Guest post: The Romantic Halacha

Eliezer, alias The Almighty Editor, sent me the following:

Due to my great affinity for sin, I could not find a better way to pass Tisha B'Av than to read a Shu"t Tashbetz, specifically responsum 9 of volume 3. As the Code of Jewish Law cautions, reading the "Torah of the Lord" did in fact "gladden [my] soul" and dislodge some of the mourning for the horrible destruction. So that you can guiltlessly enjoy the same pleasure, I have translated the responsum for your post-fast reading. The translation is as literal as possible. I know this may make it difficult to read, but I could not deprive you of any of the rabbis' eloquence.

There was a story here in Algeria. One bochur from the Isles of Sardinia named Yehuda bar Yitzchak made a shidduch with a maiden from Algeria named Balanka bas R' Yitzchak the Levite his soul is in Eden. The said maiden is under the guardianship of her mother and her mother's husband. After a while, the said maiden refused to marry the said bochur, and she engaged herself to a different bochur whose name is Karshkash Avram (sic.) who lives today in said Algeria. A month after the said Karshkash got engaged, the said Karshkash wanted to betroth the said Balanka. And when the said Yehuda heard that the intention of the said maiden Balanka is to become betrothed and married to the said bochur Karshkash, Yehuda called most of the members of our community, may their Rock guard them and bless them, to the synagogue and there he publicly publicized that the said maiden Balanka ought to guard herself not to accept betrothal [money] from the said bochur Karshkash, for she is already betrothed to the said Yehuda. Our opinion, and the opinion of most of our community is the said Yehuda did this out of his great wrath toward the said maiden for her refusal to marry him, for he distanced his witnesses, the witnesses of the betrothal, and said that in front of two German (Ashkenazi) guests that passed by here two years before this dispute did he betroth her. And one who wishes to lie will distance his witnesses. What did the said Karshkash do? He went to one house of this city where the said maiden Balanka and her mother were, and there he betrothed her in front of two kosher witnesses. After all these things, there was a quarrel between the two said bochurim over the said maiden and they went before the royal courts and each brought his case before the said courts. And then the courts ordered the trustees of our community, may their Rock guard them, that they should choose wise and discerning men from among those that find themselves in our community and they shall have the authority to judge this dispute according to laws of Israel. And they chose three judges¹ for this, and they accepted the claims of each of the above mentioned [bochurim] and the claims of said Balanka, who said that she never accepted betrothal [money] from the said Yehuda, only from the hand of the said bochur Karshkash; and they accepted the testimony of the witnesses who testified that the said Karshkash betrothed the said maiden Balanka in front of her mother and in accordance with her will as was written at length in the court records that were made by the president of the court¹. And after the court heard the claims of the above-mentioned, and they wanted to remove fights, disputes, and quarrels from among the above-mentioned, they established their legal ruling: the said Balanka is to be divorced from both young men² and she shall remain free of either of them and she shall go and marry whomever she pleases. According to what is heard among the members of our community, may their Rock guard them and bless them, from the mouths of the women, that the intention of the said maiden and the intention of her mother was that in a few days the said maiden Balanka would go and marry the said bochur Karshkash. What did the said Yehuda do with some of his cohorts³? They surrounded with the royal courts that Yehuda and the said Karshkash shall accept upon themselves with a severe oath with the power of a ban that neither of them will be able to betroth and marry the said maiden all their days forever⁴. And the said Yehuda, as he knew that the said maiden Balanka did not want him at all, said that he will swear that he will not marry her all his days forever--but with this [stipulation]: that the bochur Karshkash should swear like him. Then the said Karshkash said that he will not swear under any circumstances⁵. According to our understanding, for this reason did the said Karshkash refuse to swear: for he loved the said maiden Balanka very much and she also loves him. After this, one individual went to [the said Karshkash's father] Nevdam Karshkash and to his son, the said Karshkash, that at least the said Karshkash should accept upon himself the said oath. For if the said Karshkash does not want [to swear], the intention of the master the parnes⁶ is to put Karshkash in jail and to torture him with iron chains and to punish him monetarily. And due to their great fear of these things, as [people] forced to save their money, the said Nevdam agreed to coerce his said son to accept upon himself the oath with the power of a ban that he will not marry all his days forever the said maiden. And so did the said bochur do, as one forced to fulfill the will of his father: the said Karshkash swore the said oath. According to what he says now, he did not swear with complete will. But at the time of the swearing, he admitted in front of witnesses at the said oath[-swearing ceremony] that he swears with a full heart and with a desiring soul. And the said bochur Yehuda also swore this oath and he accepted upon himself with the power of a ban that he would not marry all his days forever the said maiden. And eight days after the said Yehuda accepted upon himself the said oath, he married a woman, from the members of our community, may their Rock guard them and bless them. And after this a rumor went out among the members of our community that the said Karshkash says that the oath and the ban that he had accepted upon himself not to marry the said maiden Balanka, (he says that the oath and the ban which he swore⁷) was under duress and that there is no place for such an oath. And these words reached the master the parnes. When the master the parnes heard that love of the said bochur Karshkash for the maiden Balanka is great, and that Balanka too is very desirous to marry the said bochur Karshkash, the master the parnes ordered us ח"מ⁸ to annul this oath for the said bochur Karshkash, so that the said Karshkash can betroth and marry the said maiden Balanka. And we, the ח"מ, when we saw that the dispute has proliferated among the members of our community concerning this over the past year, we accepted upon ourselves not to permit and not to forbid; and we told the master the parnes that this matter requires wise men greater than we. And then the master the parnes commanded us ח"מ, in the authority of our master the king Dargon, long may he reign with a fine of 100 flowers of Dargon to testify the rule which arises from the said matters with our signatures⁹ and it shall be placed before those who instruct instructions in Israel. And they have with great kindness written their opinions with their honorable signatures clearly explained concerning the said oath⁹. And we, the undersigned, as ordered by the master the parnes to testify the principle of the matter, have truthfully written the story as it occurred. With trustworthy testimony we have signed our names here seventeen days in the month of Kislev the year five thousand one hundred eighty six to the creation of the world [1426 CE].

