[Avodah] mekach taut

[Eli Turkel]

There have been discussions on areivim on listing  of hasgachot and also
the necessity of a single mother to inform future shidduchim of the child.

Both these issues involve mekach taut. Let me clear these are halachic issues
that need the decision of a posek, which I am not. I have seen relatively
little written on the issue and would be happy to be given more material.
Of course CC has written about this from the LH aspect but there are
more general questions.
We all know that a wedding ring contains no precious stones for fear
that the bride overvalues the ring and is consenting to the marriage
for this very expensive ring (I have never quite understood this but the
principle is clear)

The OU tidbits has been running a series of articles from the Puah institute on
the need to disclose of medical conditions. I have also heard several shiurim
of Rav Zilberstein on the same topic. R. Zilberstein stressed that if a couple
gets married under false pretenses then not only are they living in sin but
all the berachot of the rabbi at the marriage are levatala !
In spite of these there is no rush to be machmir. First unnecessary disclosure
may disturb future shalom bayit. i.e. even f the couple go ahead with
the marriage
after disclosure one side keeps the problems against the other and it tends to
surface during arguments. Second it might prevent a person from ever finding
a shidduch even though there is no necessity of disclosure.

My understanding is that disclosure in a shidduch is required for matters that
if discovered years after a happy marriage would lead to a divorce. However,
if the spouse would say now that we are happily married I am mochel that means
there was never a mekach taut. Every marriage takes place on the assumption
that all sides have their problems and it is only a question of degree.
However, if after years of marriage a husband/wife would still feel cheated
then the marriage is null and void.
One example is when one of the partners carries a serious genetic disease.

OTOH R. Zilberstein discusses a case where the woman already knows she
has disease that is likely to kill her in her 40s or 50s. He paskens that
she is not required to tell because a man would prefer a happy marriage
of 20-30 years even knowing in wouldn't last longer than that. The
Puah institute
comes to a similar conclusion. I again stress that this is a complicated
issue and the series of articles by the Puah institute discusses various
medical and mental problems (the series is still ongoing in each shabbat
issue of the Torah tidbits)

My personal opinion (again without poskim to back me up) is that a child
born out of wedlock is a perfectly good Jew and I dont see any reason
to have to disclose that fact. RMF and the Steipler discuss the case of a
child of a baal teshuva where the parents did not keep taharat hamishpacha
when the child was born and the gemara says such a child is "tainted".
Both gedolim allow such a marriage lechatchila for their various reasons.
I dont believe they discuss whether the child would need to disclose
that his parents were not religious when he was born.

As far as kashrut codes most kashrut agencies make it clear they rely
on other kashrut agencies. A commercial product can consist of hundreds
if not thousands of ingredients between food colorings, stale inhibitors etc.
While each ingedient needs to be checked out the OU (for example) does
not insist that everything have an OU kashrut but will allow a food coloring
that a hasgacha from X whom they trust. As such I see know problem if
a bakery with an OU hasgacha turns out to actually have been supervised
by hasgacaha X since in any case they allow their ingredients.

My understanding is that the edah hacharedit insists that all ingredients
have their hasgacha and do not allow any ingredients that have a
Belz (for example) hasgacha. As such IMHO it would be more problematic
whether there is a mekach taut when a bakery under the edah sells goods
that came from another reliable baker with a different hasgacha.
Again, this is a strict halachic issue and would be glad to change my
opinion if someone brings some posek.

As pointed above we are necessarily more machmir in marriage then in commercial
affairs since marriage has many considerations both to chumra and kula.

To remind people I recently brought a shiur of R. Zilberstein about pikuach
nefesh where the main message was that it is easier to violate shabbat or
other mitzvot between man and G-d to possibly save a life even with small
probability than to cause someone a monetary loss to save a life which could
be dome only with a greater possibility of success.
The lesson is that monetary manners can sometimes be more chumra than
shabbat


-- 
Eli Turkel