Responsa for Berakhot 32:16
מעשה לסתור משום דחשיבי:
This is an actual fact to upset [the teaching just quoted] ! [No; it is different with them,] because they were highly esteemed.
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. A and his wife drew up a document for the benefit of her son (A's stepson), in which was written: "Give to our son…" Does the expression "our son" invalidate the document since the beneficiary is not A's son?
A. A person who brings up an orphan in his house is in the same position as the orphan's father. Therefore, the phrase "our son" is quite appropriate. Moreover, the phrase in the document "to our mother so and so the daughter of so and so"… referring to A's mother-in-law, does not invalidate that part of the document as long as the name of the mother-in-law is given. For the term "son" or "mother" is an affectionate expression correctly used in this sense even when such relationship does not exist.
SOURCES: L. 242; Tesh. Maim. to Mishpatim 48. Cf. Maharil, Responsa 81.
A. A person who brings up an orphan in his house is in the same position as the orphan's father. Therefore, the phrase "our son" is quite appropriate. Moreover, the phrase in the document "to our mother so and so the daughter of so and so"… referring to A's mother-in-law, does not invalidate that part of the document as long as the name of the mother-in-law is given. For the term "son" or "mother" is an affectionate expression correctly used in this sense even when such relationship does not exist.
SOURCES: L. 242; Tesh. Maim. to Mishpatim 48. Cf. Maharil, Responsa 81.
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