[Avodah] Balancing needs

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

R'n CL:
It reminds me of the famous Teshuva of the Node B'Yehuda. The case was
that a certain woman committed adultery with her son-in-law. Many years
later, the son-in-law did teshuva, and asked the Node B'Yehuda whether
<SNIP>
Now the Node B'Yehuda held that indeed the son-in-law was required to
tell the husband. But that given the age of the husband, it was not
then necessary for the husband to then divorce his wife, moving into
separate rooms and attempting to avoid yichud was enough. And this way
the scandal could be hushed up and not impact the reputations of the
children, although the hurt to the husband remained.
------------------

Uncharacteristically, R'n CL didn't include the mareh makom. :-) It is
Mahadurah Kamah, OC, 35. You can find it on Hebrewbooks at
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1497&st=&pgnum=37&hilite=

It's well worth reading for another reason. R'n CL gave a very brief
synopsis of the first half of the teshuvah, but in the second half of the
teshuvah (responsum) he discusses teshuvah (repentance), and you won't be
sorry for having spent the time reading the entire thing.

KT,
MYG