Important and lengthy halachic responsum [over 1000] words, handwritten and signed by the giant among men, the gaon Rabbi Shmuel Engel, av beit din of Radomishla, the greatest responder of his generation, renowned for his works, mainly Shu”t Mahara”sh , in eight parts. This is the responsum, the psak din , without the preceding scholarly deliberation. Radomishla, 1895. Printed with slight changes, in Shu”t Mahara”sh , Part I, responsum 48.
The question deals with a shameful incident. A Jew married a single young woman according to Jewish law, and after the wedding, he became aware that his new wife was expecting – from a non-Jew (before the wedding) and she hid this from him. Unlike most responsa in Shu”t Mahara”sh , in this responsum, the addressee’s name is understandably not mentioned, but from the appellation before the signature, “my friend, ” it appears that this question was referred to him by another rabbi, and not the subject himself.
This question, like most of the difficult questions in that generation of giants, made its way to the Lishkat HaGazit in Galicia – the city of Radomishla, residence of the Mahara”sh Engel. In the first part of the responsum, which does not appear in this manuscript (but is printed in the sefer ), the gaon hageonim deliberates proofs from all over Talmudic and adjudicative literature.
Here is the responsum – the lengthy and reasoned decision from the Mahara”sh Engel on the matter, in which he firmly differentiates, in his legendary genius, between a pregnant divorced woman, a pregnant widow and a pregnant single woman (with a different rule for each). It is interesting to note one of the brilliant explanations brought in the responsum, in which the Mahara”sh compares it word-for-word from the halachah in Choshen Mishpat (!) that the mother’s breasts are bound to the baby, and just as it is forbidden to purchase a property that is bound to another, it is forbidden to expropriate by marriage the bond of the baby to its mother’s breasts.
In fact, Mahara”sh Engel, as was his way with these serious issues, uses the ko’ach heteirah , and he allows the marriage to be maintained. One of the explanations brought by Mahara”sh Engel, is the fear that the young wife will not be able to bear the shame, and may convert out of her religion. In his eyes, this is a weighty consideration and is one of the reasons for maintaining the marriage. However, due to the seriousness of the matter, the gaon of Radomishla concludes his answer with a reservation that is unusual: “I am writing all this as halachah and not for practice, until the gedolei hador agree, because the matter is very serious” (in the sefer the wording is slightly different but the meaning is the same).
Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Sar HaTorah, the sacred gaon Rabbi Shmuel Engel, av beit din of Radomishla .
[1] leaf, written on both sides. 33 cm. Entirely handwritten and signed by the Mahara”sh Engel. Fine condition. Aging stains. Artistic restoration of the margins, with damage to several words.
