Q:
Considering that the Reform now have this idea of patrilineal descent, that we can go after the father to be a Jew and not the mother, and so they’re taking in plain goyim, and also in Eretz Yisroel there are so many goyim, does the rav feel that maybe we have to come to creating a sefer yuchsin?
A:
Question: Since so many Jews today are called Jews even though they’re not Jews – the fact is there are many mamzeirim in America too, very many mamzeirim. And there are many non-Jews that are called Jews by the Reformers and so the question is: Should we have a sefer yuchsin?
There’s no question, it would be a very great takanah to have a sefer yuchsin.
In the meantime however, it’s very important to ascertain the background of the families into which you’re marrying. Sometimes chas v’shalom we might discover that the person is a mamzer.
I know two Beis Yaakov girls whose mother came from Germany and did not get a gett and she married somebody else and had these two girls. It’s a terrible thing. And it’s not known to people.
Therefore, I say the best place to marry is Williamsburg. Why is that? Because Williamsburg was the first stop when they got off the boat; they settled in Williamsburg where the old rebbe was still alive and that kehilla has the very best yichus of all.
If you know yeshivishe circles that came let’s say from Baranovich, the father learned in the Mir in Europe, in Slabodka, in Grodno, families like that, there’s no question it’s worth marrying those families even without getting a penny of nadan because you’re marrying mishpachos meyuchosos biYisrael.
It’s very important to marry families that have good yichus.
The time should come to make such a sefer yuchsin because in the course of time people will forget. Sometimes a man comes from Chicago, a baal teshuvah. He grows a big beard and settles in Williamsburg and people will think he’s a Williamsburger. But he’s a nobody. He came out of nowhere.
And therefore a sefer yuchsin would be a very good thing.
TAPE #E-64 (June 1996)
