Recusal of Communal Rabbi Who Married Community Member

Description

The Chasam Sofer rules that a communal rabbi who remarried a woman from his congregation is disqualified by Torah law from adjudicating cases involving his new in-laws and must recuse himself, though he need not be removed from his general rabbinic post. He further rules that even if proceedings began before the marriage, the rabbi is disqualified from completing them once the family relationship is formed — except where witnesses had already signed a document before the relationship arose, since a signed document is treated as fully completed testimony.