2992 —רחיצה בחוף הים, חששות בכשרות הילדים, ולימוד זכות על בנות ישראל

B"H, 4 MarCheshvan, 5715.

Brooklyn.

The distinguished Rav and Chassid, a G‑d-fearing man, distinguished and honored, etc., etc., R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa [Deutsch]

Greetings and blessing!

In reply to your letter of the night after Shabbos Bereishis, in which you write of the concern over the fitness of the children of women who, wherever they may be, bathe at the seashore and in rivers at a time when men bathe there too, and you connect this with the matter of a woman who conceived in a bath.

You surely know the various views on this matter of conception in a bath, brought in Otzar HaPoskim, siman 1, s.k. 42, and elsewhere, and likewise in the Yovel volume of HaPardes, in the article of Rabbi Friedman.

I was dismayed at what you write, that there is room here for a concern of mamzerus. For if so, you have not left, G‑d forbid, any fit offspring among Jews free of concern. For if you liken the above to the matter of a bath, it makes no difference whether the bathing is at the same time or even later; and the father of Shmuel made mats for his daughters and they immersed in the rivers, and it was never heard that women were forbidden to immerse there beforehand, although many, many non-Jews were in Nehardea, and see Yoma 19b. And in general, regarding bathing in the United States: although, of course, the great immodesty of such bathing needs no explanation, as regards the above concern, the law is that one must bathe in trunks, so there is no room for the above concern, even if it were in a small amount of water in a pool. And as for what is written in the Yerushalmi at the beginning of Yevamos, "through a sheet," see what is said in Nedarim 28b.

And to speak in defense of the daughters of Israel (although, of course, this is not said in the presence of the unlearned): since bathing at the seashores and in rivers is so common that it has become the fashion and almost a necessity, this very thing has saved generations of Jews here, so that the children are not, G‑d forbid, children of niddah by Torah law, and there is room to say that they are not even children of niddah by Rabbinic law, since this immersion does not require intent, etc. This is our consolation in the alarming state of family purity in the previous generation and even now: the remedy came first, in that people are not content with the baths in their homes, which are not water in which the entire body is covered, but bathe in rivers and at seashores, etc., etc., as above. I do not mean by this to minimize the destruction of modesty in mixed bathing, but to find the good side and some small answer to "why has G‑d done this to us" through the above licentious custom, as it is known that falsehood cannot endure unless it has a grain of truth and good.

As regards your wish to come out publicly against the above bathing, may your strength increase. But on the other hand, if my opinion is taken into account, you should by no means mention the concern of mamzerus, Heaven forbid, nor the question whether she does not need a get from her husband, etc.

With respect and blessing,

P.S.

I was approached from a town called Pottsville about a mikveh, and I advised them to consult with you about how to make it fit.

Publisher's notes

R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa (מוה"ר חנני' יו"ט ליפא שי'): Deutsch, author of Taharas Yom Tov. Further letters to him: above, vol. 9, 2642; below, 3189.

Made mats (עבד מפצי): Shabbos 65a.