Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Observance, Marriage, Women in Judaism (4/12) Previous Document: Question 8.26: Can a Jewish woman who has not been to a mikvah get married in an Orthodox wedding? Next Document: Question 8.28: I've heard Jews can't get married on certain days. What are they? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: There are two aspects to the question: permissible and possible. Such a marriage is not permissable, even if the woman has an Orthodox "get". In extenuating case-by-case basis, it might be possible to prove the previous marriage never occured (for example, if the witnesses were not valid). Thus, one would have to consult a rabbi to be sure, but in most cases, the answer is that they may not get married. The circumstances of the divorce don't matter either. R' Nachman of Breslov suggests that the reason is that divorce is an act of separation. A student of Aaron, the first kohein, is described as one who "loves peace, pursues peace, loves people, and brings the close to Torah." Bringing the anger that divorce produces into his home would make this quite difficult. The source of the prohibition is Leviticus 21:14. Another reason is that a kohein may not marry someone with a premarital sexual history. In practice, a rabbi may be able to bring up enough legitimate doubt about one's kohein status to allow the marriage to occur. Conservative Rabbis routinely dismiss any family's belief that they're kohanim when this kind of need arises. Orthodoxy would demand leg work and evidence, and therefore can only do this when there are grounds. Is it possible? Yes. Such a wedding, while prohibited, does produce a halachically recognized marriage. The couple are obligated to divorce. However, they must divorce; it's not grounds for anulling the marriage as never having occurred. The children of such a marriage would be "chalalim", and have the status of a non-kohein. In a related vein, one might ask whether Kohainim may divorce. The answer is yes, however, the process is made more complicated. In normal cases of divorce, if you regret the decision before marrying someone else, you can remarry. (You can't remarry your ex if you were married in the middle. Otherwise there'd be a huge loophole allowing wife-swapping via quicky divorce.) However, a kohein could never remarry his ex-wife, so we want to make sure no mistake is being made. User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Observance, Marriage, Women in Judaism (4/12) Previous Document: Question 8.26: Can a Jewish woman who has not been to a mikvah get married in an Orthodox wedding? Next Document: Question 8.28: I've heard Jews can't get married on certain days. What are they? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
|
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: