[Avodah] A question of Yichus

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Chana Luntz quoted R"n Shoshana Boublil's original post, which stated:

> A man discovers a letter his wife wrote her lover (it was
> open, in plain view) in which she states that she's quite
> sure the kid is his [the lover's] b/c the husband was in
> the army when she became pregnant.

and RCL asked:

> There seems to be an assumption, which I find rather
> extraordinary, that what this woman wrote is true.
> Now it seems pretty clear, given that the letter was left
> in plain view, that the woman wanted out from the marriage.
> And clearly this letter was an extremely effective way of
> achieving what she wanted. ...

RCL seems to presume that the letter was left in plain view *deliberately*. I would not presume that, or I would at least entertain the possibility that it wa an accident. It could well be that the woman wants to get out of the marriage, and that leaving the letter out will help accomplish that, yet it is still possible that it was not done deliberately.

> But how do you even know there is a lover around?  Only from
> the wife's letter which was left for the husband to find.
> Maybe there isn't even a lover.

Well, we know there is a lover because of the mathematics: "she's quite sure the kid is his [the lover's] b/c the husband was in the army when she became pregnant."

But I can't help but wonder -- Does the husband know when the child was born? Has the husband asked the doctors whether the baby was premature or late? Does the husband know when the child was likely conceived? Does the husband know when he himself was in the army?

I find it odd that "she's quite sure the kid is his [the lover's] b/c the husband was in the army when she became pregnant", yet the husband himself is incapable of making the same calculation. It sounds to me like the numbers don't add up as neatly as the wife wishes, and there is indeed a real chance that the husband IS the father.

Akiva Miller


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