TTfT 0807. Yevamos14B page 28, transcribed. Let’s discuss an important topic called Mamzer. It is a very serious topic, and we will discuss a workaround which sometimes helps, based on a ruling of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. This solution is sometimes misunderstood, but it is enormously helpful when it does apply.

The concept of Mamzer is that if a union occurred between a man and a woman who were forbidden to each other on a very high level a level of Kareis (a violation of immoral relations which is so serious that we are told that the violator’s soul gets cut off from its spiritual source), such as living with a married woman, they would produce a Mamzeir if a child is born from that union. The seriousness of the Mamzer is that he or she cannot marry conventionally in the Jewish community (i.e. a regular Jewish girl or a regular Jewish boy would not be able to marry a Mamzer). Other examples of Kareis that would also cause such a high level problem are living with this wife of your brother (the exact relationship as Yibum, but when Yibum doesn’t apply, such as if the dead brother left children). Likewise such a rule would apply by some of the very close family relatives such as the mother of a person. If he would live with such a person, it would be this high level that produces a Mamzeir.

Even though Beis Hillel and Beis Shamai argued regarding the co-wives in the case of Yibum. According to Beis Hillel the co-wives are all absolved if one of them is forbidden to the living brother. But, according to Beis Shamai there is no concept of grouping the co-wives together, and therefore there’s still an opportunity of Yibum or Chalitza even if one of the co-wives is, for example, the daughter of the living brother.

But they are in agreement that the status of Mamzer will only occur in the case of Kareis, this high level of immoral union that we have described.

(There is one exception to this Kareis rule and it’s worth mentioning. That is the case of a child from a Niddah. Even if the woman did not go to mikvah properly, the child produced is absolutely not considered a Mamzer, even though it is a level of Kareis.)

Let’s focus on contemporary cases that appear to be the fear of Mamzer and possible solutions which are sometimes acceptable if they are researched properly and ruled upon by a ranking authority.

Here’s the problem: A young man young woman get married they may not be particularly religious but some observant relatives insist that they have a kosher wedding. They go ahead and have a wedding… and at a later date they break up. If they do a proper Get (religious divorce) then that marriage is religiously terminated. If however they do not terminate the marriage religiously, and they simply split up, then they remain halachically married. The terrible consequences here is that if the woman goes and gets married to another man (she thinks that since they split up they are no longer married), they really may still be totally married. If that original marriage was done properly she remains married until a proper divorce is done. In effect she’s a married woman living with a man that isn’t her husband, because she’s already married to the first husband. The children produced from that second union could very well be Mamzer status and forbidden to marry into the rest of the Jewish people.

The workaround -which is significant- is that sometimes the original marriage was not a valid halachic marriage. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein maintained that on all marriages we should require a religious divorce. But if they didn’t do so, and she’s already married to a second man, and they already produced children from the second union, Reb Moshe would question the original marriage. If per-chance there was no one present as a valid witness (meaning a Sabbath observer who is valid in Halacha as a lawful witness) then it could possibly be that the original marriage was not a marriage at all. If so, although it may sound offensive because that means that the two of them were living together without a religious marriage, the ramification is extremely beneficial. If the original marriage can be researched and it was not a marriage, then this is not a married woman living in a second union in a high level forbidden way that produces a Mamzeir. Instead she’s an unmarried woman who fooled around for a period of time with one man, and they split up, and now she’s hanging out with another man. The children produced will not be the result of a married woman’s illicit relationship.

This concept is a workaround solution, and is something worthy of research to see if it applies. It is based on this principle that Mamzeir is only from the result of an Ervah- a prohibited immoral relationship that is on a level of Kareis. But if it doesn’t meet those criteria, even though a boy girl hanging around is quite offensive and forbidden, it’s not the level that would produce Mamzeir. Although the union is problematic, it will not have the serious ramifications on a future generations.