Responsa for Sanhedrin 122:23
ושוין שבשעירה כיחיד ושוין שאין מביא אשם תלוי
Abaye said: Whence do I know it? — For it has been taught: [As for an anointed High priest's<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Until the destruction of the First Temple, High Priests were consecrated by anointing (Ex. XXVIII, 41; XXX, 30; Lev, VII, 36. X, 7); and one thus consecrated was called Kohen ha-mashiah (the anointed priest). But during the second Temple, when no anointing took place (Sifra Zaw, Par. 3 ch, v.). they were consecrated by investiture in the official garments of the High Priesthood. Such a high priest was called merubeh begadim, i.e., distinguished by a larger number of garments (eight as against the ordinary priest's four). ');"><sup>19</sup></span>
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. Are the women among the group of forced converts from Rockenhausen who escaped from their captors, permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands?
A. Nowadays that the Gentiles are all powerful, a Jewish woman who was held captive by them, even though only for the purpose of extortion, is not permitted to live with her husband (Ket. 27b). But, since in this case many Jews were held captive together, they are now able to testify which women were not violated by their captors; such women who can furnish this testimony, even by a single witness and even by a woman witness, are permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands. The fact that the captives did not give their lives for their religion does not disqualify them as witnesses. Although a Jew is enjoined to choose death rather than be forced to worship idols, should he violate this law he would not become disqualified as a witness though he would be guilty of having committed a sin. Moreover, according to the account given by the captives, they never actually embraced Christianity, but merely listened without comment to the priest's recitation of his senseless ritual in the presence of the Gentiles. Thus, the captives never committed a sin; for a Jew is not enjoined to choose death rather than allow the Christians to deceive themselves into believing that they have converted him.
SOURCES: Am II, 80; cf. Hag. Maim., Isurei Biah 18, 6.
A. Nowadays that the Gentiles are all powerful, a Jewish woman who was held captive by them, even though only for the purpose of extortion, is not permitted to live with her husband (Ket. 27b). But, since in this case many Jews were held captive together, they are now able to testify which women were not violated by their captors; such women who can furnish this testimony, even by a single witness and even by a woman witness, are permitted to resume their marital relations with their husbands. The fact that the captives did not give their lives for their religion does not disqualify them as witnesses. Although a Jew is enjoined to choose death rather than be forced to worship idols, should he violate this law he would not become disqualified as a witness though he would be guilty of having committed a sin. Moreover, according to the account given by the captives, they never actually embraced Christianity, but merely listened without comment to the priest's recitation of his senseless ritual in the presence of the Gentiles. Thus, the captives never committed a sin; for a Jew is not enjoined to choose death rather than allow the Christians to deceive themselves into believing that they have converted him.
SOURCES: Am II, 80; cf. Hag. Maim., Isurei Biah 18, 6.
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