Kosher Witnesses: Difference between revisions
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#Someone who shaves with a razor, while he is violating a serious prohibition, might be a kosher witness since it is a prohibition that many violate and don't realize it is forbidden.<ref>Yabia Omer EH 10:32 s.v. amar hamechaber</ref> | #Someone who shaves with a razor, while he is violating a serious prohibition, might be a kosher witness since it is a prohibition that many violate and don't realize it is forbidden.<ref>Yabia Omer EH 10:32 s.v. amar hamechaber</ref> | ||
#Someone who doesn't keep Shabbat publicly is an invalid witness.<ref> Yabia Omer EH 9:2:2 writes that someone who publicly violates Shabbat is an invalid witness since he violates a very serious prohibition. In Yabia Omer EH 8:5:7 he argues with Rav Aharon Volkin and Rav Uziel that today someone who desecrates Shabbat is valid since they don't realize that it is a serious sin.</ref> | #Someone who doesn't keep Shabbat publicly is an invalid witness.<ref> Yabia Omer EH 9:2:2 writes that someone who publicly violates Shabbat is an invalid witness since he violates a very serious prohibition. In Yabia Omer EH 8:5:7 he argues with Rav Aharon Volkin and Rav Uziel that today someone who desecrates Shabbat is valid since they don't realize that it is a serious sin.</ref> | ||
##More generally, someone who isn't religious but was brought up not religious, many poskim hold that he is invalid to be a witness.<Ref>Radvaz 1:73 and 2:796 holds that the Karaites who don't follow Torah are invalid to be witnesses even though they were brought up with incorrect ideas. He quotes that the Mahari Bey Rav and Rav Shmuel Halevi agreed with him. Yabia Omer 8:12:2 quotes Maharshach 3:15, Maharikash (Ohelei Yakov 33), and Mabit 37 who agreed with the Radvaz. However, Rav Shlomo Gabizone (cited by Maharshach) and Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi 57 argued that they were kosher witnesses since they brought up with incorrect ideas. They are likened to a tinok she'nishba and considered an ones and as though they didn't sin. Radvaz argued that they're not tinok she'nishba since they had an opportunity to do teshuva and there were attempts to retrieve them in teshuva. Maharshach adds that even a tinok she'nishba should be invalid since he doesn't follow the Torah. Rav Moshe Feinstein (EH 1:82:11, 4:32:7) on his own accepts this second possibility that someone who isn't religious but was brought up with incorrect ideas is a tinok she'nishba but still an invalid witness. He says that they're comparable to non-Jews who don't follow the Torah and not acceptable as witnesses.</ref> | ##More generally, someone who isn't religious but was brought up not religious, many poskim hold that he is invalid to be a witness.<Ref>Radvaz 1:73 and 2:796 holds that the Karaites who don't follow Torah are invalid to be witnesses even though they were brought up with incorrect ideas. He quotes that the Mahari Bey Rav and Rav Shmuel Halevi agreed with him. Yabia Omer 8:12:2 quotes Maharshach 3:15, Maharikash (Ohelei Yakov 33), and Mabit 37 who agreed with the Radvaz. However, Rav Shlomo Gabizone (cited by Maharshach) and Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi 57 argued that they were kosher witnesses since they brought up with incorrect ideas. They are likened to a tinok she'nishba and considered an ones and as though they didn't sin. Radvaz argued that they're not tinok she'nishba since they had an opportunity to do teshuva and there were attempts to retrieve them in teshuva. Maharshach adds that even a tinok she'nishba should be invalid since he doesn't follow the Torah. Rav Moshe Feinstein (EH 1:82:11, 4:32:7) on his own accepts this second possibility that someone who isn't religious but was brought up with incorrect ideas is a tinok she'nishba but still an invalid witness. He says that they're comparable to non-Jews who don't follow the Torah and not acceptable as witnesses. Igrot Moshe EH 4:59 establishes that he's not a tinok she'nishba if he saw and knew about religious Jews and would be invalid. Shach YD 267:59 quotes the Radvaz. Even though Rama EH 4:37 seems to disagree with Radvaz, see Radvaz how he explains that it isn't a proof.</ref> | ||
#Someone married to a non-Jew is an invalid witness.<Ref>Yabia Omer EH 8:3</ref> | #Someone married to a non-Jew is an invalid witness.<Ref>Yabia Omer EH 8:3</ref> | ||
