[net.religion.jewish] Mamsurim

fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann) (03/29/85)

In article <aecom.1318> teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) writes:
>> - WHAT IS A MAMZER?

> One of these cases is a woman who is married having relations
> with another man. The child of this meeting is a mamzer.
> The Torah only recognizes religious divorce and secular divorce
> is not valid, and a child produced by a subsequent marriage would
> be a mamzer.

Suppose a woman has sex before marriage.  I have heard opinions
that the act of intercourse between two unmarried people
constitutes a marriage.  Is this true?

If so, then this woman should obtain a GET before she marries
anyone else.  If she doesn't get one, then I presume that the
children are mamzerim.  Is this so?  I bet many such women did not
get a Get, and kept the former liasons secret.

Or, suppose someone is descended from a convert.  The "convert"
may actually be a Jew before the conversion (descended from a Jewish
woman generations in the past along a completely maternal line).
Who would know?  And that original Jewish woman may have been a Mamzer.
This would mean that the "conversion ceremony" was invalid
(the "convert" was already a Jew).  Thus this covert could be a Mamzer!

It seems to me that ANY of us may be mamzerim, and not even know it.
Perhaps we should redefine the term to mean any Jew who is KNOWN
to have such a background.  Otherwise, the rules are rules unenforceable.

By the way, in the discussions of the Ethiopians, I heard mention
of a "token conversion" to remove "any suspicions" of Mamzurut.
Is this not a contradiction to the statement that this condition
cannot be "cured"?

	Frank Silbermann
*******************************************************************
Apologies for my past signature lines, which offended at least one person.