Losing on the tradition lottery
This is one of those posts which really is a marker for myself rather than of important for the wider world.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is the spiritual adviser of the Israeli political party representing Sephardi Judaism in the Knesset. Eli Yishai may be the public leader of Shas in the Knesset but he gets his direction and policies and talking points from the Rabbi. Last week Rabbi Yosef issued a religious decision surprising for a semi-secular like myself for its progressive compassion. Ynet News:
In an unprecedented halachic ruling, Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has allowed a woman pregnant by artificial insemination to marry a man who is not the father of the developing child. M., a 44-year old religious woman, decided to get pregnant through a sperm bank because she feared she would not be able to conceive if she waited any longer.
However immediately after her insemination she met a 50-year old widower and the two quickly decided to wed, after the latter accepted responsibility for the child. The couple immediately ran into trouble: According to the Jewish halacha, a pregnant woman is not allowed to marry any man who is not the father for 24 months after the birth. The ruling preserves the unborn child’s rights. Rabbis explain that if the woman becomes pregnant again within the two years that follow the birth, the mother may stop producing milk for the baby.
The couple appealed to the local rabbinate, but was forbidden to marry. They then turned to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who ruled that the mother may use milk substitutes to feed her child if she conceives again in the coming years. Attorney Zuriel Bublil, who helped the couple with their appeal, was pleased with the result. “This is an unprecedented ruling that will help women coming to the end of their fertility,” he said.
I won’t get into all the details but for a single Jewish religious woman to go to a sperm bank to be inseminated is remarkable in of itself but to have Rabbi Yosef rule such as; is positively earth shattering. Some days, I really think I lost out on the tradition lottery.
i saw that article too but unlike you I was not impressed.
How long have milk substitutes aka ‘the bottle’ been around? decades? and the good rabbi condescends to recognize reality?
and in any case what are the chances of a 44 year old woman conceiving naturally?
sorry, i’m not buying it.
But BB, the couple originally went to their local rabbinate which ruled against the marriage at this time – as the woman could potentially conceive and while I agree the odds are not great but it does happen. My great-grandmother had her last child at 50 and not by IVF. Sure, the bottle has been around for years but it took till now for a charedi Rabbi to acknowledge it and apply a little compassion along with the halakha. My point being, the Sephardi rabbinate does seem to apply the law a tad more compassionately overall. I get the whole gate concept but does it have to be a frigging 100ft steel wall?
don’t get me wrong. i agree with in the sephardi decisors havea reputation for applying the halacha as it is meant to be applied. someone asks a question. the rabbi looks at the individual situation and makes a decision. no fuss, no muss.
there certainly don’t seem to treat every psak as a chance to issue some sort ex cathedra judgment valid for every one in every place forever and a day.