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HALAKHAH AND ULTERIOR MOTIVES

marriage." A major obstacle to this decision exists, however, in M. Yevamot 2:8, which declares that a man suspected of a sexual relationship with a Gentile woman is not permitted to marry her should she convert to Judaism . At first, Kluger suggests that this prohibition be read quite strictly, so that it apply only to cases in which the liason was"suspected" but not a known fact. Since the stated reason for the prohibition is to avoid public slander, one could argue that when slander cannot be avoided(i.e., when the affair is common knowledge) the prohibition ought to be waived. He retreats from this argument, however. Other sources do apply the prohibition to cases where it is known with certainty that the couple have cohabited.* Moreover, he continues, to say that the marriage is permitted when we know for a certainty that the Jew has committed this transgression(and not if we are in doubt as to whether he did it) is the kind of reasoning that can make a mockery of the rabbinic law. Rather, Kluger points to the fact that if we refuse our permission the man will become an apostate. We can allow the conversion and marriage, he says, in order to prevent this terrible result, much as Isserles has ruled that a man suspected of a liason with an unmarried woman, though forbidden lehat-hilah to marry her, may do so in order to prevent her from falling into bad company(tarbut ra‘ah).®

Kluger's permissive conclusion parallels that of Rambam : both allow a conversion and marriage which apparently violate the established law. The emphasis, however, must be placed upon "apparently". While his illustrious predecessor admits that his decision deviates from the law and justifies that deviation by resort to overriding concerns of religious and community policy, Kluger recognizes no such transgression. The conversion and marriage are perfectly"legal", their validity"declared" by the established law itself through the process of interpretation and not"created through an act of the poseq’s will. Extralegal factors-for example, an analysis of whether a permissive ruling is good or bad for the community or whether the behavior of this couple undermine the

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