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<DIV>R' Berel Wein writes: "[I]n a Christian society where even monogamous
marriage was viewed as a concession to the devil, polygamy was seen as outright
immorality, a societal crime of lewdness which cast the Jewish community in a
negative light in the eyes of society at large. Perhaps in order that Jews
not seem less 'moral' than their gentile neighbors did Rabbeinu Gershom ban
polygamy at this time [c. 1100]" R' Wein does not mention domestic discord
at all.</DIV>
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<DIV>Grayzel writes, "The Bible permitted Jews to have more than one wife.
As time went on, however, the Jews adopted monogamy as their rule, although,
since the law on the subject had not been changed, there was a Jew now and then
who married more than one woman. This gave their Christian neighbors a chance to
speak ill of the Jews. It probably also resulted in quarrels within the
family." Nothing about R' Gershom's private life.</DIV>
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class=314555619-31102008>======================================================</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN class=314555619-31102008>Which was my original point - the impact of
"outside thics" on halacha.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=314555619-31102008>KT<BR>Joel
Rich</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV><br><br><table bgcolor=white style="color:black"><tr><td><br>THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE <br>
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