Quite honestly, I wonder if it didn't have to do in part with the Haredi constituency in New York City that follows
Yevamot 62b.
Sure, this Vietnamese couple made their argument; nonetheless, was someone also trying to appease the Haredim?
"Our Rabbis taught: Concerning a man who loves his wife as himself, who honours her more than himself, who guides his sons and daughters in the right path and arranges for them to be married near the period of their puberty, Scripture says, And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace.49 Concerning him who loves his neighbours, who befriends his relatives, marries his sister's50 daughter,"
Incidentally enough, I had no clue that it was that specific. I just knew
about the reference. Anyway, don't kid yourself; the Haredim have a very-strong presence in New York City (e.g., Williamsburg, Crown Heights). By the way, the decision reads in part:
There is no comparably strong objection to uncle-niece marriages. Indeed, until 1893 marriages between uncle and niece or aunt and nephew, of the whole or half blood, were lawful in New York. And sixty years after the prohibition was enacted we affirmed, in May, a judgment recognizing as valid a marriage between a half-uncle and half-niece that was entered into in Rhode Island and permitted by Rhode Island law. It seems from the Appellate Division’s reasoning in May that the result would have been the same even if a full uncle and full niece had been involved. Thus Domestic Relations Law § 5(3) has not been viewed as expressing strong condemnation of uncle-niece and aunt-nephew relationships.
I wonder, too, if that's why some Haredim immigrated to New York. They may not have been literate in
haleshonot l'goyim, though they still knew what was going on. Remember that back in Krasne nad Krasnopol, Wojciech and Marianna Krusznyska Danilowicz
were smart enough to claim negligence in baptizing Katarzyna—by the way, Jews did use and even
adopt shemot hagoyim; though I'm not sure if we'll ever know the real names of "Katarzyna"
et. al.. "Marianna" is probably the one real name, though, since that's "Miryam Chanah".
As for their cousin Rochla (and I'm definitely not fooled in light of this, since Aleksandria listed Katarzyna as her
in-law mother and nearest relative, even though they were not talking to each other after Julian and Aleksandra became Anusim),
she came to New York with enough English literacy (
or maybe she talked to a customs official who could speak Yiddish) to get into New York (Her aunt had to pick her up; so, who knows?).
By the way, all of Great-Granddad's families stuck together in Northumberland County, PA, too (Look it up. If you're too, quite honestly, lazy to do it, I'll give you the names and links to searches for
"Czarnecki", etc.;
"Danilowicz", etc.;
"Andrulewicz". etc.; and
"Margiewicz", etc.. Otherwise, you're on your own from there. I've proved myself enough—and I don't need that "Both sets of parents?" argument again, since Alexandria gave her parents' name as "Antoni" and "Katarzyna" as well. As far as I know, that neither is my fault nor was the fault of Great-Grandaunt Alice. I didn't even know that Great-Granddad's parents were here—let alone Crypto Jews who escaped the pogroms—until I was close to 20 years old, and
she was simply writing what her mother told her to write. So,
I wouldn't even be counted in an Israeli Census before then, and she was a
bat chayil.
Anyway, back to my point (since I just needed to say all that in case I would get the "That's not enough evidence," "That's coincidence," etc. arguments): since Haredim are (
as I must mention, in case one didn't know that Haredim are) very much a constituency in New York City (and, thus, New York State) and knew enough to immigrate to the "treif medina", could they somehow have played into "Nguyen v. Holder" (2014), even if quietly? After all, I perhaps would darned well consider that if I were a Second
Circuit Court judge—especially if I wanted to get reappointed, and even someday appointed to the Supreme Court (As is known, elective politics plays even into appointive politics.).
Let's not be fooled: if (and since) Katarzyna's parents could (so to speak) pull strings to be under-the-radar Anusim, and Rochla knew enough to get into New York, the Haredim could and do know enough to (at least if they wanted) play into a gentile case that has implications for Haredi Jewish tradition.
Let me conclude one incidental observation as well: "Antoni" and "Katarzyna" seem to be to Poland as "Juan" and "Maria" are to Mexico.
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