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Shabbat Parashat Noach 5774P'ninat Mishpat: Divorce After a Non-Halachic Wedding(based around Shut HaRivash 6)A woman in Majorca was engaged to a man from It is clear that the wedding ceremony run by the priest did not create kiddushin, even if there would have been kosher witnesses. This is because the priest’s ceremony does not include giving an object of value from the groom to the bride, but just the priest’s declaration that they are married. However, one has to consider whether the fact that they lived together, so that everyone knows that they had marital relations, can serve as kiddushin (based on Gittin 81a). In (see ibid.) certain cases, we say that the witnesses to a couple’s yichud (being together in a secluded place) are equivalent to witnesses of marital relations, which is a means of kiddushin (Kiddushin 2a). However there are three reasons why we cannot assume kiddushin despite the fact that they had relations (she is pregnant) and people knew about it. One reason is that the fact that their used a priest to marry is a sign that they were not interested in having a halachic marriage, Under such circumstances, we do not employ the assumption that a couple does not want to live in sin, i.e., without valid kiddushin, if they can avoid it. Secondly, the woman was required to go to the mikveh prior to the wedding and after the inquisition decree she did not have a place to go. Thus, since either way they would be living in sin, there are insufficient grounds to say that they had intention for kiddushin to avoid sin. Finally, we cannot consider people who generally knew the couple was living together as witnesses of yichud. Only the Ra’ah considers this testimony, whereas according to everyone else, there need to be witnesses for a specific known yichud. Top of page
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Refuah Sheleimah amongst the sick of Klal Yisrael for Rabanit Itah bat Chana Ehrenreich & Mr. Eliyahu ben Sara Carmel
This edition of is dedicated Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m Hemdat Yamim is endowed by Les & Ethel Sutker of Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l Hemdat Yamim |