[Signed,] Ishtaruk Baruch the Levite; Samuel bar Raphael

The recipient of the above letter, without any flowery salutations, writes that Karshkash's oath is not binding, but if Karshkash is an NRF suffering from OCD, he can have the oath annulled by three laymen, and marry Balanka with a clear conscience. The rabbi then concludes as follows (bear in mind that in Hebrew the following paragraph has a rhythm which got lost in translation):

For the sake of [preserving] the ways of peace, and to banish wars and calling out "it is partiality!"¹⁰ between a man and his brother and between his litigant who binds words upon him¹

And to carry out the words of the askers, their oil is pure olive oil on the head of the proclamation¹

And at the top of the olive tree everyone crushes^{1 &9}

I have gone out from the position of humility to speak in the place of the great ones and to boast as one who opens a war belt while still girding¹¹

For all help in the heavenly work of bringing a bride to the house of her husband and to take her out of captivity

And one who says, "Why do I need this bother? Peace to you, O my soul. For he locks his house with a lock and a bar.

"And how shall I go out to fight quickly? It is better that I should make myself cripple and lame

"And to be honored and sit in [my] house, for it is honorable for a man to sit in a home and to pass the brook, and let the good tidings die." ¹

[To such a person, I say:] Also this has God not chosen, and the permission is given at every time to speak like a horse, a crane, ¹ twittering and bound ⁹

Also an elderly¹ also one old, also a bochur also a virgin, and every wise-hearted¹² woman, also young boys and young girls, lads and lasses, mature males and mature females

Perhaps the lord will be gracious to them, and our words will go out in an auspicious time to couple the nice couple and they shall proliferate like fish¹³ with blessed fruits of the womb, fruitful and multiplying, and hatching¹

And they shall be blessed with assets near the city far from the eye, flocks and cattle firstlings and offspring.

And God who has caused them to journey, manly journeys¹

Shall gather in those whom he has pushed away, to the chosen house, both the native born and the sojourner

And if anger returns to us and the remains of the anger will be bound¹

And those who desire our evil and those who pursue us as a running eagle, He Who calls in the mountains, their seat to the earth He shall crush

He shall destroy them; He shall obliterate them; He shall subdue them; and as one shakes a sifter shall He shake them

And their sword shall enter their heart—the great deathly destruction!¹

And the kings and the ministers who rule over us and have mercy on us, their enemies into their hands shall be locked

So speak, as one sitting on the birthing stool, valiant ones he shall strengthen⁹

Like sending presents and gifts of peace

To the holy congregation, its elders, and its judges, and its police their world and old age⁹ they have established their residence in Isradaniah in the city of Algeria.

[Signed,] The man that he and his father, their taste has lasted and their scent has not changed

And they have been emptied from vessel to vessel: from Prubintza to Morocco and from Morocco to Algeria.

Who signs in the month of Adar II the year of ¹⁴ח"י ח"י הו"א יודו"ך (life, life, he shall acknowledge you)

To hear of your peace he will rejoice and be happy,

Shimon the son of¹ Tzemach, זלה"ה

Well there you have it folks. How often does one come across a halachic responsum concerning a romantic saga full of intrigues and which ends off with a call for young and old to join forces to rescue a damsel in distress, a colorful prayer for the redemption, and a brief history of the letter-writer's family?

1 I'm not sure I translated this correctly.

2 Literally "should go out from this one and from this one"

3 Literally "individuals from our community, may their Rock bless them, who support his hand"

4 I don't know what it means "to surround the court." Apparently Yehuda pulled strings with the non-Jewish authorities to make it appear as if the authorities were forcing both of them to swear.

5 Literally "from any side"

6 Presumably, "the master the parnes" was some authority who was in Yehuda's back pocket.

7 Parenthesis in the original text (Didn't that sound Lessons-in-Tanyaesque?)

8 I have no idea what this stands for.

9 I have no idea what this means.

10 In Hebrew, קריאת תגר

11 See I Kings 20:11 http://www.chabad.org/15904 http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9C_%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9C_%D7%97%D7%95%D7%92%D7%A8_%D7%9B%D7%9E%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%97

12 See the Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei (I can't be bothered to look up the exact verse).

13 See Jacob's blessing to Ephriam and Mansassah (again, I can't deal with exact verse now).

14 The Gematria of the Hebrew phrase is 94. I do not know how that stands for a year. Presumably this letter was sent in 1427, as the question was sent in 1426.