[Avodah] Abuse and Halakhah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:
> I'm thinking of the way the death of my daughter was and still
> is earth-shatering, but just a couple of generations ago, when
> infant mortality was more commmon, people apparently managed.

Harchinam responded:
> I don't think that this is accurate. It is more accurate to say
> that this tzaar was just not discussed and written about ...
> ... In the early 1920's there were many people who lost children
> to disease and other things and it did not seem to have made it
> any easier according to elderly relatives that I heard stories
> from. It just wasn't dwelt upon and people didn't have
> therapists or social workers to run to for every trauma in life,
> so they just "dealt". Or not.

Yes, but how do you understand the lack of aveilus for an infant who dies before 30 days? I cannot understand it in any way other than to say that the family's pain was not as great in such cases, similar to how even nowadays a stillborn causes less pain than when a living baby passes on.

Akiva Miller

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