(Rabbi of Rakhiv and author of Likutei Maharya’ch, 1859-1922). Public Letter Signed.

FRIEDMAN, YISROEL CHAIM

Thursday of Parashat Ki Tissa

Rakhiv, Ukraine

1905

Attesting that R. Friedman permits a man to marry a second wife, after his first wife had gone insane and could not accept a divorce. (See below for details).

Rabbi Yisrael Chaim Friedman served as the rabbi of Rakhiv, a town in Subcarpathia, for nearly 40 years. He maintained close contacts with the Chassidic elite in the region, especially with members of the Teitelbaum and Halberstam families. In this letter, the rabbi recounts the sad situation of one Chaim Asher Cohen, a local man, whose wife had gone insane and returned to her parental home. Since Cohen had only one child, he petitioned Rabbi Friedman for the right to marry a second wife while still married to his first wife, by means of a “Heter Me’ah Rabbanim.” Rabbi Friedman’s letter advocates for this solution.