If you’re reading this - and you were married sometime
within the past decade or so, you just might have an easy way out of your vows.
Blame it on the smartphone or the laptop.
A respected ultra-Orthodox rabbi has reportedly issued a
bizarre interpretation of Jewish law, saying that if any witness to your
wedding owned an iPhone or has access to “unfiltered” Internet - your wedding
was invalid.
Just to make things fair, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 85, of Bnei
Brak, viewed by many as one of the "sages of his generation" says
that the same rule also applies to divorce; if the guy handing you a divorce
decree surfs the net - you’re still hitched and need to redo the entire
process.
The Kanievsky ruling was reported by one Rabbi Aaron
Feinhandler, who supposedly heads something called the “Committee for Clean
Communications,” which works against spiritual corruption of the Internet in
the ultra-Orthodox community.
The meeting was reported and a letter by
Feinhandler describing the encounter was originally published in the Haredi
website Kikar Hashabbat on Monday.
In the letter, Feinhandler said the meeting
was witnessed by Kanievsky’s grandson Arye (who presumably isn’t online and
therefore, is credible).
The letter specifies “iPhone” and not “smartphone,”
but one can assume that the rabbi isn’t a bigger fan of Samsung or Blackberry
than he is of the Apple product.
In addition to marriage and divorce, the letter claims that
Kanievsky ruled that Internet-users are disqualified to certify a mikveh, a
ritual bathing facility for women as being "kosher" for use.
The
letter specifies that since rabbis who certify the ritual baths qualify under
this ruling in cities like Jerusalem, where many employees of the religious
council carry a smartphone, the municipal certification of the baths are
invalid.
The same goes for rulings of the country’s official religious court system, or any others where employees carry smartphones.
The same goes for rulings of the country’s official religious court system, or any others where employees carry smartphones.
This means that if proven valid, and it does not turn out
that interested parties put words in the elderly rabbi’s mouth, Kanievsky’s
ruling not only casts doubt on the entire Israeli rabbinate - it sounds like a
big headache. If taken at all seriously, it could be a potential source of
marital strife, mean that countless children were conceived out of wedlock and
lead to the nullification of thousands of court decisions.
The only ones who could possibly be happy about such a
development are the attorneys who specialize in religious law. Talk about a
bonanza.
No comments:
Post a Comment