[Avodah] Hypocrisy in halakhah

[Rich, Joel]

R' Berel Wein writes: "[I]n a Christian society where even monogamous
marriage was viewed as a concession to the devil, polygamy was seen as
outright immorality, a societal crime of lewdness which cast the Jewish
community in a negative light in the eyes of society at large. Perhaps
in order that Jews not seem less 'moral' than their gentile neighbors
did Rabbeinu Gershom ban polygamy at this time [c. 1100]"  R' Wein does
not mention domestic discord at all.
 
Grayzel writes, "The Bible permitted Jews to have more than one wife.
As time went on, however, the Jews adopted monogamy as their rule,
although, since the law on the subject had not been changed, there was a
Jew now and then who married more than one woman. This gave their
Christian neighbors a chance to speak ill of the Jews.  It probably also
resulted in quarrels within the family."  Nothing about R' Gershom's
private life.
======================================================
 
Which was my original point - the impact of "outside thics" on halacha.
KT
Joel Rich
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