REMEDIES FOR IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE

The Rambam chose a number of regulations and precedents to support his revolutionary decision.

In the sixteenth century, Rabbi Galante accepted the“play­acting” halitzah forced upon a yavam by trickery as a barrier to ef­fectuating yibbum. Then he ruled a concatenation of verdicts evolv­ing from the bogus halitzah: Even though this was not a valid hali­tzah, it prevented her brother-in-law from taking her in yibbum; he must therefore release her, and we may therefore force him to re­lease her. Now she is free to marry a partner of her choice.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY REMEDIES BY RESOLUTION

The newly founded nineteenth-century Reform Synagogues in Germany began their first ideological steps with the publication of halakhic responsa. These polemical Reform responsa, written in the classical style of shealot u’teshuvot, were published in the wake of the controversy over the founding of the Hamburg Temple in 1817." They dealt with ritual matters related to the new synagogue and its liturgy. They include halakhic arguments to justify the use of the organ and to permit Ashkenazic Jews to worship with the Sefardic pronunciation. In all these issues the Reform decisors not only were guiding their congregants, but also were polemicizing with such Orthodox sages as the Hatam Sofer . The principal author and editor of responsa books was a layman , Eliezer Liebermann , who enlisted a Hungarian rabbi, Aaron Chorin , and two Italian rabbis, Yaakov Hai Rekanati and Shem Tov Samun. None of these shealot u'tshuvot dealt with marriage matters that were less crucial to the early Reformers than were problems of liturgy and worship.