The following scans come from the Aderet's journal, Seder Eliyahu. I do not know if this sort of marriage (the girl was engaged at 12, to be married at 15) was common in Lithuania at the time but its a fascinating description both of Aderet's personality (though it is surprising how impassively this episode is written) and of his generation.
I do not undestand Aderet's comment that he did not take his father-in-laws offer for a tutor in secular studies - for who knows what time will do?
5 comments:
>I do not know if this sort of marriage (the girl was engaged at 12, to be married at 15) was common in Lithuania at the time
It was still common at the time (1850s, I assume). Actually, for the girl to be 15 was already a bit on the late side in rabbinic circles (from what I understand, outside of "rabbinic circles" marriage this young was less common, my guess is for economic reasons).
Someone told me (I wish I remember the source) that there was an 18th century joke in Lithuania; why do we say Torah, chuppah and ma'asim tovim by a bris? Because it's in chronological order. Children start to learn Torah, and ma'asim tovim come after bar mitzvah -- but chuppah comes before.
Is a complete scan of this work available online anywhere?
FP - not too my knowldge but let me know if you come across one.
S. I saw that story in Sarei HaMaios or sthing like that, in reference to some Rabbi who got married at 12.
Salomon Maimon got married at 11.
To be precise the last statement could also mean:
ALAS, I did not know what time will do.
Meaning that later in life he either a) encountered a situation in which it would have been helpful to have had the knowledge
or
b) became less averse to such studies
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