Holocaust Agunim.
Letter of Commitment to Beis Din, Autographed by Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Freind and Beis Din. Nagybanya, 1946
Following the decimation of European Jewry, the issue of agunim (men who wished to remarry without solid evidence of the death of their wife), was one of the most difficult questions posed during the post-Holocaust era.
The question of male agunim was less complicated than that of the female agunos, as the prohibition against a husband marrying two women only dates back to Cherem D’Rabbeinu Gershom. Hence, any man who received testimony that his wife had been deported to the extermination camps and not returned was permitted to remarry.
Notwithstanding, the Beis Din compelled them to sign a commitment stating that if the first wife would ever return, he would not live with both wives until the Beis Din determined the proper course of action.
This commitment was signed by the agun Harav Shimon Miller, Av Beis Din of Arad and author of Sifsei Shimon. His signature was verified by the members of the Beis Din.
Harav Moshe Aryeh Freind (1904-1996), Gaavad of Yerushalayim, was the grandson of Harav Avraham Yehoshua Freind, Av and Admor in Unterdam and Nassod. Harav Moshe Aryeh Freind was revered far and wide for his outstanding piety and sacred conduct. When the Holocaust swept across Europe, he lost his wife and eight children in the gas chambers. After the war, he served briefly as Rav in Satmar before journeying to Eretz Yisrael where he was appointed Gaavad of the Eidah Hacharedis in Yerushalayim.
Harav Chaim Alter Panet (1915-1984), a scion of the Mareh Yechezkel, authored Tapuchei Chaim. After the Holocaust, he married the daughter of the Admor of Kosson Harav Meir Shalom Rotenberg of Grosswardein and served as Rav of Banya before emigrating from Hungary to Eretz Yisrael and being appointed to the Rabbinate in Tel Aviv. His son is the present Kossoner Rebbe of Bnei Brak.
Hagaon HaChasid Rabbi Yishai Hecht from Belz (1928-1965) served as Dayan and Mot"z in Satmar, after the Holocaust served as Rav of the Belz Bais Medrash in Williamsburg, was close to the Admo"r Reb Ahron of Belz and to the Admor Rabbi Yoel of Satmar.
Nagybanya, 1946. Page size: 21×17 cm. Good condition.
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