[Avodah] Halacha vs. Policy - Poll re: Who To Marry

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

NishmaBlog: Results of Poll on: Who To Marry?
http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/2010/01/results-of-poll-on-who-to-marry.html

Rabbi Hecht:
> I was told that a famous gadol of the previous generation once used this
> question to illustrate the distinction between a "big talmid chacham"
> and a gadol.

> He said that the former would clearly choose Option A for, in terms of
> severity of the specific aveira, sleeping with a nidda is much worse than
> sleeping with a non-Jewish woman. Relations with a niddah is an offence
> punishable by koreit but, in the case of sleeping with a non-Jewish woman,
> while there are disagreements on the exact nature of the prohibition --
> even whether d'oraitha or d'rabbanan, an asei or lo ta'asei -- no one
> describes it in that severe category. (We are not discussing the case of
> public sexual relations with an idolatrous woman for which the principle
> of kanaim pogin bo applies.)

> A gadol, he continued, would, though, choose Option B. This is a case for
> policy considerations and, in this regard, promoting a marriage between
> two Jews versus an intermarriage clearly has priority. In the case of
> two Jews marrying, there is a chance for a second generation that would
> be able to enter the kanfei haShechina as well as a greater chance for
> teshuva in regard to the couple itself.

GV
RRW
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