[Avodah] pilegish status

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Sun, Aug 07, 2016 at 10:01:51AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
:> 1- You would need a woman willing to be a concubine. ... ...
: 
: Well, the author of that article is a woman who prefers that status, so I
: think she has pretty much proven that there are indeed such women in
: existence.

As I continued, actually have to agree to be a concubine. Not hide from
the fact by mentally refusing to translate "pilegesh", and wanting to be
the concept that remains.

:> 2- The price would be the eradication qiddushin. That's pretty
:> high. Or to put it another way, every women caught as an agunah
:> because we don't replace qiddushin with pilegesh is in a sense
:> sacrificing herself for qedushas Yisrael.

: I'm really not sure what you are saying here.

If we eliminate the problem of man-made agunos (as opposed to actual
lost husbands) by eliminating qiddushin in favor of pilagshos, we have
done *major* damage to qedushas Yisrael.

I don't think too many posqim would be willing to do that (assuming it
works), even though the human cost in lonely woman who can't close a
painful chapter in their lives is high.

Which is why I said that the women who are stuck agunos because we
are unwilling to pay that price are in effect sacrificed to preserve
qedushas Yisrael.

...
: The author concedes that kiddushin does have real benefits, and each of us
: might add to that list, as RMB did. But it also has drawbacks. Each of us
: weighs these factors differently, and given her experiences as an agunah, I
: can certainly sympathize with the weight she gives to the ability for a
: pilegesh to end that relationship unilaterally.

As I do too. But as I hope I said more clearly this time:

1- I don't think women today would be willingly become pilagshos, if they
really thought about what it means, rather than treating it as a dry term
to protects against igun.

2- The price in qedushah is just plain huge. We are talking about taking
an axe to the cornerstone of the qedushah of the Jewish home.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
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