Identity Crisis

Many of us who read A Tzaddik in Our Time, the fascinating biography of the great Tzadik, Harav Aryeh Levin, ZTL, are inspired by the story of the Goral HaGra – the Vilna Gaon’s “draw”. 

As of November 29, 1947, the settlements of Gush Etzion were isolated and blockaded by Arab marauders. In January 1948, a group of 35 Palmach fighters set out on a mission to penetrate the blockade and to deliver supplies and medicine to the besieged Jewish settlers. Greta Thunberg was not one of them. Before they could sneak through, the group was spotted and attacked by the vicious Arabs. Every single one of them perished in the battle. Twelve of them were mutilated beyond recognition.

These were the days before forensic identification techniques, such as dental records (if these martyrs had any) and DNA profiles. There was no scientific way to determine the identity of any of the twelve bodies. The Chief Rabbi, Rav Zvi Pesach Frank, ZT”L, was consulted and, for lack of any natural, earthly solution, he determined no alternative but to rely on Divine assistance. Hence, he called upon Rav Aryeh Levin and some other Rabbanim to undertake a Goral HaGra. 

The Goral HaGra is a Kabbalistic method of following a preordained method to access a random pasuk in Tanach, and to draw conclusions from what this special pasuk says to us. I am sure it predates the Vilna Gaon but, for some reason, he gets all the credit.

Indeed, Rav Aryeh Levin carried out the procedure and, in a miraculous fashion, each one of the pasukim contained a reference to a specific member of the fallen. You can get more details of the story HERE.

Fast forward a mere 76 years and we are now, both sadly and happily, seeing bodies of fallen Jews being transported to us out of Gaza courtesy of those who murdered them. All of these bodies need to be positively identified. As such, they are immediately transferred to the Abu Kabir forensic institute to be positively identified using natural scientific methods. We know that the standard methods are to compare dental records and/or DNA profiles. As it stands, B”H, within a matter of hours, we are getting absolute results. No Goral HaGra needed.

Is this a good thing or a bad not so good thing?

What is preferable – DNA profiling or Goral HaGra? Moreover, what is more reliable? Why aren’t we doing the Goral HaGra instead, even on our current victims?

The obvious answer is לא בשמים היא. We are not permitted to rely on a Bas Kol or any Heavenly sign as long as there is any empirical alternative. This sort of tells us that if we have resources such as DNA profiling at our disposal, it’s a “mitzva” to make use of them. Also, it indicates that we are authorized to rely on the results.

אין לדיין אלא מה שעיניו רואות.

In some of my previous posts from July and August 2019 (see all the posts HERE), I advocated the use of DNA profiling for any dilemma that it can help resolve. I believe that even if the DNA test results will force us to classify a person as a mamzer, we are obligated to use it. 

Here is an excerpt of what I wrote on August 25, 2019:

In better times, when there are no real witnesses, HKBH takes over. He gave us the sotah waters to check out an accused adulteress. The mahn would tell us who the slave belonged to and reveal other secrets. The Amud HaEish was like an x-ray machine. The ark of the covenant told us which of Shaul’s descendants must die and the ark of Noach told us which animals did not crossbreed. The Torah “understood” that there won’t be human witnesses to sins done in private and it gave us some divine assistance.

With all the falsehood and deceit that characterizes our generation, HKBH is beginning to level the playing field. We haven’t gotten back the sotah waters, the mahn or urim v’tumim. But HKBH gave us photography and surveillance, audio and video recording, fingerprints and DNA mapping. It must be here for a reason. לא בשמים היא !

We cannot ignore modern technology. I think we need to embrace it and work with it and not against it.

I may not have fully substantiated my position, but my primary motivation is that honesty is the best policy. In other words, if the facts are true, then the facts are true. What is, is. The seal of HKBH is emess – truth, and he doesn’t want us to hide it and sweep it under the rug. 

Yes, the truth hurts but falsehood hurts worse. 

Clearly, one of the Torah’s intentions for the decree of mamzerus is to deter people (especially married women) from fooling around and destroying their marriages and relationships. It’s for the greater good even though there is a steep price to the seemingly fault-free offspring.

Seemingly?

In a more recent post from August of 2024, I discussed the concepts of gilgulim (reincarnation) and tikun ha’neshama and I brought down two anecdotal sources, including an embedded video, presented by two NDE survivors, that claim that a person’s soul chooses the family that he or she will be born into and the ordeals he or she will have to undergo. 

Bluntly, this means that if someone was born a mamzer, they “knew” about it “up front” and accepted the challenge. It was pre-ordained. If so, why circumvent it by covering the truth? It may be that such a thing can actually hamper a person’s tikun. Perhaps, sparing the person from the inherent (literally) shame and ostracization is doing him or her a grave injustice!

In those previous posts, I deliberated on whether to consider DNA profiling as absolute eidus or merely an umdenah d’mukchach (or a siman muvhak). In recent years, however, I have become a more ardent believer in DNA profiling. I am ready to upgrade it to eidus gamur.

