[Avodah] hashgacha pratis for NJ

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Toby Katz asked:

> I know several Jewish men who became frum after marrying
> non-Jewish women, sometimes years later when there were
> children already, and whose wives later had Orthodox
> conversions and are now living regular frum lives with
> their BT husbands. My question is, is it possible that
> when the bas kol said, "Bas Ploni l'Ploni" that the Bas
> Ploni in question was not even Jewish at the time of the
> Heavenly announcement?!

Sure, why not?

And I offer two reasons:

First, if we presume that the neshomos of gerei tzedek were present at Har Sinai, then it seems reasonable that the Bas Kol would know about this, and could make the "Bas Ploni L'Ploni" announcement even if the geirus has not yet occurred.

Second, what about the more typical case, of a person who converts while still single. Is this person to be excluded from ever marrying? Would you say that there was no "Bas Ploni L'Ploni" announcement in such a case? I can't prove it logically, but emotionally, I can't see denying this bershert-ness to the couple.

It seems to me that both of the above arguments make sense regardless of whether it is the husband or the wife (or both) who converted, and also regardless of whether or not there was a marriage prior to the conversion.

The only requirement I see is that when you wrote
>   ... and whose wives later had Orthodox conversions and
>   are now living regular frum lives with their BT husbands.
you meant that not only did they have a kosher conversion, but that they also had a proper halachic wedding following that conversion (without which the Bas Kol would have had nothing to announce).

Akiva Miller

____________________________________________________________
Save on hotels.  Click here to find and compare hotel deals.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/BLSrjnsIfXcIMLDxrOxTa9qTuux0XKgBPyK67gzp8xrjixMwflLhqXETSk4/