ETHICAL IMPERATIVE AND HALAKHIC INNOVATION

The second principle is explicitly stated in the Talmud : “Great is human dignity because it overrides a negative prohibition in the Torah, "® namely the Scriptural command:“You shall not turn aside from the verdict which they declare to You.”"!

This latter verse serves as the authoritative source of rabbinical precepts. Nevertheless, in order to protect human dignity so that no person would be publicly deprecated, it was permitted to disobey a rabbinic prohibition."

More than a millennium later, Rabbi Moses Isserles(Rama) of Krakow , Poland (1525?-1572), employed these Talmudic principles to resolve a difficult and urgent problem. In one of his responsa he relates the controversy over a dowry, which delayed the wedding of an orphan bride that was to take place on a Friday:

"When the shadows of evening began to fall and the Sabbath was approaching, her relatives who were to give the dowry closed their fists and refused to give a sufficient amount....Then the groom absolutely refused to marry her. He paid no attention to the pleas of the leaders of the city that he refrain from putting a daughter of Israel to shame for the sake of mere money....Then they finally agreed and the groom consented to enter under the huppah and no longer to shame a worthy daughter of Israel . Thereupon I arose and conducted the marriage at that hour."

The timing of this wedding, as described by Isserles, was"in the dark of night on Friday evening, an hour and a half after night had fallen.”"*

The Rama found it necessary to justify his action on the Sabbath , because some of the outstanding members of the Krakow community had lodged complaints. His vindication included the two above mentioned Talmudic principles.

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