I have allowed myself to watch a number of forensic science documentaries. Assuming these documentaries are factual, then DNA is uncannily accurate. The clips show how today’s DNA profiling has helped solve numerous cold-case homicides. With this, the detectives were finally able to identify the true culprits and, in many cases, to exonerate others who were wrongly convicted. 

Other clips have shown how people who know very little about their family background and even who have no idea who their biological fathers are to discover the truth. Sometimes the findings were pleasant, a relief, and closure and brought about reunions with hitherto unknown relatives. Of course, in other cases, the results uncovered hidden secrets and brought shame and disaster. Still, when confronted with the “evidence”, the deceit was usually confirmed. Ultimately, the truth was pieced together and couldn’t be denied.

As a consequence, I personally have a lot of faith in the results of DNA testing, especially when carried out by very reputable labs. I believe it belongs right there alongside ABO or HLA blood typing and fingerprint mapping. This is especially true when the results can be confirmed by two independent labs. There is hardly any margin for error.

It goes without saying that one of the most popular uses of DNA testing is to confirm or rule out paternity in cases of doubt. This was the theme of my blog posts in July and August 2019. This is so common that it is almost a standard in most Western countries. They say that in the United States, about 30% of children, roughly 1 in 3, are not the biological offspring of the man who is claimed by the mother to be the father.

Usually, the mother knows this for certain or at least suspects it. Yet, they go to great lengths to hide this knowledge from both the significant other (i.e., husband, but not always) and the child. Usually, it is because the woman wants the artificial father to stay in her life and to provide for her and the illegitimate children. This is known as paternity fraud, and it is widespread.

When the man in question is suspicious and demands a DNA test, the unfaithful mother usually fights it tooth and nail. Of course, this behavior only amplifies the suspicions and, ultimately, it doesn’t help her. If the quarrel is in court, the courts will typically order the test. Even if it is not a court battle, the father has much recourse to have the tests done on his own. 

If she can sneak behind his back, he can sneak behind hers. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. 

In our frum circles, we are much better behaved so paternity fraud is, B”H, not a common or communal issue, though I suppose it happens occasionally. But in the non-Orthodox circles, it is still plenty common (R”L) and Batei Din – who deal more frequently in non-Orthodox cases, BTW – have to confront it all the time.

In my post back in July 9  2019, I wrote the following:

Reb Tzuriel explains that the law in Israel is as follows. The court officially puts the interests of the child in question above everything else. In general, the court will rule for whatever course of action is best for the child. In a situation that can cause mamzerus, the court will not allow a DNA (or any paternity test) without getting a confirmation from the Nasi of the Rabbinate. As a rule, the Rabbinate forbids these tests.

I went on to explain how much trouble this causes regardless of whether it helps the subject out of a status of mamzer. I questioned whether the upside is really an upside and if, in any case, they are worth the drawbacks of the downside.

Let’s now get up to date.

In the secular world, DNA profiling has become so accepted and such a factor in resolving paternity issues that there is rumbling about drafting laws to require mandatory DNA paternity testing in all hospitals as a matter of course.

Currently, there is no such law on the books in any US state or even in progress. As one can imagine, there is a lot of pushback from the unfaithful liberals who, as always, want to have their cake and somebody else pay for it. It’s American as apple pie.

The State of Tennessee, however, recently passed two preliminary types of laws. One from 2023 is to declare paternity fraud a crime. This one is long overdue. As far as I could research, it is not considered a crime anywhere else. This is incredible.

The other one from 2022 removes a five year statute of limitations to challenge a paternity case. I think any statute of limitations for something like this is absurd unless it can be proven that the father in question was fully aware of a question of paternity at an earlier time and did not act.

I suppose that if all your exes live in Texas, it pays to hang your hat in Tennessee. 

There are those who suggest that it doesn’t need to be compulsory. If the alleged father doesn’t want to submit his DNA and prove paternity, it may be unconstitutional to force him to, just like all the vaccine mandates were supposed to be. But a more watered down version may be a mandatory law to record and store just the baby’s DNA. All babies get blood tested for various reasons anyway so it can’t be called invasive. Hence, if a father, at any time later on, wants to confirm his paternity, the DNA is there in a national database.

What does this have to do with us?

Well, anything that turns into a law of a land affects all the inhabitants of that land. This includes us. Personally, I am in favor of such a law and there is no reason it should affect the faithful among us.

The question is, if such a thing will become a standard in the hi-tech industrial Western world, will it have to be adopted here in Israel? After all, we cannot be less advanced and progressive than everyone else, can we?

Interestingly, on this issue there are reasons why the lefty liberals might be against it and there are reasons why the Orthodox Jews (Chareidim?) and the Rabbanut may be against it. So, perhaps, both sides will join forces as they have been doing until now to sweep it all under the rug.

Yet, we are living in a pre-Moshiach era where all of the world’s dark secrets are being exposed, just like what happened during the ten plagues and Makkos Bechoros. At the end of the “day”, all falsehood will be demolished, and the truth will shine through. 

Or else, we can always try to do a Goral HaGra.