[Avodah] a troubling halacha

[Arie Folger]

RAM wrote:
> I totally agree with everthing you wrote, the only exception being how
> relevant it is to Life In The Old Days. I would be very surprised to learn
> that in the Mechaber's day, so many people lived so far from their families
> that the standard halacha was "They have no family to mourn with, so let's
> withhold the info so they can follow the easier halachos."

On the contrary, Mahari Qaro lived around teh time of the Inquisition, with 
lots of people moving around looking for better pastures. That is how Tzfat 
became so popular.

But beyond that, I'd like to point out that it seems that shidukhim between 
shtetls that were at least one day solid walking away, or even several days 
walk, was a standard occurence. FWIW, in each successive generation, my 
ancestors on the paternal line (the Galicianers) lived in a different city, 
ostensibly because their respective wiveswere from different cities. My bet 
is that they saw each other rarely.

Kol tuv,
-- 
Arie Folger
http://ariefolger.wordpress.com
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com