As the shidduch crisis rages on, a blacklisted Rabbi has come up with a plan to abolish the age old gezeirah of Rabbeinu Gershom. The age old gezeirah forbids a man from marrying more than one wife. In a statement on behalf of the office of the blacklisted rabbi, the rabbi pointed out that by allowing men to marry more than one woman there would be a significantly higher number of eligible bochurim,yungermannim. This goes right to the core of the problem of not having enough bochurim. Many yungermannim will no doubt become eligible bochurim and shadchanim will no doubt be asking shidduch references, "so who is he married to?"
Many of the Batei Dinim around the U.S have taken note of the statement with caution but not without immediate discreditation.
Detractors from the bill say that nullifying the gezeirah will not solve the crisis at all. In a written statement on behalf of the Machoin D'Gzeirah D'Rabbeinu Gershom, the following was wirtten:
"We believe that the gezeirah is as relevant now as it was at the time of its institution. We all know that women like to buy expensive shoes, clothing and other stuff. More than one wife will place considerable financial strain on the family and not leave enough money for the family to make weddings. This in effect will put people back into the shidduch crisis but the shidduch crisis on steroids".
The blacklisted Rabbi hit back at this statement and said that most houses in the world these days have two working parents. This means that the wife is bringing in a great income as well. As he succinctly put it:
"More wives will no doubt mean more income".
If the plan gets through some sort of preliminary Beis Din hearing, it will have a tough time getting through various civil and federal state and country laws. With Mayors calling for federal funding to help solve the shidduch crisis, there may just be a glimmer of hope that they will make special exception.