wkp@lanl.ARPA (10/24/85)
> > As a postscript to this, I would like to bring up the recent psak > > halacha decided on by Rev Moshe Feinstein and the North American > > Rabbinate (all males, of course) regarding the ban on husbands > > accompanying their wives into birthing rooms. ...[ME] > > Where did you see this BS about what R. Moshe Feinstein said? > [Other flames deleted]....[MALEK]. This is unfair of Mr. Malek, and his flames are not appreciated, especially if he brings up articles from the Jewish Press to make his point (I stopped reading the Jewish Press a few years ago when they claimed that my sister and the rest of my family are activists for Rav Kahane's "Kach" party). The psak halacha I referred to was published in the international Hebrew newspaper Yisrael Shelanu (which by the way is far from being anti-halacha). The issue was dated 23 Tammuz 5745 (7/12/85), and the article is on page 28. To quote directly from parts of the article which was titled "Birth--Not for Men!": "The Agudat haRabanim of North America, headed by haNasi haGaoan, haRav Moshe Feinstein made public a kol koreh against the current custom in hospitals of allowing husbands to observe and give sympathy to their wife during labor." The following I have not translated so as to make the point clear: "HaAguda poseket ki asur l'ba`al l'shahut b'hadrei layda, or b'hadrei ha'tsirim... haGaon haRav Feinstein m'tzayen b'kol koreh ki YESH SAKANAH SHE'HA'BA`AL YAASEH MAASEH MCHOAR V'MAYVISH V'YAAVOR AL `HOKEI NIDAH, V'KACH, L'DAATO, ASUR L'BA`AL L'FGOAH B'TSNIYUT...YISRAEL." According to the newspaper, the kol koreh was also signed by Rav Yaakov Cohen, haRav Benyamin Weinbach, haRav Aryeh Alberg, and others. -- bill peter ihnp4!lanl!wkp