By the Grace of G-d 6th of Marcheshvan, 5727 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

I duly received your letter.

In reply to your questions, I have already written to you in my previous letter that a child born of a Jewish woman is a Jewish child, and has to be brought up accordingly.

With regard to your mentioning the possibility of marriage, obviously a marriage which is carried out not according to the Shulchan Aruch has no validity from any viewpoint. It could only be a matter of self deception. Moreover, where children are involved, and they grow up and later find out that they had been deceived, they would have justifiable grievances, for which there would be no excuse.

The same would apply to the question of Geyrus (conversion) which, if not carried out according to the Shulchan Aruch, would have no validity, and again would only be an attempt to deceive oneself.

In view of the above, my advice to you is to bring up your case before an Orthodox Beth Din in your vicinity, and to give them all the facts and details which you mention in your letter, etc., and then abide by their instructions.

I want further to add, though necessarily briefly, that in view of the fact that G-d is good, and the Essence of goodness, and that the Torah and Shulchan Aruch which He has given to the Jewish people is the Source of true good and happiness for the Jew, it is clear that if you will follow the instructions of the Shulchan Aruch in your present situation, it is bound to be in the best interests for yourself and all concerned, in every respect. I have in mind not only the eternal good in the Afterlife, but also in the present life on this earth. One must not be discouraged by difficulties, which stem from the Yetzer Hora’s attempt to confuse and mislead. This too is foreseen and forestalled in the Torah, which teaches us that G-d wants the Jew to search for the truth and abide by it despite any difficulties, which are really only a test of one’s loyalty to G-d and in order to prove one’s worthiness to receive G-d’s kindnesses. This is only possible when a person finds more than one way to choose from.

Knowing your sister, I trust that it is not necessary to elaborate much further on this subject.

With blessing,

By Nissan Mindel