Historic Halachic Teshuvah on Holocaust Survivors!
by Harav Chaim Mordechai Roller
Av Beis Din of Niamtz. Bucharest, 1946
Halachic responsa by Hagaon Harav Chaim Mordechai Roller, Av Beis Din of Neimetz, to the special Beis Din that formed in Budapest to rule upon the status of Holocaust agunos.
After the Holocaust, the Gaon of Niamtz
Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller authored a landmark teshuvah permitting the remarriage of agunim who had received testimony that their wives had been taken to Auschwitz and sent to the left to their deaths. Following this resolution, another complicated question arose regarding whether the newly-freed agunim were permitted to marry their late wives’ sisters. Whereas the prohibition of polygamy is prohibited by Cherem D’Rabbeinu Gershon, marrying one’s wife’s sister during her lifetime is prohibited by the Torah. This question was relayed to the venerable Gaon of Neimatz who ruled leniently based on three foundational premises:
1. “We have clear knowledge and information that the entire city—men, women and children, were led to Auschwitz, and it is known that, due to our many sins, they were all murdered and became ashes for fire…and not one escaped these brutal villains, may their names be blotted out, (and if one survived, it was miraculous), and this constitutes testimony of two witnesses.”
2. The Zohar Hakadosh in Parshas Vayeshev states: “One who falls into the hands of a villain is worse than one who plummets into a pit of snakes and scorpions.” Particularly in this case, the intention of the Nazis was only to annihilate and exterminate the victims.
3. Eight months have passed since the end of the war, and no word was heard from these women.
The Gaon of Niamtz concludes: “The combination of these three is the foundation of this heter to permit the husbands of the women taken to Auschwitz, etc. [to marry] their wife’s sister…according to halachah.”
In the body of this teshuvah, Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller asserts that his ruling is unequivocal halachah.
Father of Agunos
Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller, Av Beis Din of Niamtz
Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller (1868-1947), author of Shu”t Beer Chaim Mordechai, was the preeminent halachic authority in Europe between the two world wars and most famous for his legendary efforts to free war agunos and agunim. Following World War One, Rabbi Meir Arik appealed to him to free his daughter from the shackles of an agunah, and he subsequently published a comprehensive booklet on this intricate subject called Beer Chaim Mordechai (1923).
During the post-Holocaust years, he was revered as the undisputed halachic authority regarding agunos and agunim who had survived the inferno.
“Eyewitnesses describe that it was chilling to observe him author a teshuvah regarding an agunah. On one hand, he faced the severe prohibition of adultery, and on the other, the inexpressible sorrows of his people who had survived the blood, fire and mortar of the German beasts, may their name and memory be blotted out. Based on these, it was up to him to determine if the agunah’s husband had been murdered. He authored these heterim with a bleeding heart and soul” (Biography at the end of Shu”t Beer Chaim Mordechai Vol. 3),
This teshuvah was dispatched to the members of the special Beis Din in Budapest that was established to deal with the questions regarding agunos; Rabbi Elazar Shapiro Av Beis Din Kivishad[N1] ; Rabbi Yehoshua Greenwald, Av Beis Din Chust; Rabbi Yisrael Veltz, Av Beis Din of Budapest; Rabbi Asher Babad, Av Beis Din of Tartikov; and Rabbi Yaakov Segal Lebovits, Av Beis Din Kapish[N2] .
Published in Shu”t Binyan Tzvi by Harav Tzvi Hirsch Meiselish Vol. 2 Ch. 55, with the names of the Rabbanim to whom the letter was addressed and the addition written across the top of the letter omitted.
11 Kislev, 5706; November 16, 1945. Page Count: 2 leaves; 3 sides.
Page Size: 22×32 cm.
Description: Handwritten and autographed with “Be’er Chaim Mordechai” thrice by Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Roller. Last side includes a private letter by Rabbi Shmuel Zanvil Kahana Frenkel, Nasi of Bureau of Orthodox Congregations in Hungary. Tears on fold marks professionally restored with all text intact.
Rare, historic teshuvah!
[N1]קיווישאד
[N2]?
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