Jewish Passages
Cycles of Jewish Life
Chapter One
Marriage
On several occasions I have been asked to be a witness at a wedding, to
sign my name on a wedding contract, or ketubba. One memorable instance was
in the United States in the late 1970s. A colleague was getting married,
and after the wedding, she and her husband were planning to spend a year
in Israel. The officiating rabbi was a well-known figure in American
Jewish life. Otherwise, upon arrival, I knew almost no one among the
guests. Soon, however, I heard my name called; I was being summoned to
play a role in the ceremony.
The rabbi, knowledgeable about life in Israel, was concerned that the
marriage be recognized there if a question ever arose among the Israeli
rabbinic authorities. The couple had some thoughts about living in Israel
and, as a Conservative rabbi, he envisioned the possibility that his
credentials or the version of the ketubba he used might be questioned.
Israeli law did not give the rabbinate the power to challenge the personal
status of Jews married abroad, but the rabbi wanted the ... read full excerpt from Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life ebook
