Page 4-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, October 13, 1988
M-T
Rev. Tim Leland is hatemonger's nemesis
Rabbi Burak
RABBI MOSES J. BURAK
|i QUESTION: If a woman who commits mari-
:|; tal infidelity is notjiwai!eJiiat this is a sin, does
i this destroy the possibility of continuing her il marriage? :| The Maharik (Kolori)
ii is cited in the Code, E.
I H. Chapter 178:3, in the M Isserlies gloss for this rul-W; ing■ "A married woman, ;| who sinned with another li; man because she thought il it was permitted, is for-' :;| bidden to her husband."
II This act of hers has des-;| troyed the possibility of |. any resumption of mari-li tal relations with her li; husband.^.
The Maharik distinguishes between this case and '$ other cases. So, for.that matter, does the Code, M on the basis of rulings in the Talmud in cases of 'ig mistaken identity; But, those cases are different :| from this one. Here, she knew he was not her hus-li band, yet she cohabited with him. Her marriage g: cannot continue any longer.
A challenge to this position is to be found in ;| volume 2; ChelkasYoav, responsum 57. The ;| Kintzker Rav, as he was known, published the first •S volume of his work in 1903. That tells us the peri-ll od in which he worked. He didn't put his family li name on that volume. What counted was that he 1; was well known as a genius who knew the Talmud il by heart, and was the rav; of a great community.
in his mind, the issue depends on a discussion il of these two points: (1) Is it the fact thaf^she |: sinned, that creates the prohibition of any fuf-1 ther marital relations between her husband and il her? Then, ifthere is no sin, the marriage re-
iii maihs intact. Or (2) is it the fact that she has 1 been faithless to her husband that destroys the % marriage?
Of what importance are these two theories? Well, the Chelkas Mechokek, which is the premier com^ |i mentary on the printed page of the Code Even ha-I Ezer, Chapter 10:1, states in his.note 1, that where |; there is no death penalty coming to the womanfor W her sin against the Laws bf pur :faith, she is per-§ mitted to resiime marital relatioris with her hus- ^ . band. There is no such penalty in this case, so she |;i is permitted to her husbandl ■
A new slant on this issue came from'the Gaon -il Rabbi Zvi Reichmann z.l., whose:learned volume, ;i| Har Zvi, was printed some 61 years ago. It was il reprinted by his nephews, Toronto's Reichmann |; brothers. The volume has 237 Hebrew pages, of g which the, last 50 pages are halacha.
On pages U7B-118A, Rav Reichmann takes on il this complicated issue, and shows u^ some wonders li from the Torah. He bids us look into the Respon-iiiii sa of the Rashba{IbnAndret) volume 1, respon-il sum, 10, where the strange marital life of Michal, i: the daughter of King Saiil is discussed. I In First.Kings, Chapter 18:20 we read: "And il Michal, Saul's daughter loved David; and they told |: Saul, and the thing pleased him. "David met Saul's il terms, and verse 27 of that chapter states: "And ;il; Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, to wife." iBut, i| in fact,; in First Samuel, Chapter 24:44, we read ~ lii that Saul took his daughter away from Dav id, and li gave her to Palti, the son of Laish.
In Second Samuel, Chapter 3:14716, we get the iji |ii sequel; -'And David sent messenger's to Ish- |J iiii^ bosheth, Saul's son, saying: 'Deliver me my wife W |i; MichaJr . . . And Ish-bosheth:sent, and took her || il from her husband, even from Paltiel the son of || I Laish. And her husband went with her, weeping || iiiii as he went, and followed her to Bahiirim." |i
The Rashba wonders how David could take Ij iiiii her back. Rav Reichmann z.l. cites his answer || il that there was a niistake in law, i.e. Michal ac- || i| cepted the erroneous ruluig that she was per- |;i il mitied to marry Palti, arid an error in law p I constitutes *'o-nes." Jiist as when a riiarried |: I woman is raped, she may return to her hus-^|| I band, so may she return ajfter a mistake In law i|: il was responsible fW her marriage to another. i|i il Ray Reichmann wonders why no one else quot- ij I ed this Rashba.It was quoted several hundred years ii|. iiiii ago by CHIDA (Azulai) in his commentary On the p li Bible, and on Tractate Sanhedrin, 19B.
ens case
er to
VANCOUVER- -
An evidpnce-taking commission will visit Holland from Oct; 17-28 and Nov. 21-Dec. 8 to hear testimony from about 35 Witnesses in the" case against -convicted Nazi collaborator Jacob Luitjens.
Among the witnesses who maiy give evideiice. against Luitjens, 69^ lis his sister, Nvhd testifiai against him in the Netherlands in 1985. According to a CP report, she is unwilling to come to Canada to give the same evidence.
By . PAUL LUNGEN
TORONTO -
Before the Malcolm Ross affair reached a fever pitch of notoriety. Rev. Jim Leland" had never met a Jew.
He can recall one Jewish family who ran a shoe store in his hometown of St. Stephen, NB, and he had once, out of curiosity, attended a service in the synagogue in Saint John, but Leland had never really known any Jews on a one-to-one basis.
That's changed in the fast two years. Spurred on by a sense of justice gone awry and an admiration of Jewish "dynamism, resilience and endurance," Leland thrust himself headlong into the controversy .surrounding Ross.
He has campaigned vigorously to have Ross, a Moncton-area teacher
who claims there is a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, charged under the federal anti-hate law.
