Sharp and historic halachic responsum from Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Greenwald, av beit din of the Columbus, Ohio, Jewish community. Handwritten and signed by him. Wednesday evening, the 22nd of Adar I. (Apparently 1954, slightly more than a year before his passing.)
The inquiry is composed of several parts, including whether a non-Jewish woman married to a Jew may make a blessing in front of a Torah scroll, and whether a Hebrew name may be given to a girl born to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. These questions were apropos to the spiritual level then prevailing in the United States, and are also relevant in our times.
Rabbi Yekutiel responds sharply and clearly to these questions – regarding a blessing by a non-Jewish woman, he writes, ” … but as for non-Jewish woman married to a Jew – he must certainly be penalized and publicly scorned(!) so that others see that the world is not a free-for-all. And whoever marries a non-Jewish woman shall be distanced from kosher Jews, and a barrier must be raised between him and kosher Jews.”
With respect to giving a Jewish name to a girl whose father is Jewish, he responds, “This shall certainly not be done amongst the Jewish people, as this honor demonstrates that she is a Jewish girl; it is a laughingstock for a Jewish name to be given to a non-Jewish girl …”
He concludes, “and if I am not heeded, and they cannot be moved from their intentions, and there is concern should there be dispute and hate, he should not go to pray at the study hall. ” Rabbi Yekutiel recommends that he “declare that he is ill, and thus save himself from public defamation and no major misstep will come about through him.”
[1] leaf paper, official stationery blank. 15×24 cm. There are several lines in Yiddish added after the signature, in a different script.
Fine condition. Fold marks. Light aging stains.