the children. We may infer that today, too, it is possible to find halakhic solutions, in the spirit of these responsa, that can clear virtually every mamzer. Such halakhic means have in fact served Progressive and Conservative rabbinic courts to remove the taint of mamzerut.
Thus, we have seen solutions to marriage impediments by radical means in talmudic and early rabbinic eras, by resolution in the nineteenth century, and by sophisticated halakhic rulings in the twentieth century. Through analysis of the decisions of the centuries and insight gained from the responsa literature, we can indeed find remedies for almost all impediments to marriage.
Notes
1. See Yitzhak Gilat,“Halakhah’s Link to Reality,” Studies in Problems of Culture, Education, and Society, 4, p. 106.
2. Based on Mishnah Yebamot 2:8 and BT Yebamot 24b. The marriage might confirm the rumor that he had had sexual intercourse with her while she was forbidden to him as a Gentile. This rabbinic ruling is concerned with what people might think and say. See Rashi, s.v. ha-nittan. More than three centuries later, Joseph Caro codified the punishment for this offense in much harsher tones:“If one is caught with his female slave, they take her away from him, sell her, and distribute the same price among the poor of Israel . The man is flogged, his head is shaved, and he is placed under the ban for thirty days” Shulhan Arukh, E.H. 16:14).
BT Gittin 55a. As we shall see, this is a composite statement, composed of two talmudic rulings. BT Berakhot 54a.
“Choosing the Lesser Evil: A Maimonidean Hermeneutic for Leniency,” to be published in Mark Statman (ed.), A Festschrift in Honor of Walter Jacob, 1999.
literal translation from Maimonides ” original Judeo-Arabic . I would like to thank Professor Blau for clarifying this and other aspects of the responsum.
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