Reply To: The Chillul HaShem in Lakewood

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Avi K
Participant

Unfortunately, some people think that they are still in Poland. The fact of the matter is that many Jews did get religiously but not civilly married there as the law severely restricted the right of Jews to marry. However, to get benefits to which one is not really entitled is at best, as we say in Israel, כשר אבל מסריח. At worst it is illegal. A few decades back a couple realized that their combIned tax liability as two singles was substantially less than their liability as a couple so they divorced but continued to live together. The IRS disallowed their trick. In states that recognize common-law marriage it is definitely theft.

What really irks me is comparisons to other groups and Donald Trump. Should Jews be emulating their deficiencies? It also amazes me that the same people who are in an uproar over the peccadilloes of the Kushners, which may even be permitted in their situation, make all kinds of excuses for the alleged severe Torah prohibitions (and even worse but if I mention them this post will not pass moderation –
המבין יביו).

Once Rav Yaakov Kmainetzky was asked how it happened that the children of a lamdan all went OTD but the children of a simple Jew stayed observant. He answered that the former cheated in business whereas the latter was scrupulously honest. Their children took note. On this see Be’er HaGolah CM 388:11. BTW, some Jewish communities in Europe kept lists of cheats, those who did not repay loans , etc. and gave them to the authorities and individual gentiles (Jewish Law Annual v. 9 p. 72) in order to prevent them from bringing the community into disrepute.