He has written letter after letter to newspapers in New Brunswick, attacking Ross' distorted views of history and the Jewish people. And he tabled a resolution evehTuially adopted by Ihe General Council of the . United Church of Canada which a.sks the federal government to consider strengthening the anti-hate laws.
Since his involvement in the Ross affair, Leland has finally gotten to meet some of the Jewish people he ad-. mires and supports. He has even taken part in an ecumenical Holocaust memorial service in Fredericton two years ago, co-sponsored by B'nai B'rith and the United Church.
Leland is now no stranger to Jews. In Toronto recently for a church
meeting," he found time to visit informally with supporters of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association.
In his spare time, when he wasn't in meetings or visiting, he read extracts from the English translation of the Babylonian Talmud which he had brought along with him.
Leland is fascinated by the Talmud, a work, that ~had-come under attack in letters to the editor.
He laughs when he thinks about those supporters of Ross who write to
New Brunswick newspapers, supposedly quoting from the Talmud. He has come to understand the depth and complexity of the work and the years of study it requires to grasp it fully. He compares that to those who went into the library and cursorily "read the Talmud."
Some of the letters which are published on
MONGTON -
The inquiry into the school board which employs controversial teacher Malcolm Ross is set to begin Nov. 21.
A h-man.board, established by the provincial Hunian Rights Commission, will begin its probe by examining procedural matters and dealing with objections, if any, to the board's jurisdiction.
The rest Of the week has been set aside for presentations to the board, and a second week, beginning Dec. 12, is available for further hearings, if necessary, said board chairman Brian Bruce.
Determine parties
the inquiry, Bruce stated: complainant David Attis, a Moncton parent; the District 15 school board, which employs Ross; and the Human • Rights Commission, which called for: the inquiry.
It is not cleiir whether Ross, the Mqncton-area ■ teacher whose anti-Jewish writings triggered calls for his dismissal as a teacher,,. will also be.a party to the inquiry.
Attis' complaint is directed against the school board, which he alleges contributed to prejudicial thinking among students by employing Ross after he published several books and letters which claim Jews are conspiring to undermine Christianity and which question the Holocaust. !
Bruce said other parties may apply to participate in the inquiry, though he would not indicate who they might be.
Numerous complaints calling for a criminal proseciition of Ross under the federal anti-hate laws have been levelled, but successive attorneys general have declined to prosecute, saying the weak state of the law would make conviction improbable.
An investigation by the District 15 board into Ross' schoolroom activities found he had not brought his opinions of Jews into the classroom, though the board declined.to make the report public. The board -has been criticized for failing to. interview some of Ross' former students prior to reaching their conclusions.
Rev. Jim Leland
the Ross case — including those that supposedly quote the Talmud — appear to be part of "an organized letter-writing campaign," Leland suggests.
How el.se to explain letters from small towns in Alberta to New Brun.swick newspapers that are not distributed outside the province. Or to small town weekly newspapers.
"They're trying to reach . their tentacles into the rural communities," Leland believes: "It's obviously an organized campaign.''
Faced with an onslaught of material, Leland writes "to counteract the informaT tion that's going into the new.spapers," He feels that some people, not familiar with all the issues raised in the letters, might begin to believe it if he didn-'t reply.
Leland was. surprised when, after a bout Of letters appeared, another clergyman asked him if he thought there was anything to the "conspiracy", business.
"My impression, is that most people think...there is no validity to what (Ross) is saying," Leland states.
"My concern is for younger people who... could be susceptible" to his writings. For that reason, Leland favors a criminal prosecution of Ross (he has laid a com-plaint against the Moncton-area teacher) and his removal as an educator.
"If he feels as strongly as he does...1 can't see how
. he can teach and not exercise influence on people. If he has such a distorted perception of history, what other distortions does he have?" Leland asks.
"And what were to happen if he were to have a Jewish student?
(The school board which employs Ross inve.stigated his classroom activities and exonerated him. from any wrongdoing. The board refused to provide a Human Rights Commission investigator the Ross file, prompting the creation of a 1 -man board of inquiry into the matter. A complaint laid with the HRC alleges the board helped promote
wa climate of discrimination by employing the controversial teacher.)
The minister from FlorenceVille, about two hours drive from Frederic-ton, believes Canada is violating international law by not proseciiting purveyors of hateful material.
He has publicly called on government authorities to charge Ross under the hate laws and failing that, to strengthen the legislation to make prosecution a viable option.
What motivates the minister from a small town which counts no Jews in its population?
"I'm prejudiced in- a positive way towards- the
• Jewish people," he. said with a smile. "Without getting too sentimental, I greatly admire and respect the Jewish people. I would have to say I love them." Though he "loves".
. Jewish people, until recently his only contact with them was through books. He had read Jewish literature, philosophy and rabbinic commentaries and "admu^ that. To me, Judaism is a very dynamic, rich culture and way of life."
When you couple those feelings with the belief that "what Malcolm Ross is doing is an act of injustice against Jews," it is no surprise Leland has been in the forefront in the fight to bring Ross to justice.
to
mquiry
One of the first orders of business will .be determining who the parties to the inquiry will be, Bruce, an arbitrator and conciliator, told The
cjN.
Three parties are slated to make presentations to
Luitjens' lawyer, John Campbell, objected to admitting a Dutch court document containing a statement by the sister, arguing it would be hearsay. Federal Court Judge Frank Collier agreed.
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