss unfit to make complex decisions regarding agunot. [...]

“From start to finish, this is a mistake,” Rabbi Schachter wrote in a three-paragraph letter, posted on an anonymously sponsored Torah website. The letter, written in Hebrew, says that only “great scholars of the generation” should be dealing with these sensitive matters. Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, head of the Beit Din  of America,  (the largest rabbinical court), and three other prominent rabbis also signed the letter.

As a result, various elements of the centrist and Modern Orthodox community are caught up in this controversy, which threatens to further divide the movement. And as the IBD struggles for acceptance, the women who have already been freed may face a new kind of limbo, worried if a subsequent marriage will be accepted in the community. [...]

The ongoing controversy is engulfing Centrist Orthodoxy’s flagship institution, Yeshiva University, with which most of the rabbis involved are affiliated. And it mirrors a fight taking place in Israel today that pits a new, more liberal-minded conversion court — including Lincoln Square Synagogue founding rabbi and YU-ordained Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi David Stav — that is challenging the power of Israel’s charedi-dominated Chief Rabbinate on these issues.[...]

Rabbi Krauss, a longtime pulpit rabbi in Queens and the former president of Religious Zionistists of America, made aliyah several years ago but returned to New York for two years to launch the IBD. He declined to speak on the record, for the most part, but several prominent rabbis, including Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side, Rabbi Yosef Adler of Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck, N.J., and Rabbi David Bigman, a prominent Rosh Yeshiva in Israel, have voiced support for his efforts. A petition is now circulating in support of Rabbi Krauss and has been signed by 100 rabbis, though the rabbi chose not to release the names at this time.

“I have tremendous respect for Rabbi Krauss as a first-rate Talmud chacham [scholar] and somebody upon whom I can rely to make good decisions grounded in authentic and reliable halachic sources,” Rabbi Lookstein told The Jewish Week. In the case of an agunah, “every leniency that the halacha allows should be used,” he said. He also said that Rabbi Krauss’ approach is “entirely different” than the approach used by Rabbi Rackman, though he declined to elaborate. [...]

The battle for the “soul of Orthodoxy” as one prominent rabbi termed it, is evident within Yeshiva University’s ranks. Two YU faculty members were pressured to disassociate from Rabbi Krauss’ beit din, despite strong personal convictions to support his mission.

Rabbi Yosef Blau, the spiritual adviser at Yeshiva University for nearly five decades and well-known for his advocacy confronting sexual abuse within the Orthodox community, has been a judge on the IBD since its founding. Every decision made by the court included Rabbi Blau, a well-known voice of authority within the community. Rabbi Yehuda Warburg, a dayan, or, religious judge, for the past 15 years, is the third judge on the court.

A few weeks ago Rabbi Blau was pressured to leave the court by colleagues within YU who disagreed with the court’s actions. Though Rabbi Blau declined to comment directly, a letter he submitted to Rabbi Krauss with his resignation cited a desire to “prevent controversy within YU” as his reason for departure.

According to a letter by Rabbi Krauss defending the IBD against Rabbi Schachter’s attack, Rabbi Blau agreed to resign in exchange for an agreement that Rabbi Schachter would not publicly attack the court. But according to the letter, Rabbi Schachter backtracked on the agreement within a few weeks and cited Rabbi’s Blau’s departure as evidence of the court’s questionable status. [...]

In the last two weeks, since this controversy erupted, two women seeking the aid of the IBD have backed away. Still, Rabbi Krauss is committed to continue. After Rabbi Kahn’s resignation last week, another rabbi has been selected as a judge, though Rabbi Krauss declined to share the name until the appointment is official. [...]