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From: am@vilya.UUCP (MALEK)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Human rights and Judaism: A hope for 5746.
Message-ID: <205@vilya.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Oct-85 12:13:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: vilya.205
Posted: Mon Oct 14 12:13:17 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 23:29:29 EDT
References: <31087@lanl.ARPA>
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories @Parsippany
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> Not that anyone should care, but here is my wish list for those issues which
> I feel need to be raised by all Jewish communities during this new year:
........
> 3. The refusal of most of the orthodox establishment to confront the
> issue of women's rights....
>    As a postscript to this, I would like to bring up the recent psak
>    halacha decided on by Rev Moshe Feinstein and the North American
>    Rabbinate (all males, of course) regarding the ban on husbands
>    accompanying their wives into birthing rooms.  Ostensibly, as reported
>    in the Hebrew press, the ban on husbands assisting their wives in
>    the birth of their children was due to the fact that it violates the
>    principle of modesty and also that the husband upon seeing his naked
>    wife may do "an ugly and shameful thing" (lit., "she'hoo ya'aseh davar
>    mchoar v'mayvish") or may violate the laws of Niddah.  I personally
>    find the reasoning behind this ban to be rather dubious.
> bill peter                                       ihnp4!lanl!wkp
	Where did you see this BS about what R. Moshe Feinstein said?
I read an article in the Jewish Press which quoted him as publishing in
Igrot Moshe that it is proper for a husband to be present at the delivery
time. I also checked things out with the Feinstein family and found that 
Rav Moshe's grandson was present at the birth of his own child. 
	It is however forbidden for the husband to actually help
if this help involves physical contact unless is is necessary for medical 
reasons, since the tumah of birth begins before the baby is actually born.
	There is no justification in halacha for banning the husband from 
the room, it is just that a man may not watch the actual birthing (unless it 
is necessary for medical reasons).  In fact, in many cases the husband MUST 
according to halacha, STAY in the room through the entire process to assist.
	The talmud and halacha forbid any outsiders from interfering with
anything having to do with modesty between husband and wife. This is based
in the Talmud on a verse in Micha "Nshei ami tegarshun mebait taanugeha",
which is also the source of the prohibition on any person sleeping in the same
room as a married couple even when it is known that marital relations are
forbidden (such as immediately after childbirth). This prohibition also 
implies that no one may legislate a ban on a husband being present.
	I must assume that you are speaking about a different Rav Moshe or
about a halachic system other than the one we normally discuss on this net.
If you can quote a reliable source, I will accept your postscript as 
legitimate, but I believe that this story was invented by those who oppose
halacha in the first place and am sorry they faked you out.

Avi Malek @ATT Bell Labs Parsippany, NJ