[Avodah] Rabbi Mazuz bashes 'yichud room' wedding custom

[Professor L. Levine via Avodah]

From

http://tinyurl.com/z87vq5c


Rabbi Meir Mazuz, Head of the Kiseh Rachamim Yeshiva, bashed the practice of "yichud room" common at traditional Jewish weddings.


In addition to the problem of imposing Ashkenazi customs on Jews of Sephardi heritage, Rabbi Mazuz asserted that there as an inherent problem with the notion of "yichud room," in that it leads to immodesty. "What happens today is that the couple goes into the room, and their friends stand by the door. They [taunt them, saying,] 'what's taking you so long? Have you been in there [long enough]?' What is this madness? Have you gone crazy? This is a disgrace [...] It's forbidden, and not acceptable."

"[This implies that] the sages of Morocco don't know how to learn, the sages of Babylonia don't know how to learn, the sages of Tunis don't know how to learn, only the Ashkenazim know how to learn? On the contrary: We know no less; we need to not have "yichud room." Furthermore: We need to write on the wedding invitations, 'there will be no "yichud room.' Whoever is not comfortable with that doesn't have to come."

Therefore, Rabbi Mazuz concluded: "It is a divine command to cancel this custom. May it not be remembered or invoked ever. Even among Ashkenazim."

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20160906/64ae032a/attachment-0007.html>