The Agunah Who Was Not

Rav Aryeh Leibush was in a bind. To permit the woman standing before him to remarry seemed a grave error. On the other hand, he always strove to ease the suffering of agunos, and to find a halachic way to release women who wished to remarry but were bound to a husband who had vanished or disappeared.

In his teshuvos, Even HaEzer, Siman 14, he wrote, "Although I know that if I remain silent, this woman might remain an agunah, I fear Hashem. How can I hold myself back, especially in light of the bold statement in Teshuvos HaBach HaChadashos, Siman 64, which teaches that whoever frees even one agunah and permits her to remarry is considered as if he restored one of the ruins of Yerushalayim? Yet the opposite is also true, I fear. Whoever permits an agunah to marry in error, when it is forbidden, is as if he destroyed Yerushalayim, Heaven forbid."

Many letters came from other rabbanim who held that the agunah was permitted to remarry. They tried to persuade Rav Aryeh Leibush with the strength of their arguments. But the Aryeh Dvei Illay stood unmoved.

At last one of the rabbanim who wanted to permit her challenged him face to face. "Look at all the clear proofs and arguments for our view. How can you still oppose us and not permit this agunah to remarry?" Rav Aryeh Leibush saw he had no choice but to reveal the truth. "I feel bound to tell you the secret reason for my opposition. How can I permit her to remarry when I see with my own eyes that her husband is alive and well?"

His words proved true. A few days later the husband everyone had thought dead walked into town alive and well, to the shock of all who had opposed Rav Aryeh Leibush. They declared that it was a sign from Heaven that his opinion in halacha should be followed in all matters from then on.