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May 1969

Love and Law: The Rejection of Jewish Marriage Law Poses a Threat to the Unborn and to Our People (1969)

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Law and Love, Part 2: Flower Power? (1967)

Having said all this (and it should be understood as a self-evident principle), we must add that love itself is an insufficient basis for life. King Solomon, the wisest of all men, proclaimed that azah ka-mavet ahavah, “love is as strong as death.” Love is powerful, one of the most powerful forces in the universe; but, unregulated and undirected, it can also be deadly and destructive. Why is this so? First, without law we cannot distinguish between licit and illicit love; the limits of love’s expression are gone, and one does not know where it will lead. Second, human love, for all its eminence in life and in doctrine, does not remain the highest value of all. Judaism teaches man that he must submit his entire life and his most cherished commitments to the higher authority of God Himself. There is a love that transcends our love for parents and wife and children—and that is love for God. There is a judgment that surpasses any human judgment no matter how ethical-—and that is the divine judgment. This, indeed, is the teaching of the akedah: Abraham, despite his passionate and deathless love for his only son, bows his head and submits to the divine decree to offer up his only son as a sacrifice. The law of God takes precedence over the love of man.Third, without law, love not only “conquers all,” but it destroys all—including itself! Law is that which allows love to endure within the context of life. The mitzvot provide the framework in which true and authentic love can flourish; other-wise it is in danger of spending itself prematurely. Look at our society: rarely before in human history has the word “love” been as popular. Despite some recent assertions that “love is dead,” it remains the cheapest commodity on the market today. It fills the scrapbooks of countless teenagers, it is the chief attraction of all pulp magazines, it is sentimentally blared forth on television and peddled in the cinema. At the same time, our society is successively discarding all traditio…
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Law and Love, Part 4: Caution!! (1969)

These considerations afford us the opportunity to recall that very special care must be taken in any matter relating to marriage or any situation where there exists the possibility of mamzerut, illegitimacy. Too much depends upon this, and so every precaution must be taken in advance. Hence, we must make sure that if, as often happens in the course of life, we are ever beset by a problem in this area, we always inquire of competent rabbinical authority — and the emphasis is on the word “competent.” It is unfortunate that people are sometimes innocently misled and later discover that they are involved in horrendous problems. Orthodox Jews — and, for that matter, all other Jews — must remember that rabbinic functionaries in marital matters must be fully Orthodox, experts in the area, and ethical individuals. The disqualification of those who do not fully accept the authority of Jewish Law is not a matter of pique or institutional rivalry, but of principle and law as well as common sense. Unfortunately, there are some few “Orthodox” rabbis whose credentials are questionable, and one must therefore always check carefully in advance — no less than one solicits opinions about the reputation of a dentist or a surgeon. Happily, the Rabbinical Council of America has in recent years established a fully qualified and smoothly functioning Beth Din to which most Orthodox rabbis now refer questions of ishut.These matters, about which very special care should be exercised, include divorce; remarriage or marriage of any person who has previously been married; proselytization or marrying a proselyte or a descendant of a proselyte; artificial insemination; the adoption of children, whether Jewish or non-Jewish. The problems that exist in such cases can be enormous; most of the unhappy consequences are avoidable if we are wise enough to inquire before proceeding impulsively.The Torah is the center of our lives as individuals and as a people. Its mitzvot guide our conduct, its ideals …
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Law and Love, Part 5: What Hath Reform Wrought? (1968)

Regretfully, no matter how liberal or moderate an Orthodox Rabbi wants to be, no matter how he wishes to keep up good relations with Jews of differing convictions, he can only view with the deepest sorrow the havoc wrought by Reform when it abandoned Jewish marriage law. This was probably the most historically irresponsible act in the recent annals of our people. Based on a piece of spurious scholarship, Reform proclaimed that a civil divorce is adequate, and that a get is unnecessary for remarriage. It overlooked the glaring inconsistency of insisting that marriage should be a religious ceremony, while divorce may lie a civil ceremony. As a result, it cavalierly dismissed the consideration that the Halakhah considers the previous marital bond still in full force. Therefore, the person who remarries without a religious divorce is considered as living in adultery, and the children of such a union are illegitimate.Now, illegitimacy, uuimzerut, imposes a terrible burden on such children: they are forbidden to marry any others save those in the same category. Too much human tragedy has resulted from this irresponsibility for us to remain silent about it. That is why, with all our concern with religious freedom in Israel, we must draw the line at matters of r/ifti>1 an<l kidduxhin. It is bad enough that Reform has destroyed the the happiness of so many Jews and Jewesses in this country, often forcing a young couple to make a tragic choice between love for each other or loyalty to the basic tenets and laws of their faith; we do not need this to destroy the unity of the Jewish community of the State of Israel as well. One can only hope that enlightened Reform had-ers will themselves come to this realization and attempt to correct the situation — or at least not endeavor to impose it on Israeli Jews.These matters are not always pleasant to discuss. Yet without them there is no Judaism. They are too important and too dangerous for us to pass over them in polite silenc…
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